Blank Slate 014 - Big MeanSound Machine (Blank Slate)

Title: Blank Slate 014

Artist: Big Mean Sound Machine

Label: Blank Slate

Cat Number: Blank Slate 014

Genre: Afrobeat

A1: Triple Bacon

A2: The New Filth

A3: Sharks

B1: Mirko’s Edit

B2: Rene Audiard’s Remix

In what amounts to something of a paradigm shift for Blank Slate, the afrobeat sounds of Big Mean Sound Machine are given free rein on 014. ‘Triple Bacon’ is the most obvious sounding cut here, with both ‘The New Filth’ and ‘Sharks’ going down a dubbier, occasionally big band route. ‘Mirko’s Edit’ is a more crystalline, but sparser feeling version of ‘Triple Bacon’, while ‘Rene Audiard’s Remix’ puts us in more familiar Blank Slate territory, albeit embellished with discordant brass instead of his more familiar abstractions. There’s also a Lalo Schifrin feel to this release in parts, which is nice.