Sach O hasn’t had much time to write recently but he’s been listening to a lot of interesting music. In an effort to clear his “albums to review” backlog, he’ll be rounding up the Spring’s bass music in short form.
The most interesting thing about Katy B is her girl-next-door appeal. In an era where pop-stars vacillate between being unbearable bitches, gay men’s acid trips and personality-free ice queens, the fact that Katy O’Brien wrote a song about dancing till closing time and rocked a sweatshirt (no Earl) in the video is mighty refreshing.
She keeps the local girl vibe going on On a Mission, mostly rocking UK Funky instrumentals courtesy of Rinse FM owner Geneeus, and Jungle survivor turned Crack House baron Zinc — producers who know when to let her do her thing and when to let the beat breathe. It’s a hard formula to screw up: even when the song-writing isn’t all there, the beats are light-years ahead of the Scandinavian drivel Britney’s rocking and Katy, while not exactly Adele, never gets in the way of her own success. On a Mission won’t change the world but if anyone is going to take this music Pop, it deserves to be Rinse and as usual, they’ve made sure things were done with care, class and love. I’ll take this summer record over James Blake any day.
Videos below the jump.
Download:
MP3: Katy B-“On a Mission”
