Settle down with some headphones & a good book

I tend to read books in spurts. I buy them in twos. Something about one might catch my eye or the subject matter may look interesting so I buy them. And I’ll read the Hell out of the first one. But usually I’ll get about halfway through the second before the urge to recharge my Ipod kicks in & the cycle begins again. Fatgums, Randray, Ajax & Gammaray, collectively known as The Novelists , initial appeal is their attempt to blur these lines with Bookends. Fatgums & Gammaray provide all the beats considering this is their first foray behind the boards (they are originally DJs), they have pit together a varied soundscape, yet the continuity of the album is superb. Normally I find an album of this type will either ride a Jazzy or Soulful background. But these guys manage to straddle both with relative ease. Your head will definitely nod, but at a slightly different pace throughout. Take Crime In The City, a track that uses 3 different beats in about 3 minutes yet each of the 3 sounds progressively better than the last. Morning gets my vote for originality. Man goes to club, meets sexy English girl. They have sex, wake up in the morning & a ‘get to know you’ conversation takes place at the end of the song. Some of the lines in there are laugh out loud funny. So the album goes on from one entertaining head nod to another each track showing a different slant to what these guys are about. The DJ’s too get their shine on Novel Scratching, which even with the lack of an MC, is one of my favourites on the album.Even when i thought things were going to take a cheesy turn, My Only Vice Remix, doesn’t come across that way at all. In fact, the Mi Cheri Amor, sample actually works superbly in context with what came before it on the album. So to end proceedings with a slightly reggae tinged 10 man posse cut could be deemed a step too far. Yet at 5 minutes long each MC jumps in & out, thus keeping things moving along quite briskly. If this is a sign of things to come from these guys I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for more. A great debut.

p e a c e

The Novelists - Bookends selection