The Illicit EP

Very very limited edition white label pressing of this critically acclaimed release

Hitlist

Storming old-skool instrumental hip hop, sampling Sly Stone & Tavares. You'll wish you'd thought of it first.

Hype

This song kicks. It starts off with what sounds like radio tuning, a couple of samples of The Supreme Team, then breaks into crazy beats, bass lines and that great 'Just Begun' sample. Gossip has it 'The Avenger' might be 'Depth Charge'? Their music is similar, phat, stompin, agressive beats. If you can't breakdance, after a couple of drinks and this song played loud, you'll be throwing yourself on the floor. Great shit!

NME (Single of the week)

Out of nowhere, a superhero arrives in the nick of time. Deprived of the senses of taste and smell after a childhood accident, former Depth Charge and Derek Dahlarge collaborator Damon Baxter has put his ears to good use, sourcing breaks and samples from what sounds like a vast record collection then stitching them together with suss and precision. Nineties blaxploitation potboiler 'Charlie Don't Surf' and the pugilistic 'We Took Pelham' - all Rocky brass and seething bass - are impressive enough. 'Brooklyn Scraps' takes some party breaks uptown, leads them on some pretext down a piss-stinking back alley and kicks them to within an inch of their lives, accompanied by felons from old Malcolm Mclaren records and found radio fragments. The best, though, is saved for last: 'Lopez OST'is a violin-led melding of Massive Attack's 'Risingson' and 'Eugene's Lament' off the Beasties''Ill Communication' LP, remixed by Shadow and left out in the rain for a week or two, and in just four minutes rendering much of the forthcoming UNKLE album emotionally redundant. Easily overshadowing the rest of this week's releases, 'The Illicit EP' is both utterly compelling and absolutely essential. The Deadly Avenger is here to save us all: praise the lord.