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Deep Down & Dirty

(Universal)

After a nine-year hiatus, the cockney Brit-hop merchants finally get around to releasing another album. Perhaps the baggage of the 1990s' most overplayed song, the inspirational Connected, has weighed too heavily on them. Was it worth the wait? Well, almost. Deep Down & Dirty contains some well-crafted tunes, but it's not the magnum opus many were hoping for.

The music-scape is now worlds away from the late 80s and early 90s when the Stereo MC's were London's riposte to the Madchester scene. Massive Attack, The Prodigy et al changed that. So while the Stereos have maintained their eclectic, funky brand of hip-hop/dance, it doesn't sound anywhere near as fresh.

On the latest outing, there's the usual mix of styles, tempos and instruments as they criss-cross genres. Rapper Rob Birch sounds his old self on the opening title track and over a piano riff on We Belong In This World Together.

Meanwhile, the vocoders over the scratching on Breeze makes them come across like a jazzed-up, tripped-out Daft Punk, which is no bad thing. There's a similar vibe on Unconscious, another of the album's more mellow moments and one of its high points. On balance, Deep Down & Dirty scrubs up quite well.

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