Nightmares On Wax:
NOW Is The Time:
CD/LP/DD:
Warp Records:
Out Now:
★★★★★★★★☆☆
Borne out of a teenage fascination with break-dancing, hip-hop and listening to the likes of John Peel and Robbie Vincent, N.O.W. has/have been kncoking out bass-heavy dubby tech-funk variants for 25 years. Yes folks, one quarter of a century. Bloody hell. I remember their first Warp Records release Dextrous as clearly as the most-recent album Feelin' Good - and it's just as timeless today.
NOW Is The Time covers lynchpin George 'E.A.S.E.' Evelyn's entire career on the Sheffield imprint, from WAP 2 right up to self-rapped banger Be I Do. Spread across a double CD, NITT is like experiencing a street festival on a picturesque beach with bass-bins and a free bar - there is virtually every conceivable dance-genre packed into these 140 minutes, yet most of it unmistakably Nightmares On Wax. Split into 'Day' tracks (mellower, mainly instrumental) and 'Night' tracks (punchier, clubbier and sometimes with vocals), NITT contains most of the man's classics such as the bass-rumbling I'm For Real, carnival pop bubbler 70's/80's, rave anthem Aftermath, the hip-hoptastic Mega Donutz (from the superb debut album A Word Of Science) and the Quincy Jones-sampling crossover Les Nuits (and ambient source-track Nights Interlude).
Of course with compilations comes inevitable disappointment - where the hell is THE N.O.W. must-have slammer A Case Of Funk or the nearly-hit Know My Name? - But, glaring omissions aside, much of NITT is smoky, sultry, sweet-sounding superlative good-times in a box.
NOW Is The Time:
CD/LP/DD:
Warp Records:
Out Now:
★★★★★★★★☆☆
NOW Is The Time covers lynchpin George 'E.A.S.E.' Evelyn's entire career on the Sheffield imprint, from WAP 2 right up to self-rapped banger Be I Do. Spread across a double CD, NITT is like experiencing a street festival on a picturesque beach with bass-bins and a free bar - there is virtually every conceivable dance-genre packed into these 140 minutes, yet most of it unmistakably Nightmares On Wax. Split into 'Day' tracks (mellower, mainly instrumental) and 'Night' tracks (punchier, clubbier and sometimes with vocals), NITT contains most of the man's classics such as the bass-rumbling I'm For Real, carnival pop bubbler 70's/80's, rave anthem Aftermath, the hip-hoptastic Mega Donutz (from the superb debut album A Word Of Science) and the Quincy Jones-sampling crossover Les Nuits (and ambient source-track Nights Interlude).
Of course with compilations comes inevitable disappointment - where the hell is THE N.O.W. must-have slammer A Case Of Funk or the nearly-hit Know My Name? - But, glaring omissions aside, much of NITT is smoky, sultry, sweet-sounding superlative good-times in a box.