Review

Mark de Clive Lowe: Renegades (Tru Thoughts)

It’s not easy to constantly put out good music, but that’s exactly what Mark de Clive Lowe has been doing for years. Mark’s latest album "Renegades" is another piece of work that falls into this category.

This is his ninth album, no easy feat in this day and age but what an album it is too. A real musical spectrum spanning jazz, funk and broken beat aplenty, this long player is a real treat for the ears! I’m a huge fan of the broken sound, so for me personally this is going to get a lot of attention on my iPod.

Things kick off with a lovely flute led intro, before going into the more 4/4 based and superb "Get Started" featuring Omar. Hypnotic and catchy are the first two words that come to mind when listening to this.

There really is something for everyone on this package and with 14 songs, it represents real value for money. A whole plethora of instruments have been used on this album too, from inviting flute sounds, to synth based leads and some seriously brilliant percussion and it feels very, very cohesive.

Every track has been crafted and honed to perfection and in my opinion is a masterpiece of work. The utterly amazing "Under Orders" which features the distinctly British voice of Tawiah, wouldn’t have sounded out of place at Co-op back during the broken heyday.

It’s quite difficult to draw comparisons to other artists, as MDCL has really stamped his name all over this piece of work and a very individual piece of work it is too. But if I were to try and draw some comparison, I’d say I haven’t been this excited about an album since Bugz in the Attic’s ground breaking "Back in the Doghouse."

I can’t stop listening to this, which could be a problem when I have other music to review! If you like the broken and soulful sound, you will love this album, it is faultless and a pleasure to listen to.
Words GARETH MORGAN