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Album: Spank Rock

YoYoYoYoYo, BIG DADA

Andy Gill
Friday 07 April 2006 00:00 BST
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The hardcore attack of the single "Rick Rubin" - imagine a Latino equivalent of Cabaret Voltaire fronted by a free-associating crack addict - suggested that Spank Rock may have found a new wrinkle on the weathered face of hip-hop. YoYoYoYoYo confirms that, with the producer XXXchange combining the staccato chatter of drum machine with acid synth squelches and sundry sonic detritus in skeletal, pulsing electro grooves, over which the rapper does the vocal equivalent of action painting, splashing and spraying phrases about without too much attention to logic or semantics. "What It Look Like" is typical: "I harness the fondest/ Crooks of phonics," reckons Spank, confirming his claim as he blurts: "Non dreamer's far fantastic extremes/ Fall victim to this think tank/ M16/ Sound sharp, fit, fixed, creased, greased and clean" over XXXchange's bricolage of synth pops and pizzicato string-plucks.

The combination of the pair's edgy, experimental approaches produces something genuinely original on tracks such as "IMC", "Chilly Will" and "Bump", which Spank accurately summarises as "prog-rap-rock-funk fusion/ It's too confusing/ I do what I like". Electro-berserker hip-hop for the 21st century.

DOWNLOAD THIS: 'What It Look Like', 'Bump', 'Rick Rubin'

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