AK1200

During the rise and levelling off of drum & bass, a rare few producers, like Roni Size or Goldie, managed proper albums. With only a spastic drumbeat and pummelling bass line to work with, it takes serious skill to build actual songs and not mere twelve-inch movements, and then do it a dozen times. Dave "AK1200" Miner, a Floridian DJ who was among the first American's to glom on to the nascent jungle scene a decade ago, is using his debut record, Shoottokill, to slip past the velvet rope and gain access to that exclusive club. But though it's a pretty solid collection, he might have to slip the bouncer a C-note to get in (sheesh, sorry for this crappy extended metaphor). AK has a well-developed sense of beat construction, and while there is nothing here as recognisable as a Reprazent bass line, there is a slight sense of individuality to the sonics. But he obviously has little confidence in his own skills, since he brought in a whole host of heavy-hitters to help out. Danny Breaks, Rob Playford, Dominic Angus and DJ Icey all jump behind the boards to build the drum patterns, while Terra Deva delivers a virtuoso drum & bass diva turn ("Fake"), Junior Reid drops some Rastafari science ("Junior's Tune) and both Phife Dawg and Last Emperor help bridge the jungle-rap gap (the latter's cameo on "Contact" works almost perfectly). But while AK is proud of not making yet another mix album, Shoot... sort of comes across like one anyway.