Earlier in the '90s, if the beats were funky, the scratching ferocious, and the rapping mediocre (or nonexistent) you could bet pound notes to crumpets you were listening to U.K. hip-hop. While U.S. hip-hop had gotten s-l-o-w and low (the better to accommodate its increasingly acrobatic wordplay), in Britain rock-the-house values still persisted. So now that fresh beats and turntablism have made a comeback stateside, old-skool Brit revivalists like the Wiseguys (a.k.a. … mehrTouche, a.k.a. Theo Keating) suddenly sound of the moment. On The Antidote, his sophomore effort, this wiseguy comes correct with an album that splits the difference between Fatboy Slim and Black Eyed Peas. The first single and second track, "Ooh La La," which accompanied a popular Budweiser commercial in Britain, boasts a chunky beat and a simple, mindless hook, setting the pattern that the rest of the album follows. It's a surefire formula, and Touche does it better than most--though a bit more of the fervid scratching that animates the leadoff track, "Re-introduction," might have made this Antidote even more soothing. --Jeff Salamon weniger
CD 1
01 - Re-Introduction
02 - Ooh La La
03 - We Be The Crew...
04 - Experience… mehr
05 - Cowboy '78
06 - Search's End
07 - The Grabbing Hands
08 - The Temple
09 - Start The Commotion
10 - Face The Flames
11 - Who The Hell?
12 - The Executives
13 - Au Pair Girls
14 - Production
15 - The Bounce weniger