the outlaws - too many fools following too many rules
not another mixtape full of mashups ?
yup. too right. and mighty fine fun it is too.
this one by the outlaws (a local bristol dj crew) is made up of tracks of monster proportions. following in the path laid out by 2 many dj's this has taken the bootleg imprint and run with it across a whole hour, word is that this album has been delayed due to the heavy world of licensing, subsequently i would snap this mofo up immediately upon seeing it in the racks.
whereas the soulwax alterego combined a variety of genres and came up with something fresh the outlaws have stuck to a fairly consistent style of up tempo breakbeats, classic rave and downright funky dance music all mashed with well known pop loops. i will admit some stuff works a lot better than others (as it the very nature of the whole bootleg scene), but the sheer energy and vitality of the mix propels the listener along for the hour providing miles of smiles along the way.
so you want details ?
well, the mix starts with probably the highlight, blending an old young mc rap and the klf, making it sound like young mc always meant to be soundtracked by the rip-roaring klf classic 'what time is love'. the fact that the jimi cauty, of the klf, recently appeared with the outlaws at their giant robot shindig indicates that the outlaws have connections well established and are on a mission to revive the situationists epic stadium house sound, to the degree that even the font of the lettering on the cover is very similar to the style that the jamms/klf used across all their releases! the mix then drops into 'chemical donor' which slices dj shadows 'organ donor' with the chem bros, again this works well and proves that the outlaws are not afraid to spread and experiment the stylistic blending to create their own sonic trademark. the mix goes on (full details elsewhere) with some of the biggest pop names appearing throughout, including prince, michael jackson, sugababes, britney spears and even abba (another pointer to the fun and games of 1987. will the outlaws be subjected to the same legal threats as jimi and bill ? ), all backed by well known dance anthems by freq nasty, dave clarke, ils, raw deal etc. the one criticism i have though is i have heard the laylo and bushwacka track that rips the devo bassline on too many mixes and am therefore a little tired of it. why the lads didn't put the mc hammer 'you cant touch this' rap over a loop of the original devo bass line and really throw a hammer spanner into the mix i dont know (tis a devo classic that everybody should hear). but, that's a small hiccup in what is a superbly put together cd that would soundtrack any fun loving party. after all anybody that puts donna summer and josh wink together will get my love forever, 'i feel higher' just rips it up and subsequently stamps this mixtape into my playlist for a long time to come ..