Album: Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, The Logic Of Chance (Sunday Best)

Essex electro-hop duo Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip's second album continues in the forthright, socially-conscious manner of their debut, offering a grim but lively account of the British social landscape.

"I'm from a little place called Great Britain, but I don't know whether I love or hate Britain," muses Pip over the cycling electro groove of "Great Britain", quoting government statistics in support of his anxieties about knife crime; later on, he rides the "Last Train Home" guardedly watching fellow passengers who are "either stinking of weed, or stinking of beer". By comparison, the attack on musical snobbery in "Snob" is small beer, while the account of a wife's homicidal revenge for spousal abuse in "Five Minutes" seems conveniently glib. But it's impossible to refute Pip's reiteration of democratic principles in "Stake A Claim", in which he reserves the right to actively protest, but not "to sit around bitching". Likewise, his advice to the promiscuous young in "Get Better", to "raise themselves" before they try raising kids, is cogent. Dan Le Sac's grooves, ranging from the hustling drum'n'bass and chattering keyboards of "Sick Tonight" to the waspish techno fizz of "The Beat", are adequate without being innovatory, which is perhaps the best way to present his partner's raps.

Download this Great Britain; Last Train Home; Stake A Claim; Get Better