This is the second album from a Brighton-based musical collective named after Jelly Roll Morton's jazzy piano standard whose sound is accurately described "a heavy gumbo of ska, dub and socially aware hip-hop".
Their main vocalist is MC Jonezy, the type of motormouth singer who,to borrow a line from Jake Thackray's On Again, On Again "Will never use three or four words when a couple of thousand will easily do".
The title track is about surviving the rat race "avoiding the hussle" and in Hot Coals the singer frets about ending up in a "musical graveyard.....corrupted by this self-destructive manifestation of the ego".
His wordy raps are delivered over funky danceable rhythms that makes them sound like a Specials style party band with attitude. The horn section appear to be constantly on the verge of blasting out the theme to Hawaii-Five-O or the Batman TV series.
An added touch is the guest vocal spots for steam punk rapper MC /Prof Elemental and Faye Houston on the reggae-fuelled final track Mama Needs A Hand.
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It's all very fast and frenzied and a little overwhelming at times. It's as if they're afraid that quieter moments will break up the momentum or else signify that they're going soft.
The breakneck speed of Jonezy's words are justified in Let It All Out when he sings:"ain't no time for life on stand by" (Let It All Out).
The sheer energy of the album carries you along but, at the same time, the mash-up of styles has all the subtlety of a musical juggernaut. This vehicle is as likely to crush you under its wheels as it is to carry you off to interesting destinations.
King Porter Stomp's website
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