Realistic Crew - Overcome

Sounding like Boom Bip if he'd spent some years drinking with gypsy caravans rather than listening to breakdance and rave, Realistic Crew are Hungary's most intriguing musical export. Taking out-of-focus snapshots of the likes of Amon Tobin and Massive Attack, they fuse drugged breakbeats with a static-drenched jazz trio and occasional lyrics from vocalist Dalma Berger and MC Zeek. Vocals are used sparingly though, in favour of instrumental soundscapes and unhurried experiments with texture. It's slightly disappointing that the lyrics are delivered in familiar English, as the rest of the band's sound is so uniquely experimental that the interplay of unfamiliar sound would elevate this to the level of genius that Cappablack achieve. Zeek's rhymes on Is it Own? are reminiscent of Dabrye's Air, but whilst the original achieves a dark sense of menace, Zeek slips into bluff posturing and moon-spoon-june playschool rhymes. With a visuals crew and a predilection for branching into improvised passages, Realistic Crew provide a live show that takes the hip-hop template and bends it into a new, multi-sensory experience. The lyrics may come into their own when delivered live, but mostly seem like an unsuccessful attempt to sell a leftfield group as a mainstream proposition. For the most part, this is not commercial music for radios, but an introspective piece of sound-art, and Overcome's melancholic vision of darkened cities and distorted lights is an intense trip to be savoured on big headphones in the early hours. [Liam Arnold]