Dusk & Blackdown vs. Grievous Angel

The original Margins Music was a kaleidoscopic trip through London's contemporary bass byways. Its samples of South Asian elements, grimy textures and other cultural signifiers took on, and defeated, any charges that such interpolations were mere tourism into other cultures. The linchpin of the album's success, and with any music that samples "foreign" elements, is how the samples and music work together rhythmically, sonically and above all, as successful songwriting elements. And that's where this Redux project runs into problems. The samples now sound out of place, with the pinging and popping of the new beats supplied by Grievous Angel. The barely warm austerity of the originals is moderately hyped up, but lost is the trance-y sense of occasion and exploration that so characterized the originals. There are good moments here, usually when the remixes become fully established, as in "Northside Cheng," but this mix doesn't transcend its source material.