Amazing. From the lush beginnings of ‘Perforated’ to the frenetic finale of ‘The Epic Last Song’, Outside the Box is a pleasure to behold. Somehow richer than his self-titled debut, Skream’s sound has matured to positive effect, offering sweeter melodies, deeper pads and a new dimension of gorgeous vocal presence. Tracks such as ‘How Real’ featuring Freckles and ‘Where You Should Be’ featuring Sam Frank are testament to the evolution of his style and the rhythmic fluidity of the album as a whole. Similarly, his collaboration with dBridge and Instra:mental on ‘Reflections’ and the appearance of 8-bit infused roller ‘Listenin to the Records on My Wall’ displays a versatility which has become increasingly evident in his work with Magnetic Man. This is no surprise as Skream’s involvement in the development and innovation of dubstep is undeniable and I believe that from every angle Outside the Box is another step in the progression of the genre’s unspoken yet over-arching blueprint.

With all this talk of maturity and change you could be forgiven for thinking that raw edge of old was gone, but that is certainly not the case. Nastiness is still a tangible force in Skream’s world and ‘Wibbler’ delivers enough to venom to down a herd of elephants mounted by Ghurkas on crack. There are also plenty of other tunes, such as ‘Fields of Emotion’, ‘The Epic Last Song’ and ‘CPU’, offering up their fair share of booming low-end masochism, so bass is by no means scarce. At the opposite end of the scale, aperitif ‘Perforated’ introduces us to the action with a largely percussion free soundscape and ‘A Song for Lenny’ acts in a similar fashion as a light interlude before ‘The Epic Last Song’ executes the firework finish. These two particular tunes are a fine example of the album’s lavish musicality and Skream’s new attention to atmosphere and majesty.

I literally have nothing bad to say about this album. It is a tour de force and should be lauded as such. I just hope the genre elitists can handle listening to it knowing everyone else loves it too. It’s incredible.

Skream – How Real (feat.Freckles)

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Buy Outside the Box at 7digital.

SBTV never fails to bring the goods and yesterday they characteristically delivered, uploading a video of Crazy Titch discussing the forthcoming Crazy Times Vol. 2 mixtape and the current grime scene in general. It’s a phone interview — because, you know, he’s in prison — so the quality isn’t exactly amazing, but if you hold your earlobes like an incompetent talent show contestant, most of it’s audible. It runs just over 20 minutes and is definitely worth getting your ears around, especially for the nuggets of respect afforded to Dizzee ya get me? I’m hyped for this mixtape…

Sick freestyle from the first Crazy Times:

Crazy Titch Freestyle 4

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I like Minilogue, I like Extrawelt and I also think Leopards are pretty fucking cool. Basically, this track has all the components it needs to leapfrog the other crap I rifle through and firmly position itself at the forefront of my existence. I guess the fact that it’s an amazing tune also helps…although not as much as the leopard thing, they sit in trees a lot and sometimes they eat monkeys. Monkeys are basically stupid people with cute faces.

Anyway, spacious and impelling, the distinctive clarity of Extrawelt’s percussion enhances Minilogue’s ambient leanings, giving birth to the reason I think minimal is sick. This song is better than the time I found a bucket and spade in Cornwall and spent the day building sandcastles with my childhood friend Elijah, who definitely exists because I have lots of friends…honestly…loads…

I have no idea how old this is, chances are it’s pretty ancient but it’s still worthy of a post. Listennnn!

You may remember Daichi from his awesome Beatbox Battle Wildcard video which was inexplicably beaten by the fairly mediocre effort from Julia Dales. Thankfully, his loss hasn’t held him back and here he is performing the theme tune from Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro. All I can say is daaaayum, what a beautiful little song it is.

I like talent, I wish I had some…

We here at Box Musique have long been advocates of Donald Glover, both as producer mcDJ and rapper Childish Gambino. It is under the latter persona that he has released his latest — and once again completely free — album. Entitled Culdesac, the 15 track release is musically superior to anything else he has ever put out and is packed with tongue-in-cheek wit, mad little rhymes and some damn good tunes. Highlights include ‘Put it in My Video’, ‘Let Me Dope You’, ‘Fuck It All’ and ‘The Last’, but to be honest, the whole album is pretty sick. The only song I’m not keen on is ‘I’m Alright’ which doesn’t quite flow as well as some of the other tracks, but at just under two minutes long it seems to act as more of an interlude than a major player anyway.

Basically, I’m loving it and I still can’t believe it’s free…the world needs more artists like this. The world needs less Bono too, but I guess that’s kind of unrelated. Fucking Bono.

Childish Gambino – Put it in My Video

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Listen to and download the entire album for free at the official site.

I’m not a big fan of Eminem’s recent stuff, I think he’s lost his edge a bit and ‘Not Afraid’ is pretty poor by any standard. I still, however, deem him to be one of the greatest lyricists ever to walk the damn planet and have recently returned to rinsing Infinite. The title tune is amazing and seems to inspire a strange sense of nostalgia in me, or at least that’s what I think it is. Who knew there was anything left in this cold, dead heart? When it beats it rattles around like a walnut in a wooden box…