Bruisin Music> Dub Pistols Speak A Little Louder

A seven-man dub hip hop crew with three loudhailers may sound like a recipe for Transformers-like demolition, but is Dub Pistols' latest release, Speakers & Tweeters, as noisy as the band's image?

The London band's clear love and passion for fun gigs and a hedonistic lifestyle is evident before even putting the CD in the drive. Stills from various past parties are washed in proverbial dictums such as "if we weren't meant to take drugs, we wouldn't get stoned, and if we weren't meant to dance, there would be no music." Yeah, that pretty much captures it.

Adorned in suits and ties and sporting a variety of different rapping styles - from the distinctly, idiosyncratic British jargon-laden persona to the smooth, monophonic American mode - Speakers & Tweeters is an exercise in stretching the boundaries of hip hop. Consider a cultural supernova part of the package. Was that a harmonica?

To some extent, drawing heavily on experimentation sacrifices the consistency of the album, and anyone wanting a single caste of music will be constantly bombarded by unpredictable, new additions. Like a shifting kaleidoscope, practically every track contains some element unheard in any of the others.

However, it's an album rich with surprises. Boosting off with a classic space countdown sample, we're also presented with various accents, flavours and explorations of genre.

The tempo steps up on "Running From My Thoughts" with a brass line, raising the pace of the album. One track later ("Rapture"), we're featuring versatile The Specials vocalist Terry Hall, a vintage house beat and some fuzzy guitar, and suddenly we're back in London 1994.

The album does find the time to nod to its roots with "You'll Never Find" (featuring Rodney P), a slow, hypnotic vintage Jamaican dub, heavy with echoing vocals and quirky synthesizer patches.

You'll find a tour of the moods with this album. Angry, amorous, pensive and self-assertive, the Dub Pistols may not have hit the bullseye with this album, but have opened some kind of door. Or just smashed straight through it.

EXTREME INSPIRATION

Composers should write tunes that chauffeurs and errand boys can whistle.