Bring Me the Head of Freq Nasty

Author of one of the most compelling and exciting styles in the nu breaks field, Freq Nasty (aka Darin McFadyen) hardly needed to add anything new for his second production full-length. Five years after his debut, he had a couple of singles to roll out from the past few years, including the monster "Amped," which had earned notice as a breaks anthem not long after its 2002 debut. Nonetheless, his first album for Skint shows the breaks legend breaking new ground with an innovative fusion of dancehall and digitalia that goes far beyond the impression generated by the absurd mophead raggamuffin pictured on the cover. McFadyen collaborates with a host of West Indies-inspired heads — whether ragga or hip-hop, Jamaican or British — from Roots Manuva and Rodney P. to Junior Delgado, and slots in his own potent breaks anthems to fill in the gaps. He shows both affinity and talent for up-to-date dancehall productions (a hard style to nail for outsiders) and the scattered vocal tracks serve to energize the instrumental burners.