Artist, grills salesman, MBE: drum ‘n’ bass pioneer Goldie has become something of a national treasure in recent years. Notwithstanding his talent for BBC celebrity competitions, Goldie is a producer at heart. His 1995 debut LP, ‘Timeless’, is a record that lives up to its name, distilling urban aggression into eight tracks of breakbeats and soaring vocals.
Where ‘Timeless’ spliced acoustic instrumentation to create machine music, Goldie’s latest LP, ‘The Journey Man’, starts with electronics. The result is a record that seems flatter and harder than its predecessors. While vocal features by Natalie Williams, José James and others evoke symphonic sensibilities, it is his more conventional, truncated drum ‘n’ bass instrumentals like ‘Prism’ and ‘Triangle’ that lack depth.
Yet, the double album structure adds texture to the record’s length, avoiding monotony. Goldie clearly still owns his sound and endows it with a unique vision on ‘The Journey Man’.
8/10
Words: Ammar Kalia
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