'Better Than Heavy' - Mongrel (album review)

Mongrel’s ‘Better than Heavy’ made history today as it was the first debut album to be given away free by a national newspaper. I picked up a copy and whilst I browsed news of Mandelson’s green custard attack and the like my ears were entertained by the sounds of Mongrel.

At 11 tracks and 40 minutes long it’s not a daunting listen although opener ‘Barcode’ really throws the listener in at the deep end with it’s female raps (courtesy of Pariz1 and Tor Cesay), hectic instrumentation and conspiracy theory message. ‘Lies’ continues with the album’s overtly political message as mainstay rapper Lowkey articulately outlines his political beliefs. Reverend and the Makers frontman Jon McClure provides his Northern vocals on the chorus, sounding not unlike Ian Brown, a sound continued on the Stone Roses-esque ‘Julian’.

The politics continue, after party time/love song ‘Hit From The Morning Sun’, on the catchy ‘The Menace’, a song that’s already a firm favourite of this reviewer. ‘Act Like That’ is a vitriol against everyone who’s peddling a rosy image of criminal lifestyles, the government, American rappers and films all come under the wrath of guests Purple, Kyza, No.Lay, Logic and Mic Righteous. ‘Alphabet Assassins’ sees the band drafting in a few more MCs, 16 to be precise, to rework Lowkey’s own version of this concept track – Wretch 32, Doc Brown, Deadly Hunta, Stylah, Kyza and SkinnyMan all feature. SkinnyMan also appears on ‘Better Them Than Us’.

Fans of the bands whose members are involved may be disappointed, there’s no Artic Monkeys, no Reverend and the Makers and no Babyshambles influences evident here. As Hip Hop goes, the instrumentals provided by the musicians are perfect, so for me it works.

‘Better Than Heavy’ will be released properly on the 23rd of March as a double CD (the other CD is called ‘Better Than Dub’) and is available to preorder on Wall Of Sound from HMV.com for the bargain price of £6.99.

Mongrel To Give Away Album With The Independent

This Saturday, Mongrel, the supergroup consisting of rapper Lowkey and members of the Arctic Monkeys, Babyshambles and Reverend and the Makers, will be making history and giving away their debut album, 'Better Than Heavy', for free with The Independent newspaper.

I, for one, will be jumping at this offer of free and very decent music. I'm a big fan of Lowkey (especially his debut album 'Dear Listener') and everything I've heard from the group so far is top notch.

As well as being a first, this is a huge step for UK Hip Hop - it remains to be seen if it is a good step or not but if one worthy representative is gaining such exposure then surely others will follow. Surely people's interests will be sparked, let's hope this shines light on our scene, brings more fans and also gains us respect from other British genres.

'Hits From The Morning Sun' - Mongrel (free remixes)

New music from Lowkey's newest, set to blow project: Mongrel. The band, if you don't know, consists of Jon McClure and Joe Moskow (Reverend and The Makers) Lowkey, Andy Nicholson (Ex Arctic Monkeys Bassist), Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys Drummer), Drew McConnell (Babyshambles Guitarist) and Jagz Kooner (proflific UK producer).

Here are three pretty different takes on their track 'Hit From The Morning Sun':

Hit From The Morning Sun - Hit From The Morning Dub (My favourite and the most Hip Hop)
Hit From The Morning Sun - DJ Beware And Motorpitch Remix (DJ Beware myspace, Motorpitch site)

Hit From The Morning Sun - Ocelot Remix (Ocelot myspace)

'The Menace' - Mongrel (video)

Mongrel on BBC

Check out John McClure of Mongrel on the BBC:

"With British Iraqi rapper Lowkey, I'm trying to give a voice to a section of society that is largely ignored by the by and large. It's the same with the hip hop community, the indie world just doesn't know."

"Voicing his opinion on the UK Music scene, McClure added: "It's a crying shame because the British music industry seems to be increasingly ghettoised, where white people listen to guitar music and hip-hop's ignored."