Anti-Pop Consortium – Fluorescent Black

Fluorescent Black opens with a tumult of punk guitars and drums, coalescing into the electro-inflected bounce of Lay Me Down. From the offset, it’s clear that the time the band spent apart has seen a marked evolution in their flow and production. The rappers display a muscular use of double-time - something played with on their seminal Arrythmia LP, but perfected and reinvented here.

Cuts squarely aimed for the dancefloor like C Thru You effortlessly equal and surpass the bass weight and pace of the recent crop of BMore and electro-led rap: this is an album to play loud to sweaty crowds. The more experimental tracks, such as the stripped Timpani (which explodes into oddly-quantized techno); the G-Funk-inspired Volcano, and the space-crunk of The Solution are the highlights lyrically and sonically. The sheer weight of Get Lite, Capricorn One and the Roots Manuva-assisted NY To Tokyo mean this album is bound for a much broader appeal than its predecessor. The return of APC is triumphant: pitch-dark electro, evil bass, and scientific rapping – everything latter day hip-hop has been crying out for. [Bram Gieben]