Virus Syndicate - The Breakout Trilogy

Virus Syndicate’s The Breakout Trilogy is the result of the unholy alliance between brain pummelling Planet Mu producer MRKI and three grime MCs from Manchester. Vibrator is bug-eyed dubstep, complete with alien death-ray sub bass and rapid fire raps. Whilst Hijack boasts a brutal kuduro beat, and Anything is bleepy, deep groove loveliness, the standout track is surely Talk To Frank. Sampling Pablo the talking dog from the Talk to Frank advert (yes, David Mitchell and dubstep is a marriage made in heaven), it contains the satirical drug-dealer boast ‘you can say no, you don’t have to get high, it’s cool…but I got flake, blues, MDMA and Peruvian nasal fuel’. Ignoring the anti-woman moan Crazy (which, at the very least, puts a quintessentially Northern spin on hip-hop misogyny), The Breakout Trilogy showcases that Manchester can trump London for grime, eschewing brap-brap in favour of wit, self-awareness, and social conscience.[Joe Barton]