Party Animal 12″

It seems that Tip are putting quite a lot of weight behind Hujaboy; much talk of an “outstanding” album in the pipeline, and with the quality of the tracks on Tip Purple and Future Sound Masters, you have to admit that things are looking pretty rosy. And then comes this. It’s more and more evidence to suggest that Tip are right on the button with this one. Party Animals has this slow magnetic quality to it, and once it bites at you you’re sucked in – I’ve been listening to it for most of the last couple of hours. It’s sort of between fullon and darkpsy: digital Hitchcock bird squawks descend over this chunky, ballsy bottomend, building up one hell of a tension. It breaks (well) before a really nice arpeggio comes in – it’s a glassy melody, that hangs in midair until the bottomend comes back in and adds peppery thunk. Seriously, it’s brilliant. If that’s the subtle, thoughtful one then In The Village is the one that chucks a brick through your gran’s window. It’s gnarly, with an intense energy through it and a seriously delicious low-to-mid swirl that’s impossible to not get caught up in. You then get a serious treat: a breaksy breakdown (which is good), some samples from The Prisoner (good, and well-used) and another drop that’s just to die for. The final run sees it all come together with this sense of significant urgency that’s missing lately – almost old skool energy. This is bloody good – and I can’t wait for the album, seriously. Some of the most exciting, delirious fullon in quite some time.