Las grabaciones de Mike Skinner bajo el nombre Streets fueron el primer intento de agregar comentario social al movimiento del garage británico.
Skinner, un nativo de Birmingham que se animó a ir a la capital mucho tiempo después, era un extraño en la escena del garage, aunque sus primeras grabaciones aparecieron en el sello Locked On, la principal fuente del speed garage, y más tarde en 2-step, desde 1998 hasta el 2000. Vivió un tiempo en el norte de Londres, así como también en Birmingham, y al principio escuchó hip-hop, y después house y jungle.
Skinner grabó sus primeros temas a los 15 años, y durante fines de los ´90 intentó crear un sello y envió sus propios temas mientras trabajaba en malos restaurantes de comida rápida.
A fines del 2000 tuvo su primer lanzamiento cuando el sello Locked On – ya famoso por una serie de hits realizados por Tuff Jam, Artful Dodger con Craig David, Dem 2, y Doolally – le hizo firmar contrato por el tema casero ´Has It Come to This?´.
Al año siguiente el simple ingresó al Top 20 británico, y el inevitable álbum fue lanzado en 2002.
Este álbum, titulado Original Pirate Material, a diferencia de la mayoría de los compilados garage, fue aceptado por diversos públicos; en consecuencia, Skinner no es muy querido en la comunidad garage. A fines de 2002 el álbum fue lanzado en los Estados Unidos, a través del sello Vice.
Like it or loath it, but UK garage is here to stay. Very much a London thing, UK garage has up to now been dominated by the likes of The Artful Dodger, Craig David and Mis-Teeq. More recently, So Solid Crew have provided a more urban version of the genre, but their gangsta approach, copied on the hard attitude of the East Coast rappers, has considerably ghettoised their music. Comes twenty two year old Brummie Mike Skinner with The Streets. With sharp rhymes, tongue-in-cheek lyrics and impressive arrangements, Original Pirate Material defines a whole new dimension in urban music.
Mike Skinner spent most of his formative years listening to his big brother’s hip hop records, mostly De La Soul and the Beastie Boys, and later on developing an interest for indie music and club culture. During the same time, he started composing on a computer and experimenting with samplers and keyboards, formed a handful of bands, played numerous gigs around Birmingham, turned his bedroom at his parents’ into a small recording studio and opened his door to local MCs. After a break from normality spent backpacking in Australia, Skinner returned to Birmingham and started drafting what would become The Streets. Regarded as an intruder by the London scene, Skinner presents a radically different vision of urban music. If garage beats are part of the musical structures, Skinner doesn’t restrict himself, using elements of hip hop, soul and ska to convey his message. The lyrics too are different. If the rhymes are incisive, he ditches the traditional hard attitude to talk freely about booze-fuelled nights, girls, clubs and drugs. The cinematic sound of the opening track, the beautiful Turn The Page, introduces this album in the best possible. If you’re looking for pure garage, then pass your way. Here, Skinner puts down his rhymes on layers of impressive string work over a straight beat, creating a similar anachronism as Hybrid and their symphonic trance sound. Similar atmospheres can be found on the heavy duty Same Old Thing or the more delicate It’s Too Late, vaguely reminiscent of Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy. On Let’s Push Things Forward, Skinner looks toward the Specials more than So Solid Crew, digging out a clean ska mood to distance himself from the commercial side of urban music: “I make bangers not anthems, leave that to the Artful Dodger”. Who Got The Funk? does just what it says on the tin. The street poet turns to fonk a la James Brown and the Birmingham geezers swing and shake for two and a half minutes. Skinner likes words as much as music. His lyrics are almost faultless, carving intense feelings into his compositions, at times using humorous scenarios to present bare true facts, as in The Irony Of It All, an imaginary confrontation of your everyday law abiding citizen who gets smashed on beers at the weekend and looks for gratuitous violence and your little criminalised weeded up down to earth guy who spend his night smoking and days sleeping. A not so innocent take on life.
Already a strong contender for end of the year accolades, Original Pirate Material has all of a landmark album. With its impressive sound and clever songs, this record sounds like nothing else around. Unlikely to attract the UK garage purist, The Streets should appeal to nearly everyone else.
|
A Grand Don't Come For Free
