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Freestylers: We Rock Hard

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Friskanova Records
Released: 1998.06.14
Time:
 71:23
Category: Electronica
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: *****..... (5/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.freestylers.co.uk
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2001.11.07
Price in €: 1,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Freestyle Noize - 5:36
[2] Dance Hall Vibes - 6:17
[3] Drop the Boom (Baker) - 3:01
[4] Don't Stop - 4:20
[5] Here We Go - 4:56
[6] B-Boy Stance - 4:21
[7] We Rock Hard - 7:10
[8] Breaker Beats, Part 1 - 4:36
[9] Spaced Invader - 7:19
[10] Ruffneck (Harvey) - 5:43
[11] Feel the Panic (McLean/Ridenhour) - 5:57
[12] Check the Skillz (Cantor/Harvey) - 7:10
[13] Warning (Harvey) - 4:57

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


DEFINITION OF SOUND - Performer
NAVIGATOR - Performer
SOUL SONIC FORCE - Performer
TENOR FLY - Performer
ANDY KOWALSKI - Engineer
LUKE GIFFORD - Engineer
PHIL KNOTT - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1999 CD Mammoth 980200
1999 LP Mammoth 980200
1999 CS Mammoth 980200



On this side of the Atlantic, when it comes to electronica, we want instant gratification, big hooks and beats, stoopid-fresh funkiness and little fuss about art. London's Freestylers fit the bill. Alternating groove-intensive instrumentals with rap-ragga vocal numbers, this sprawling collective aims to get you freakin' on the floor, and anything less is a failure. We Rock Hard isn't much of a listening album: The rhymes are kinda corny, the arrangements often lack depth. But the welcome return of electro pioneers Soul Sonic Force on the show-stopping title cut proves how this mix of live performance and sample lust combines newfangled rhythmic revivalism and old-school people-pleasing until present and past merge into one big booty-breaking party. If this won't make you spin on your head, nothing will.

BARRY WALTERS - RS 813
© Copyright 2001 RollingStone.com



Though it's more of a run through their back-catalogue than a proper debut, We Rock Hard comes through on the title's claim, with little of the push-button, big-dumb-techno aspects of most big-beat acts. Focusing on electro, ragga, breakbeat and a closing jungle workout ("Warning") with chatting by MC Navigator, the Freestylers up the ante for Britain's old-school big-beat merchants.

John Bush - All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Like Fatboy Slim, Asian Dub Foundation, and even Definition of Sound (who show up on "Here We Go," We Rock Hard's anthem), the Freestylers are creatures of the club scene. Their live show is DJ-oriented but involves dancers and rappers; on their debut album, the Freestylers endeavor to layer their music with history (the opening track samples not one but three Public Enemy tracks), big beats, and funky melodies--if they can help it, you're not going to stop dancing for a second. Working with guest MCs keeps the tracks fresh, but if you're not an aficionado of the scene the Freestylers come out of, you might not notice; there's diversity here, but it's subtle. Ultimately, the album falls into a ghetto: it's not quite obvious enough for the casual fan, but it's nowhere near out-there enough for serious crate diggers; fortunately, there are plenty of people who enjoy the middle ground. If you're one, then We Rock Hard is for you.

Randy Silver - Amazon.com



Wie schon Fatboy Slim, die Asian Dub Foundation und sogar Definition of Sound (die hier bei "Here We Go" auftauchen, der großen Hymne auf We Rock Hard), sind auch die Freestylers Geschöpfe der Clubszene. Ihr Live-Act ist DJ-orientiert, sie haben aber auch Tänzer und Rapper. Auf ihrem Debütalbum kramen die Freestylers in der Musikgeschichte: Das Eröffnungsstück hat nicht nur eines, sondern gleich drei Public-Enemy-Samples, Beats, und funkige Melodien. Wenn es an den Jungs läge, würden Sie keine Sekunde mit dem Tanzen aufhören. Die Arbeit mit den Gast-MCs bringt Frische in die Nummern. Wer kein absoluter Liebhaber der Freestylers-Szene ist, dem fällt es vielleicht gar nicht auf: Hier gibt es jede Menge Vielfalt, aber alles sehr subtil. Im Grunde begibt sich das Album in eine Art Ghetto: Nicht klar offensichtlich für den eher beiläufigen Fan, aber auch nicht annähernd ausgefallen genug für den ernsthaften Schatzgräber. Zum Glück gibt es eine Menge Leute, die die Linie der Freestylers mögen. Wenn Sie zu denen gehören, dann ist We Rock Hard ihre Platte.

Randy Silver - Amazon.de



Throughout music history, many a British recording artist has plundered the American songbook. If you'll recall, the Beatles and the Stones learned their schticks and got their hits by co-opting the works of Chuck Berry and Howlin' Wolf. London's Freestylers appropriate U.S. musical idioms with similar finesse. On their impressive debut album, they hang in a B-boy stance, exhibiting the authority of kids who grew up in an apartment above a record shop in the South Bronx. While many of the Freestylers' U.K. clubland contemporaries have expanded the parameters of hip-hop, 'Stylers masterminds Aston Harvey and Matt Cantor steadfastly preserve the big-beat movement's early-'80s, electro-funk roots. Fueled by hearty samples from the Wild Style soundtrack, Ultramagnetic MC's and Public Enemy, the Freestylers' kinetic breakbeats take rave culture on a joyride through the graffiti-stained 'hoods and alleyways of rap culture's origins. Along the way, the group takes detours into battle-rhyming, dancehall toasting and jungle. Now where did we put that old boombox?

Ron Hart - May 10, 1999
CMJ New Music Report Issue: 617 - © 1978-2001 College Media, Inc., Inc. All Rights Reserved.



A thing that struck me about the Freestylers latest release was the lack of freestyling on the album. What did get me was the extremely splendid use of dance beats and percussion. This band seems to have the whole WE ROCK HARD thing embedded into their heads. On the albums opening track the hook is a simple "hey hey hey hey hey..." coupled with a very eastern sounding horn of some sort. The album doesn't let up for one minute on the dancebeats. Tenor Fly lends his lyrical stylings to "Dancehall Vibes," the albums second track, and again on "B-Boy Stance". Navigator shows up on a few tracks ("Warning" and "Ruffneck"... the albums first single). Though the songs are very intricately crafted with synthesizers and drum machines, Freestylers can't seem to stop saying their own name...song after song Freestylers... Freestylers... Freestylers. Well, I guess they don't want you to forget who you are listening to. I'll give it a C.

Chris Paules
Copyright © 2001, In Music We Trust, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Der Londoner Schmelztiegel, immer gut für Innovation, kocht mal wieder über. Erhitzt vom Junglefieber befruchten sich die Stile so fruchtbar wie selten zuvor. Bands wie TransGlobal Underground und die Asian Dub Foundation bewegen sich ungezwungen zwischen Break Beat und Hip Hop, House und Weltmusik. Jetzt fügen Matt Cantor und Aston Harvey mit ihrer elfköpfigen Band "Freestylers" eine weitere Spielart hinzu. Sie nennen es "Big Beat". Beträchtlichen Wirbel gab es bereits vor dem Erscheinen von "We Rock Hard". Das nicht autorisierte "Wonderwall"-Sample auf "B-Boy Stance" wurde nach genüßlichem Streit mit den Gallaghers gestrichen. Aber auch ohne die Schnulze im Refrain trieben der wuchtige Beat und die coolen Samples die Vorabveröffentlichung hoch in die britischen Dance- und Clubcharts. Dort ist jetzt auch "Ruffneck" angelangt, ebenfalls von "We Rock Hard", dem aufregenden Erstling der Freestylers. "Breaker Beats Part 1" wechselt nach Rap-Einleitung, Bläsersatz und gesampleter Stimme die Farbe, wenn plötzlich die Gitarre Melodie und die Hammond Fläche gibt. Noch schroffer sind nach schaukelndem Beginn die Kanten von "Scratch 22", da lösen auch mal aus irgendeinem Videospiel gesampelte Faustschläge die Drums ab. Gelegentlich nervt housebackene Langeweile, aber dann kommt gleich "Ruffneck" mit konsequent entwickelter Eigenwilligkeit und alles wird gut. "We Rock Hard" ist vielleicht ein bißchen übertrieben. Wenn sie aber weiter so unter Einsatz von Gitarre, Bläsersätzen, Rap oder Vocals und aller möglichen Späße den Groove vorantreiben, dürfen sie’s meinethalben auch weiter "Big Beat" nennen.

Joachim Gauger
© 1998-2001 SEITENBAU online agentur. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.



Today was a good day to do laundry. The temperature was a bearable 79F, humidity was low, it was breezy, and every piece of clothing I own was dirty. Really dirty. Y'know when you don't do laundry for, like, two months and it just gets all sick and nasty? People be comin' over, "Man, wasn't that the same Jon Spencer shirt you were wearing yesterday?" Oh, you can act like you're all Mr. Clean and shit, but everybody hates to do laundry. Fact of life. Just going into it, I knew five huge trash bags full of clothes were gonna take at least three hours to wash, and cost upwards of $15.00 at the Ashland Wash Lavendaria. I had some time to kill. So, after I threw in the almighty first load, I walked down a couple blocks to my local inner- city Walgreen's for something to read. Have you ever seen the magazine selection at an inner- city Walgreen's? They don't exactly stock Martha Stewart's Living. There was not a white boy rag to be found-- no Spin, no shitty Alternative Press, not even a goddamned Rolling Stone. I settled for Vibe and the Source. My findings were that Vibe isn't all that hot-- a good feature here and there, average reviews, a lot of Silvertab ads. But the Source is something different altogether. Y'know, I like hip-hop-- I really like it. Rap is good, too, if it's good rap. (Don't give me none of that wack-ass Will Smith shit.) The Source whoops on a llama's ass. It's funny as hell. Or maybe it's just that I'm a suburban white kid that's not familiar with the slang, like the first time you heard a British guy say "bollocks." But there's something about hip-hop termage that bowls my ass over. Here was the really interesting thing about these magazines, though: there were hundreds of ads for turntable equipment. Only makes sense, right? The two go hand- in- hand. But what's the deal with Ministry of Sound teaming up with hard liquor companies? Or a Jamiroquai interview? Or Matador Records advertising the release of their forthcoming Arsonists record? Where does the line between big beat & electronica and hip-hop & rap blur? Is it possible that the future could bring huge features on Amon Tobin, Bentley Rhythm Ace, or (apocalypse alert) Air (French Band) in the predominantly No Limit- focused media?

I haven't paged through the two magazines enough to see whether or not there's a write-up on the Freestylers, but if there is, it doesn't belong. Not because the stuff is essentially just average big beat, but because their sound isn't exactly the freshest thing to hit the streetz this year. There's no denying that the guys behind the Freestylers moniker have been deeply immersed in Britain's dance scene for ages. The three founding members, Matt Cantor, Aston Harvey and Andrew Galea, had all dropped their own records by the early 1990s, and the band has even pushed out several Top 40 crossover hits in the U.K. The problem is, their latest full- length, We Rock Hard, sounds as stale as last week's toast crumbs. Right off the bat, these guys practically scream predictibility. From the faux- urban packaging, to song titles like "Drop the Boom" and "Spaced Invaders," to the five middle- aged white guys on the record's cover, it's clear that this is another "musically diverse" big beat offering with side orders of hip-hop, reggae, and cliche. And it is. The beats are substandard, meaning "not original," the shoutouts are completely obvious (the track "Here We Go" features the band in a sparkling moment of genius, yelling-- you guessed it-- "Here We Go"), and even their samples (all from songs by Public Enemy) are played out. And does anyone wanna hear some guy with an affected Jamaican accent rap over this garbage? Does anyone wanna hear these guys sing such mind- numbing drivel as "Here we go on a ride with the new Freestylers/ (Here we go, here we go!)/ Freestylers/ (Here we go, here we go!)" in thick, bloody English accents. People, do I have to plead? Don't buy it!

Ryan Schreiber - © Copyright 2001, Pitchforkmedia.com.



Oh yeah, hip-hop started out as dance music.

Who cares if it took a couple pale Brits to remind me what the old-school was teaching? The U.K.'s Freestylers aren't about keepin' it real, they're about doin' headspins on cardboard. People may dismiss them as a mid-'80s throwback and yes, they lift heavily from Africa Bambaataa's electro work and mix in Public Enemy and Ultramagnetic MCs samples, ragga raps and an appearance by old-schoolers Soul Sonic Force. But the Freestylers feature futuristic production and promote cutting-edge breakbeats that modern hip-hop has mostly ignored in favour of RZA-style mid-tempo atmospherics or Puffified pop samples. We Rock Hard is all about truth in advertising. It's big and dumb and it will make you bust a move. Whether you want to or not.

JOSHUA OSTROFF - Sunday, June 6, 1999
Ottawa Sun
 

 L y r i c s


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 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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