Si Begg - Director's Cut

Si Begg is an English electonic music dilettante who has established a reputation as a techno music outsider over the past decade. He has recorded for labels ranging from Ninja Tune to Tresor, and a lot of others inbetween, with aliases like Cabbageboy and S.I. Futures. Director's Cut for Novamute is the first he has released under his own name and seems to be an attempt to show off his versatility. Unfortunately, too many of the tracks here do not live up to the potential he has shown in some of his previous releases.

More than half of the tracks here are in the breakbeat techno vein he established with last year's S.I. Futures album on Novamute. "Body" kicks things off in simplistic jacking mode with a guest vocal from Chicago techno screwball DJ Rush. "Moveup" is a disappointingly restrained collaboration with UK rappers Toastie Taylor, Mr. Black, and Juice Aleem from the acclaimed Big Dada label. "Buss" even sees Begg dabbling in UK 2-step, but again I would expect someone with Begg's production expertise to bring a more original approach to the sound. "Thermostat" is probably my favorite amongst the breakbeat tracks.

With its funky jagged breakbeats and humongous sub-bass, it reminds me of the recent album by Ellen Allien on Berlin's Bpitch Control label.

My favorite tracks here were the two that were done in collaboration with vocalist Jinadu, "Colour" and "River." In these tracks, we see Begg bring his production skills to pop music and succeeding. "Colour" is a beautiful R&B track with quirky little production details helping it to stick out. But "River" was the real stunner. You wouldn't think that combining prog rock with subtle breakbeats could possibly work, but this track can really grow on you. Jinadu's voice is a wonderful tool to work with, and Begg fully utilizes it here.

There are also two fairly disappointing stabs at the kind of electrofied technowave that the Gigolo label has taken over the world with, but this kind of thing is less and less appealing to me the more I hear it. The final track "Time" is a nice ambient glitchy piece, but a disappointing vocal from Begg himself nearly ruins it. So, do I recommend this album? Yeah, if only for the tracks with Jinadu, but also because there's so many different styles on here that you might very well dig something that I did not.

I would like to see Begg focus more in the future on the things he does really well and set aside the rest.