Shitmat,
the brainchild of British producer Henry Collins, specialized in spastic
drill'n'bass and digital hardcore peppered with Jamaican-style ragga shouting
on Killababylonkutz (2004), that contained multiple remixes of the same
song in completely different directions.
Original Babylon has booming bass lines and manic rhythm culled out of
videogame and telephone noise; and
On A Ragga Shit is even more intricate and chaotic.
Best is the combination of thundering rap and grenade-like
Tackhead-grade rhythms Rough Babylon
(with gloriously disorienting samples).
At the other end of the spectrum is the relaxed reggae shuffle
Ace Of Base Babylon and the comic collage
Amen Babylon.
This is possibly the greatest album of remixes in the history of hip-hop music.
The single Vengeance Of The Whitehawk Townies (2004) contains
the disco-music mash-up
That Goat's Skull Is No Good For Thirsty Psy-trance Workers in much
lighter vein.
Full English Breakfest (2004), originally released as five EPs,
lacks the cohesive frontal impact of the first album.
There is the hysterical Badman Ballad and the truly intimidating
Night Of The Scorpion Scumland Riders (easily the highlight
here).
The comic cartoonish vein is well represented by pieces such as
Dubplatter and UK Swampcore Sucks In Comparison To Techstep New Wave Psy-Jungle (the latter also a classy case of digital hardcore).
But the album as a whole pales in comparison with its predecessor.
It is fairly clear that Shitmat is aiming for the college party and the
generic dancefloor with the likes of
Dis Dancehall Ting Is Better Than That TV Ting Tony and
Full Sunken Breakfast.
Shitmat then converted to madcap mash-up breakcore collages on
Hang The DJ (2006), a wild and witty merry-go-round of samples from
such diverse sources as heavy metal and orchestral pop,
For one season this was a fashionable and fun listen, but fads change
quickly in the world of dance music.
What sounded irresistible in 2006 may sound tedious and trivial just five
years later.
Best is not so much the nine-minute tour de force
Radio Shitmat or the ideological manifesto
The Most Radical Free Party Since 1979
but a couple of surreal moments:
the musichall verve of Aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic
and the pounding polka of In A Previous Life I Was An Onion Sandwich.
One Foot In The Rave (Planet Mu, 2009) returned the original ragga and
drill'n'bass program.