- I should probably declare from the start that I'm suffering from what might be called Ed Banger fatigue. The French Invasion night last May, which was pretty much the first time the Ed Banger crew played together in the UK, was amazing. But now, like a 35-year-old clubber gobbling MDMA, I’m left hunting around hopelessly trying to recapture that first high. I'm not saying that 'Rainbow Man', by Ed Banger boss Busy P, is the death knell for the label, because their stuff still rocks, but having heard their sound for a while now, I'm left asking: what more have you got?
The title track on the 'Rainbow Man' EP – very, very slow smacked out electro house a la Rekid – is a case in point. Sure, the drop is enormous and the layers of chunky, mechanical noises sound, thrillingly, like a gearbox accidentally thrown into reverse, but it’s remarkably similar to Sebastian's 2005 EP 'Smoking Kills' and, to be blunt, it’s just not as good. 'Chop Suey', on the other hand, is Miami bass wearing an electronic jacket. The problem is it takes itself a bit too seriously whereas tracks by DJ Assault and DJ Godfather (not to mention Bonde Do Role) have a silliness about them that keeps you dancing. Plus they're funkier.
My question - what more have you got? - only begins to be answered in track three, Busy P's remix of ''What's Your Name Again' by Fancy, a modish Parisian garage rock trio. It's very clever, very mind-gnawing and very good. P takes tiny vocal and instrumental cuts from the original and inserts them over a pounding, chopped up, techno thud. Like a little tease, the last few bars of the song play along teasingly out with the original track that he''s been messing around with, which makes you realise what he's been up to. A very nice touch.
The Ed Banger sound has been a real hit because it sounds so primeval and wild. At best, it sounded like The Stooges doing dance music. This EP is cool, but captures both the bad and the good points of where this label is at.
TracklistA1 Busy P - Rainbow Man
A2 Busy P - Chop Suey
B Fancy - What's Your Name Again? (Busy P Remix)