Music : Angles

Rating: - Mercury Music Award Stuff
Bernie Taupin writes a melody then sends it to his mate Elton John who enhances the melody with some musical words...
I suspect that these guys employ the same technique as the above duo in reverse only they're much more cool and challenging.
Highly intelligent lyrics, excellent beats & delivery.

Quality.

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Rating: - Beardy genius
Not only are the beats and lyrics on show here the best I've heard in a long time, but Scroobius Pip has a beard that a small orphan child could wrap up warm in.

Dan Le Sac has some fine mutton chops on the go too, I for one don't think enough reviewers have realised that these men are connoisseurs of facial hair.

On a more musical note, from the moment you hear Beat that my heart skipped, your socks will be knocked right off! Love it.

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Rating: - Quite superb
Have heard about half the album through various sources online and haven't been this impressed with an album for a long time. Lyrics are cleaver, witty and often touching and the beats are full of hooks that won't leave your head for days.

There will be obvious comparisons to The Streets but in my opinion, Dan and Pip are far superior.

The stand out tracks on the album are Look for the Woman, Beat that My Heart Skipped and Tommy C.

I can't recommend this highly enough, I suggest you give it a go.

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Rating: - Spoken word with a punch and a beat.
After hearing quite sometime ago the lyrically brilliant `Thou Shalt Always Kill' by Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip I always wondered if these two would do an album proper and low and behold here it is. `Angles' is simply fantastic, if `The Streets' are hip-rap then this is punk-rap, beat poetry with humour and edge. If you have heard the first single and wondered like me how they could stretch the idea to 13 tunes, don't worry, they can and do very well, making this record a joy from start to finish. As well as heartfelt tunes like `Beat that my heart skipped', there's the interesting juxtaposition of Tommy cooper and relationships in `Tommy C' and a fantastic use of samples in `Fixed' (Fix up look sharp) and `Letter from God to man' (Planet Telex). Never shy of dealing with dark subjects the humour and forked wit balance out the harsher moments especially the 11 minute 3 part tale that closes the record. It's easy to make comparisons to `The Streets' because of Dan's vocal delivery but the beats owe more to the likes of Mark B and Blade or Money Mark, but that said this pair do seem to have a style all of their own. If you like semi-spoken word sticking to the man, woman and child music with a message, that doesn't take itself too seriously then you will probably get a lot from this album. Taking in styles ranging from funk, hip-hop, R&B, soul and dance expect to hear this a loads as the summer approaches and people start to realise just how much fun Dan and Scroobius are, it's the DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince its ok to like.

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Rating: - healthily irreverent; meaningful spoken word, powerfully delivered
Obviously the album isn't out yet, but between the music that Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip have made available on their myspace and seeing them live, I've heard three quarters of the material. I think they are great and on the basis of the 8 songs I've heard on this album already, the album should be too. For those unfamiliar, Scroobius Pip is a poet / spoken word artist, Dan Le Sac operates the mac next to him, intently working like a little chimp during the live shows, adding vocals and live samples throughout. In terms of content - a little bit like The Streets - in the sense that its very much lyrical story-telling, a lot of the songs have a defined beginning, middle and end. Unlike Mike Skinner though, Scroobius sings / talks about things a little bit more important than dope and Playstations - the duo don't shy away from dark material such as self-harm, revenge attacks, whilst equally carrying a sort of healthy irreverence to the industry and their peers which is refreshing: "The Beatles - just a band, The Pixies - just a band, Radiohead - just a band". Equally, they are able to highlight through their music some beauty in things occasionally overlooked - Tommy C recounts how people were laughing during the great comedian's on-stage curtain call on life, and how beautiful it is that he could even make people laugh to the last. Surprisingly poignant.

They are not afraid to get political and use their lyrics as a weapon, which I think should be true of any artist with integrity and conviction. And that's the thing about these two - Scroobius Pip's lyrics are intelligent, well-crafted, meaningful, hugely topical and spectacularly delivered. The words almost bore into your psyche, an unprocessed powerful truth about today. This promises, on the grounds on their myspace material and live gigs, to be an outstanding debut album.

They are just a band though, so let's not get carried away, eh? 9.13/10.0