Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
Angles

dom passantino, your shipment of EPIC FAIL has been delivered. ditto for the "old musical journalists lol" article or whatever the hell that article was supposed to be about...

I would just like to commend the use of the phrase "Trying to find a good idea executed well is akin to finding a Suicide Girl that wasn’t touched by her uncle as a child."

I like it.

but it is up its own arse quite alot.

I don't like Dom liked writing it, never mind listening to it.

I have not heard the album so I can't pass judgement but a 1/10 might be harsh. We shall see I suppose.

What?

the point about Sage Francis is ridiculous?
I mean, what makes you think he has disregarded a black audience? He hasn't really - maybe he just hasn't followed some predetermined path that DiS think every rapper should take that doesn't mean he hates/disregards an audience.
And why should hip-hop (or ANY MUSIC) be about any one audience.
And he doesn't 'plug his stuff on the alt rock circuit' really if you pay attention, he's pretty heavily in with Anticon and tours with hip-hop artists all the time.

All time weakest point in a review.

that DiS got Passantino to review this

Oh well must not be dis cool...

& what is the Ideologic point???? I do not understand what your trying to say there..

It would be have been tolerable, however, if the peadophile and Kid 606 (I really don't understand that one) jokes were not included

the point to this review? - "they suck ass"? - nice
got a lot of time for these two performers - did well to get their profile raised last year, mainly off their own backs, after "thou shalt" sparked interest.
i hope the album does well - their songs are strong enough.
take off your uber-indie thick black rimmed spectacles before you write next time mr reviewer

then they have learnt a valuable lesson in life.

Don't pay attention to reviews. Any attention. Reviews are pointless. Reviewers are pointless.

Still - DvsVcSPD are pretty annoying.

point :D

i thought this too. Uhm...what?

toss album made almost likeable by missing-the-point-completely-and-flying-out-of-asrse-mouth-at-tangent terrible review.

I mean that seriously. I don't especially care for Dan Le Sac or Scroobius Pip but what was the point?

By which I mean a review is obviously primarily a guide to someone who might buy an album as to whether it's an album they should buy.

I mean Thou Shalt Not Kill was a real marmite song and obviously someone who disliked it wouldn't want to buy the album. As such this review serves no function - it speaks only to people who wouldn't want to buy it and obviously gives no information whatsoever to someone considering buying it as obviously they wouldn't hate the act as much as you do.

Don't get me wrong - your entitled to your opinion and that's fair enough. But I'm sure this act have had a good press from some DiSers. So what precisely made you want to take the time to spend three quarters of an hour listening to (and however much time writing a review for) an album you were always going to hate. And wouldn't it be far more informative to people who would consider buying the album to get an impression of how good it is from someone with a "neutral but would like it if it were good" perspective.

As it stands there's no objectivity, no information and this review, whilst admittedly mildly amusing, is just a waste of everyone's time.

i expect better from you

it seems like i have to defend Passantino in every one of his articles (not gay4him, honest), but you've kind of missed the point of the article. He doesn't provide "shud i buy or no?" reviews, and nor should he (or anyone else) be expected to. This is a broad discourse on a quite ambiguous topic (indie rap) attached to a key case study, and one handled in quite a reasonable fashion ("mildy racist, inverse snobbery" my left tit)

btw, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is perhaps the wackest thing i've ever heard. One can only imagine the rest of the record..

The problem is, Mr Reviewer, that you just don't GET it. Its not your fault. Now just pipe down a little and let others enjoy what is essentially an undemanding, fun record.

This isn't an article. It's a review. If this was an opinion column I'd completely agree with you but, as it is a review of a CD then writing a broad discourse on indie rap is basically failing to do what he's paid/volunteered to do.

First the regulars pick the bones out of the review wording without mentioning the quality of the record, and THEN the scenesters arrive like the Light Brigade.

seems like Dom has some damn fixed ideas about hip hop. What is and what isn't. And it seems that that kind of super inverted snobbery goes utterly against what hip hop was supposed to be.
Playful, adventurous, different. And a means of expression.

And as for the HILARIOUS wrongendofthestickisms when it comes to Sage. DO NOT get me started. Oh I have already.

Sage is a universe closer to true hip hop than the knocked off huh-yeah gruntings of Jay-Z, or the depressing thickaspigshit mumblings of most of the allegedly "real" black hip hop that comes from the states.

And if you buy into the videos of all hip hop since Dre, then you might think that shit is real/dope/authentic and strictly for black folks but sincerely, you are a twat. It is whitebread dumbshits from the midwest that buy most hip hop and it is agressively marketed to them by the major labels.

To think otherwise is hilarious.

If you think Sage has deserted the idea of a black audience, you are also wronger than I have patience to explain.
Maybe it just seems to you that by adding an intellectual level and returning to the idea of there being a point to hip hop, he is a world away from the stoned-to-oblivion suckmydick head nodding depressingly lowbrow hip hop mass culture.

Well he is. And all power to him.

Le Sac must have shagged his Missus.

Having said that, the album disappointed me so much I took it back to the shop.

scroobius pip probably listened to Sage before he was on epitaph.

This review read a bit like a 6th former trying to sound 'right on', but ends up sounding a bit silly.

From what i've heard there are some decent tunes and lyrics, and a few duff ones.

The way he goes through the whole song telling someone what to do, before the penultimate line: Thou shalt think for yourself.....

Oooopsie somebody missed the point there, ay Dom!?

it didn't have to be covered - why write a review for the sole purpose of slagging off an artist and being a total wanker with an overflexed vocabulary?

Thou Shall Not Kill is fucking atrocious so a 1/10 is not a surprise.

I've not heard anything other than THAT single and I will try to avoid their music forever as a result, but that's beside the point.

The reference to the Essex commuter belt is the most ignorant thing I've ever read in a review on this site. I doubt these blokes do have "the right to ordain what does and does (sic) fall under the jurisdiction of the ‘four elements of hip-hop’", but surely this is down to who they are/what they know, rather than where they're from? Or do you have to be from London/New York to have a valid opinion on music?

Ridiculous.

a little bit gay for him...

Thanks.

I didn't realise your geographical location was relevant to your views on anything. Dismissing someone's work because you think it's bad is one thing, but criticising them because you don't like where they're from or what they look like is idiotic, frankly.

Joe - www.anewbandaday.com

I would like to make a point about this review in relation to my own experiences of this pairs music. For what its worth.

Got free tickets to see them in Glasgow recently and, as with it seems so many of my friends of my age these days, am finding myself swiftly becoming one of the harshest critics of new music, finding almost all of it either too achingly fashionable, outright redundant/done before or simply so willfully obscure as to defy interest.

First spotted Mr. Pip himself standing appreciatively at the back of the crowd watching both support bands with a genuine appreciation and giving them rapturous applause. In fact it was this applause that made me notice him as he was standing right behind me.

He handled the drunken cloyings of numerous loud Glaswegian fans without a hint of annoyance and seemed genuinely appreciative that anyone would take the time to speak to him in even the faintest of positive manners. This in itself is fairly rare, but what I experienced when they took to the stage is even rarer.

I saw a genuinely passionate, skillful, and in places even moving performance. Their stage rapport showed consistently two guys having the times of their lives doing something they believed in, for better or worse, and who the hell is anyone to second guess their credentials and how they got to the point of making the music they do anyway? If you unravel that particular ball of twine for most "classic" bands and review them negatively on that basis you will be missing the point of some of the best music produced in the world for reasons that amount to little more than arrogance and elitist spite.

My problem is not that this reviewer does not like the album, everyone entitled to their own opinion and all that. I love it, but personally if I wanted to tear them to shreds I could criticise the odd clunky lyric, a pervasive element of arrogance (but what band who doesnt genuinely believe what they are doing is worthwhile wont come off as arrogant when caught by the wrong person on the wrong day? Especially by someone with their own misguided preconceptions and pigheaded prejudices before they have touched a keyboard) and Dan Le Sacs particular fondness of certain already over-used and slightly lazy beat effects (Suspect Ableton Live is to blame there), but to do this would be to miss the point and miss the ability of a whole to transcend the sum of its parts.

My problem with this review, (ignoring so many of the things already picked up on by other comments here) is that to build up such a ludicrously overblown steam of negativity (one so big as to dwarf my own truly horrific level of cynical hatred for most new music these days) as to call it not one of, but THE worst album of the year so far (don't even get me started on nominees for that particular list!) in any sense defies belief. Having seen the "glint in the eye" this reviewer missed on stage in front of my own eyes, I can only put this review down to extreme arrogance, a desire to be controversial for the sake of it or simple good old fashioned idiocy.

1/10? I may as well start reading fucking youtube comments for insightful and educated commentary.

I like your username

you'll learn.

You've used the phrase, "student union poetry slam" twice.

Don't give a fuck about the band or the review, but DiS seems to be balancing the really well-written, interesting reviews with ones like this and Khara's Kooks one. Amusing as they can be, I don't see much point to them. Save the slagging for the news articles, maybe?

...there shouldn't be any slagging in news. Well, maybe once or twice. Facts, yeah.

This: opinion. Read it, weep, joy or misery, whatever. One man's onion is another's arsehole. Or something.

My tuppence: this album is rank. 1/10 is harsh and played for FX. But still, it ain't good. Especially. Reviews like this stir the feedback above, which is key to the interactivity of this site - if you all agreed what'd be the point of having a comments function?

Peas.

...I STILL DON'T FUCKING GET THE KID 6O6 "JOKE"!?!

are a genius.

Gave Los Campesinos 9/10? Crikey. That's just indefensible. How could anyone who thinks DLSvsSP resemble a "student union poetry slam" also like a band who have a song called "Knee Deep at ATP"?

What an absolute joke of a review!!!
Some guys own personal hatred of DLS vs SP gives an extremely biassed review of the album!!
He doesnt even attempt to see the otherside of the arguement!!

Notice how the reviewer doesnt even dare touch upon "Angles" and "A letter from God", arguably the albums 2 strongest tracks!!! Why??? Because the review would know they would be prooven wrong!!!

This is what I dont like about DIS, its no longer abotu music reviews, its about pre-pubescent teenagers writing articles for their GCSE projects trying to fill it with as many "witty" metaphors as possible!!

ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS REVIEW!!!
shouldnt even be allowed on DIS!

but there is. How many Kooks articles have we endured?

don't like the album much, but if you're going to write a review like this at least make it funny...

...but I haven't been on DiS for a few days.
And what do I come back to?
This awful review.

See bother and pizz101 for shades of my argument for why this is crap.

From almost calling them racist to making a joke that nobody seems to understand about Kid 606 (?), this is, without doubt, the worst review I've read on this site.

I was fairly disappointed at first with this album, after seeing a really promising set in Benicassim last year. I like 'Thou Shalt...', unlike the majority of people reading this, it seems. Thought it was pretty funny actually, a list song but had some charm, etc etc.
That, tagged with the great little set in Benicassim last year made me possibly too excited about the album.

Now that I've given it a couple of listens, there are definite stand-out tracks, some great ideas, good and unique lyrics, alongside the odd dip in quality.

1/10?
You should have got your fix elsewhere. Satisfying your high-horse self-status is not what reviews are for.

I'm not an idiot and understand that reviews are for opinions but this particular review was just utter pish.

Haha
This fella aint a fan of the ole alnum is he?!
Nevermind though aye.
Just wanted to make two points though.
1) Im not a racist! I make music and write the only way i know how. I dont aim for any particular crowd. I will happily do a week long living exchange with anyone of any ethnicity though to give myself a little more credibility.
2) I love hiphop. Sadly i am too young and british to have been around when Gil Scott Heron dropped "No Knock" out of nowhere years before HipHop was even a concept, or when Kool Herc and Afrika used music to genuinely change the lives of so many people and did so literally on the streets. I have, however, had the pleasure of listening to them and slot of what they started on cd whilst riding around the Essex communter belt. On my unusually high horse.
Keep on trucking

Pip
x

a pretty epic DiS ruckus, huh?

Personally, I like the album a lot. Yes, it is a bit awkward, and that's one thing that makes it so special.

Also: "zero quoutables"? I love you Dom, but fuck off a bit. The chorus of Fixed, "if you can't forgive and forget then how's this, forget forgiving just accept and that's it", the entire of Development after the change up [Yes, ok, IF they were just saying Hip Hop needs to be smarter and sitting there and judging, I'd agree with you, but then they they go and fucking show how it's done] and lots of other moments are VERY quoutable.

Jesus wept.

Not since the early days of the Beastie Boys have I seen such a blatant example of a white journalist shuffling through their own racial insecurities, under the guise of assessing whether an artist is entitled to do "black" stuff in their music.

> "Two guys from the Essex commuter belt deciding that they have the right to ordain what does and does fall under the jurisdiction of the ‘four elements of hip-hop’..."

Methinks the pasty white college kid doth protest WAY too much.

Moreover, if Mr Passantino really feels the need to explore this line of thought - which at several points seems ready to explode into an excruciatingly insulting discourse on the natural riddim of the negro - wouldn't it be better to do so in the context of, say, a review of a HIP HOP album??

You know, as opposed to an electro album which owes infinitely more to continental European electro than American hip hop, and whose spoken-word vocal stylings are very obviously derivative of punk poet John Cooper Clark? All in all, not particularly hip hop.

Mr Passantino neatly sidesteps this problem by introducing the album as "rap music". I really thought that only white people over the age of 45 were allowed to do that.

Thanks for keepin it "racially awkward", daddio, and please stick to reviewing guitar bands.

It's a fucking great album.

as many other people have commented why give the review to someone who so clearly does not like the artist, not even that seems to hate them. that would be like giving me a Jay-Z album to review. As someone who very rarely likes hip-hop, due to the aforementioned guns bitches and bling aspect, or electro this album came as a breath of fresh air.

The reviewer seems to be saying 'unless your black you can't comment on hip-hop eh also seems to ahve missed the ironic undertones of most of teh songs. I do wonder if he listened to the album with a fair mind or had already made his mind up before listening to it.

Also no mention of 'Waiting For the Beat To Kick In', 'Angles' 'Letter From God To Man', 'Magicians Assistant' another sign he did not make it through the album. He might as well have, and actually seems to, have lifted this review wholesale from pitchfork. Lets just say DP will be treated with even more scepticism than usual.