With Grime becoming all the British rage, what’s an old-schooler from Brixton to do? Awfully Deep marks the third album for Roots Manuva, the undisputed king of Brit-Hop, and rather than speeding up, he slows things down—even coming off sounding a bit winded, dropping some surprising lines on “Colossal Insight”: “This may well be / my last LP / I’ve had a good run / made a few Gs… Now I want to rest my / knobberly knees.”  At the same time, he’s as laidback as ever, taking his brand of dub-wise hip-hop in different directions, experimenting with some pseudo-spoken word and strange brews on tracks like “Rebel Heart.”

Not surprisingly, Roots Manuva sounds his best when he’s asserting himself apart from youngsters.  Compared to that other South London crossover star, M.I.A., Roots Manuva comes off infinitely smoother and cooler when he sticks to the old formula: a heavy bass line to match his distinctive heavy baritone, best exhibited in the dancehall-classic style of “Move Ya Loin,” or the sprite opening “Mind 2 Motion.”  The best bouncer comes during the all-too-short interludes “Pause 4 Cause” and “Cause 4 Pause,” with a bass beat that could keep the club nodding the whole night. (BS)

Another year, another Murphys, so why make a fuss, right? The Warrior’s Code kicks in with a rousing anthem, which begins quiet and explodes and mines the Clancy Brothers catalogue for another punk/jig. Why care?

Aside from the ancient tune “Tessie” (Red Sox anthem from the turn of the last century), this is pure hard Celt-punk. But they have thrown in a few oddball wrinkles, including a hilarious slap at Emo-types (“Wicked Sensitive Crew”) and a droning lament called “The Burden” that could have come from Lou Reed, circa 1974—either they’re acknowledging the outside world at last or they’re plumb tired of their formula.

Pounding and roiling as always, with bellowed baritone vocals above the mess, it’s more of the same from the pride of the Boston suburbs. It will change no one’s mind in the positive and negative sense, but since when is that so bad? (JA)

The second volume of Represent Music’s reggae compilation series comes to us courtesy of label CEO and Hartnell student Jason Hobbs. Yet in contrast to last year’s Skankin’ Cali comp, 20Twenty offers a sampling of bands throughout the United States (and one band from Portugal,) and widens the stylistic palette considerably.  From the oft-imitated Brad Nowell dub-wise rock twinged with hip-hop (Horizen of Florida) to a sprinkling of Billie Joe Armstrong (Atlanta’s Where’s Tallulah) and even some shades of Henry Rollins (Cali Nation, Chicago’s Cosmic Haze) Hobbs complies an unrestricted cast of modern-day reggae.  

A few slick cuts make for pleasant surprises: most notably, the inclusion of the excellent title track from the reggae-circuit veterans Mystic Roots’ 2000 breakthrough album, Constant Struggle. Otherwise, there’s a distinct garage-band quality that runs through many of the tracks—grungy distortion guitar solos, laid-back fuzzy basslines, unpolished lead vocals. Several tracks do reveal true pre-breakout masterminds, including Darth Vato of Texas, who disguises a breakup song in a memorably clever ode-to-the-self in “Havoc.” Like volume one, the tie that binds is the impressive freshness of these underground bands—the youthful, positive energy of independent music. (BS)