It was catchy, it was daft, it was utterly forgettable lyrically. I mean, obviously when I first heard 'Bonkers', I loved it. Īnd the beats, once a staple of Dizzee and a large factor in all the praise he once gleaned, have been replaced with soul samples/light electronica that eventually explodes into euphoria/techno madness, more often than not. I know you're tired of the same old scenery Lyrical inaneness abounds, thanks to such masterful observations about the human condition like: These songs just seem like a track from the respective guest star, FEATURING Dizzee Rascal. See, I could forgive this if it SEEMED collaborative: A give-and-take and passing of ideas between two artists in sync, attempting to create a cohesive whole from both of their ideas. Likewise, Dizzee's been busy not (as once was the case) penning quality lyrics which snake around and throttle the already maniacal and thrashing beat, but instead collaborating with the likes of Armand Van Halen ('Bonkers'), Calvin Harris ('Dance Wiv Me'). He seems to be borrowing both ideas and narrative-voice from such dithering housewive's as Karin Slaughter - that ready-made, pre-packaged, easily-digestible style of writing is a million miles away from Bank's former hyper-literary and immensely-digressive style. 'Dead Air', on the other hand, is a cesspool of half-hearted ideas and a collaborative writting style which only serves to muddle the work as a whole.

Two pieces of work who's creators really got their views across in enjoyable, irrepresible burts of creativity.

'The Crow Road', much likes Dizzee Rascal's debut 'Boy In Da Corner', was never short on bizarre, inventive beats, odd melodies and a veritable ***load of character, never cracked or compromised for anything. I think you guys can see where I'm going with this. After re'reading them both again, 'The Crow Road', is now my absolute favourite work of contemporary fiction, an utter pleasure to read. I failed to understand either of them at the time - I found (as is the case with some of Bank's work) that they were too layered to really garner much on the first read through. 'Dead Air', is about a London-based radio DJ and his conversations both on and off the air A story which begins on 9/11. 'The Crow Road', if you're unfamilliar with it, is about a large and fairly affluent family in rural Scotland, and the narrator Prentice McHoan's journey of self-discovery, and the uncovering of numerous familial secrets. Guess which.Ī few years ago, I was reading two works of fiction from Scottish author Iain Banks (almost concurrently) 'The Crow Road', and 'Dead Air'. Review Summary: The title of Dizzee's new release is either incredibly self-aware, or incredibly pointless in it's attempt at self-awareness.

Dancing at the rascal fair review