The end of the 20th century brought us the second and final album of one of the underdogs of electronic music; Leftfield´s Rhythm and Stealth is raw, precise and impressively advanced for its time.
Leftfield were Paul Daley (formerly A Man called Adam and Brand New Heavies) and Neil Barnes. After the 1995 multi-platinum debut album Leftism hit the UK scene the band digressed for a few years before responding at the end of the decade with their sharpest and unfortunately their last work.
Rhythm and Stealth was released in 1999, got to no. 1 in the UK albums chart and got shortlisted to the 2000 Mercury Prize Award.
It is beautiful to see the aging process of this record; it both aged pretty well and didn’t age at all. The album is a schizophrenic ride through both up and down tempo songs, from industrial scenarios to deep sounds, from dub to techno, and sounds in today’s terms like a meeting in an elevator between Modeselektor and Mount Kimbie.
Rhythm and Stealth had the most surprisingly effective collaborations, from the upcoming UK talent Roots Manuva in the skanking opener “Dusted”, to the legend Afrika Bambaataa in “Afrika Shock“, a big beat track and a future manifesto where we can hear that “the past has got to stop, the future’s got to rock”. From the voice of Nicole Willis in “Swords”, a dub and glitchy track, undoubtedly a trip-hop and IDM anthem, to “Chant of a Poor Man”, a powerful and mechanical dub track made in collaboration with Birmingham dub activist Cheshire Cat.
The raw and stealth attitude of the album is represented by “Phat Planet” and “Dub Gusset” as well as the pure Detroit minimal techno “Double Flash” and “6/8” that together create a dynamic duo on the album line-up.
“El Cid” and “Rhynos Prayer” with the voice of Rino are exactly the middle and last track of the album, proving once more the eclecticism and beat rate of this record. The dusty down tempo and white noise explorations, the deep and North African sounds and no-step rhythms close this masterpiece with a personality and a character that make this album unique.
When listening to Leftfield is easy to find similarities to their electronic music mates like Underworld, Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Massive Attack and even Smith and Mighty but their trip was shorter and somehow more iconic.
They originated a style of their own and managed to create the most futuristic amalgamation of sounds, going where no one had gone before.
Image courtesy of Hard Hands Records.
John
Dezember 6, 2011
great deadpan and backhanded video.