kahn & neek: lupus et urpus

What a treat this is - A MUCH needed vinyl outing for Kahn & Neek's debut LP - Double disc business here and includes a risograph printed insert - don't sleep on this! The long-awaited debut album from Young Echo / Bandulu dons Kahn & Neek is here - Lupus et Urpus is the name, and it contains 13 tracks of baddest vibe grime, kaleidoscopic rhythm, melody and tripped out soundsystem sonics.... A nice twist up of experimental / and straight up gunfinger material.... We still remember bumping into the two outside of our building (they had their studio just a few metres away from our front door) in recent years, from time to time - asking them 'when's that album coming then?'. Well now we can finally shut up, because it's here in all its glory. And it's been worth the wait - it feels like the time it took, was taken for a reason, in order to let the sound grow and expand from the earlier, more straight up bristol grime sound they had already mastered and accomplished, in favour of a more sonically expansive, extra-warped aesthetic and sound palette. Tempos lock in from slower stepping type vibes, up to the good ol' 140bpm mark (it just works, doesn't it?). Overdriven square waves or 808s make way for twisted, far-out samples that remind us of O$VMV$M's finest works, and on some of the tracks we're lured into subtle shifts of melody and rhythm, in favour of big drops geared for the wheel up. The end result is a true 'album' in the sense that it demands repeated exploration, to familiarise yourself with the sound and the mood, and to dive into the details. Don't get us wrong, the heritage of grime and dancehall is still in homage here, and there are some proper no fuss 'bangers' on here too. Big players of the scene such as Riko Dan, Flowdan, Killa P and Young Echo brother Rider Shafique all feature, often in combination, on some interjections on this album, for extra measure and to keep a balance between the worlds of say, Bandulu and Young Echo.... Even RWDFWD's very own (we miss you) Franco Franco graces the mic in italiano on big standout cut 'What's The Secret'.... A nice portrayal of the melting pot that exists due to a pretty tightly knit scene in Bristol here, tied through knots like Young Echo and Avon Terror Corps. On Rider Shafique's 'Shallow Grave' cut, he directs a typically righteous, forward moving message in his singular style, lending a real sense of 'presence' over a track that leans into sparse o.g kahn / gorgon territory. It's still 'dread & doom' really, but we dare say this one kind of provides a sense of upliftment... That's just before opening up into a vortex for the last seconds of the track, leading right into the next, dizzying cut - 'Space Mutiny'. This one is a big one to our ears, for it's bruised sense of euphoria, and just a very deft sense of harmony and lean rhythmics. The pacing of the album is excellent too - weirder, more insular moments serve as interjections for the mind to wander, just before you get dropped back on earth, and greeted with a slap to the face, either sonically, or lyrically, from a gang of London MCs dropping bars on the mic... Then, the ride continues through more worlds within... It's a vast and bold world they've built here, but for all it's freak element, it still feels rooted and grounded in the continuum of grime, and dubstep, just with evn more particular Kahn & Neek spice in the mix - Basially, it still holds true, even more so even, that nobody is sounding quite like them, unless they're copy cats... And in the copy cats case, they're about to have to work harder in order to replicate this new sound world of Lupus et Urpu