http://www.myspace.com/chaseandstatus
The problem with dance music for many years is that it has been the musical world's equivalent to the indigenous, cannibalistic tribespeople of the Amazon; if you're part of the core community, it can be incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. If, however, you are an outsider, it can seem to primitive, simplistic or downright alien to contemplate. The past two years have seen notable names, such as Pendulum, Ian Van Dahl and Calvin Harris, emerge and become the breakthrough artists that are bringing electronic music to the masses. In many respects, Chase And Status could, or rather should well be the next act to join this particular list of names. With a list of remixes already under their belts, they are quickly progressing on the live scene and have appearances at several UK and European festivals scheduled for the coming summer. Their new album, the grammatically erroneous 'More Than Alot', should do for them what 'Hold Your Colour' did for Pendulum. It is therefore such a disappointment that the album lacks direction, substance, and most importantly, hits. Put simply, this album will become the favourite of the 14 year old Bebolites that drink Stella and play music at an awful quality from their mobile phones on the back of the bus.
Chase And Status’ key issue is that not only does the album contain a lot of filler tracks, but the tracks themselves have large amounts of filler, only rescued by 30 second samples of heavy basslines and hyperactive drums. A key example of this is on ‘Pieces’, which features one of the UK’s most interesting hip-hop stars, Plan B, on vocals. The first minute or so of this song is just unbearable, with lyrics and guitar playing that even the most emo of bands would have scrapped on the grounds of being too apathetic and pitiful. Then suddenly, it seems as if a DJ with a proper set of bollocks takes the decks away from Chase And Status, and all of a sudden there is a hedonistic build up which is sure to appeal to the MDMA-frazzled followers of the drum and bass movement. The subsequent 30 seconds or so of the song, noise which makes Slipknot seem like pussies in terms of intensity, just makes you want to flail every single limb and throw every guitar record you own out of the window, and is more than enough to shift both units and bowels. ‘Pieces’ is a microcosm for the album in general; there are so many glimmers of absolutely incredible electronic music, such as ‘Eastern Jams’ which will surely be at every drug casualties’ house party and the seizure-inducing ‘Take Me Away’, which are then defecated over by the awfulness of the unfunny and insulting pretentiousness of ‘Music Club’ or the unpleasant retro that is ‘Can’t Get Enough’, which seems to have the amazing capability of infusing everything that was shit with 1980’s video games and 1990’s dance music into 3:27.
Chase And Status will be big, that much is inevitable; the only sad thing is that in a genre which gets such little recognition yet produces amazing music, these will be heralded as more important than artists and Djs that certainly deserve such an accolade. The one positive to take from this is that it will only intensify the current scene, as existing drum and bass fans will surely dislike the commercialism that this album smacks of. One of the most interesting events in recent electronic music history is the emergence of dubstep, a deeper, gravellier and dirtier form of drum and bass that many are heralding as the ‘metal’ of electronica. If you are looking to expand your knowledge of this particular style of music, then I sincerely recommend ignoring this tepid album, buying something Box Of Dub: Volume One (which I have provided a Spotify link to), gather all your friends, turn off all the lights, and wait for the carnage to begin.
5/10
P.S - Link to Box Of Dub: Volumes 1 (http://open.spotify.com/album/79lOQ3ektrxE8PtKDH5uYS) and 2 (http://open.spotify.com/album/6HxLNkMi8tuyFuJbmcg0FP)
