My main issue with drum’n’bass/ house/breakbeat et al is the mind-numbing repetitive nature, which appears to be a key feature of such genres. So Atomic Hooligan’s second record, ‘Sex, Drugs & Blah Blah Blah’ comes as a pleasant surprise as not only is every track completely different, repetition within each song itself is kept to a minimum, the duo instead employing all manner of production tricks to keep things interesting. It also should be noted that this isn’t purely instrumental either, with a range of MCs and guest vocalists popping up all over the shop, including glamour model Alex Sim-Wise on the fantastically dirty ‘Electro Ain’t Electro’.If you’re looking for a record to get you pumped up for a big night out, you could do more wrong than to stick ‘Sex, Drugs & Blah Blah Blah’ on. Opening track ‘Dirty’ is a hands in the air club anthem of the future whilst ‘Safeguard’ is a sexy hip-shaking prowl through the shadows of the dancefloor. ‘String Vest’ is a somewhat pointless thirty nine seconds of strings, whereas epic closer ‘Too Late to Be Afraid’ shows Atomic Hooligan using the creative talents of arranger Jote Osahn to good use, leaving the track pulsating with a europhic buzz, which completely transforms the otherwise reverb heavy final 9 minutes of the record. ‘Too Late to Be Afraid’ is a prime example of overindulgence, as sometimes things get a little drawn out. This aside, ‘Sex, Drugs & Blah Blah Blah’ is a record made to get you in the mood for a party and I’d say it does it’s job pretty well.
Standout track: ‘Electro Ain’t Electro’
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