www.britishhiphop.co.uk - The original UK Hip Hop History and Database - Dirty Diggers - The Pleasure Is All Mine LP [Zebra Traffic]

Dirty Diggers - The Pleasure Is All Mine LP [Zebra Traffic]

Written by Administrator

Wednesday, 21 March 2007

Dirty Diggers – The Pleasure Is All Mine LP [Zebra Traffic]

The Dirty Diggers have not been getting enough love around these parts. I have to confess I started a review of their first LP – Freakishly Strong, but they fell foul of my dwindling work ethic and multifarious demands on my time. Maybe I’ll finish it one day.

Now though we are talking about their sophomore LP The Pleasure Is All Mine which is classic Dirty Diggers material from beginning to end. The somewhat strange pairing of Pat and Max, one from East London and the other from West Yorkshire works well despite the obvious logistical challenges to getting together.

Dirty Diggers – The Pleasure Is All Mine LP [Zebra Traffic]

The LP is a solid thirteen tracks deep with absolutely no filler. As you may know, the Diggers love their breaks and from the compositions you can see where the duo’s name came from. All the tracks are lovingly crafted from samples, some totally obscure, whilst others are familiar, but they way they hang it all together is fresh and funky. The beats all have a live feel and there is no doubt that the pair know a funky sound when they hear one.

The lads may suffer a bit from having slightly reserved / muted rapping styles, much as Braintax does and this means that some of the listening public won’t immediately take to them. I would implore anyone who feels this way about the rapping style to give them another chance and try go get beyond this as both have much to offer.

Many of the lyrics are about day to day life and of course getting down the boozer, but even mundane stories are made lively and enthralling by the way the stories are expertly told. It is hard to pull out any stand out tracks as I can quite honestly say I was feeling them all, and by the same token there are none that should be avoided either.

The album features a few guests as well. DJ Woody of Krispy and One Self adds his cuts to the intro track and shows why he’s currently one of the UK’s most in demand DJs. Micall Parknsun features on Bang On It and Nostalgia 77, who won Gilles Peterson’s Jazz Album Of The Year award, adds a grimey groove on So Grown Up. Upstart and noted soul wonder-girl Alice Russell gets a look in on Hurry On Now. Finally, new label mate Rup, as well as Sam Hep add a guest verses to City To Sticks.

The Dirty Diggers are all about making good music, frequently having fun whilst doing it. Make sure you check this out.