Hawnay Troof - Dollar & Deed

Vice Cooler (AKA Hawnay Troof) spits in a pitched whine, his lyrics a bizarre mixture of confessional, manifesto, celebration and defiant fuck-you. His beats clatter in a lo-fi, Rephlex way: chittering samples and keyboard grooves spill across thumping kicks and bass. This is heavy, out-there electro with punk tendencies - artfully messy, intricate and textured. Vice is a yelping, polysexual lounge lizard-cum-street preacher. It is clearly not for everyone, but the sheer exhilaration of We R We, the fuzzed-out moodiness of The Sound of Cathedral, or the bubblegum riot of People Talk and Bad News From The Stars are undeniably unique. His only musical kin are renegades like M.I.A. and Spank Rock, producers like Jel and Madlib, musical scientists like Sonic Youth. Like them, Hawnay Troof is a total anomaly. 'Dollar & Deed' will get in your face, steal your ears, and alienate your neighbours. An all too brief double album, it is in a brilliant class of its own. [Bram Gieben]