Joker – The Vision

Joker's foray into longplayer territory mirrors that of fellow dubstep pioneers Skream, Benga and Artwork's Rubicon-crossing debut of last year, Magnetic Man. In a similar vein, The Vision finds Joker foregoing the dystopian grooves of his most celebrated cuts for something altogether brighter, the results of which depend entirely on your degree of prejudice towards the sploshes of funk, R&B and Radio 1ish fare filtered through his bass-conscious production.

Whatever the case, Joker's ear for a killer melody remains; Milky Way and My Trance Girl are spectaular insights into the album that this could have been. That said, The Vision's overreaching ultimately proves its undoing. Even at 12 tracks, the album feels bloated, torn as it is between Joker's bold pop nous and the accompanying apologetic concessions to 'the hardcore' (Lost, Back In The Days). Harsher critics will write this off as dubstep for the BBC3 generation, but taken as a computer-borne R&B record, you could do worse.