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Muggs - Dust (Anti-)

Yes, this is the same Muggs who was in Cypress Hill, but it's also not the Muggs. It's the same man, but his mind is not in the same place anymore. Believe me, this is not what anyone was expecting. There is no hip-hop here. Instead, what we've got on our hands is an album that is full of down-tempo, haunting, melodic and burned out psychedelic tracks. It's full of dark twists and surprising passages.

Turn on 'Tears' and be astounded by the cruising bass line, the soothing samples and the breathy, whispered female vocals. This is a lot closer to Massive Attack than it is to anything Cypress Hill ever released. As a song, it's genius, building on repeated patterns and ringing guitar notes. The sort of song that makes you sway, then it fades out; a great piece of music. 'Cloudy days', with its solitary arpeggio, acoustic guitar line over an electronic soundscape builds the mood even further. Then it's gone and you're thrown into the wide open space that is the piano led, gentle rocker 'Fat city'.

There's so much variety here, it's great. There's everything from the urban trip-hop feel of 'Rain', to the pulsing electronic rock (think Garbage's first album) of 'Believer', the downbeat Aphex Twin-like electronic tomfoolery of 'Blip', then there's 'Gone for good' with vocals kindly provided by Everlast (House Of Pain, Everlast). His voice sits snugly with the purring, burned out bass lines, humming guitars and DJ scratches. Now try and imagine this. You ever wonder what would happen if you put Munky and Head from Korn in a room with Massive Attack? You'd probably end up with 'Dead flowers'. It's got a sexy female vocal and a trippy verse that implodes on itself to become a psychedelic rock song.

What's really astounding and what you have to keep reminding yourself is that this is the Muggs from Cypress Hill, actually no, just forget about that. Come to this album as a music fan, don't try to second guess what's going to happen and appreciate it for what it is. You won't be disappointed.

Ken McGrath

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