Lose Your Illusion

I know I’m a little late on this one. It’s been out for a while but it’s a new one on me, and by Christ is it nice.

The vibe, as we’d expect from Sundance (the latest Vibraspirit compilation notwithstanding) is pure morning goodness. ITP’s sound is intricate, up-for-it, humorous and cheeky. ITP are renegades – they hate the things we hate, and they seek to take down the system not by violence, and not by peaceful protest – but by banging tunes. Isn’t that how Billy Bragg started?

The opening track, Stop Killing The Animals You Stupid Fucks II, has the best name ever attributed to any piece of music across any genre on any type of recorded media in the history of everything ever. The sample is hilarious, and is just the sort of thing you need to hear to make you respond in the right way.

Likewise Advertisement: ITP oppose the whole consumerist lifestyle, but instead of vandalising public pieces of art or setting up an alt.media website, they make a banging tune: peppering it with samples that subtly suggest what their philosopies are. The upshot: there you are, dancing away, when the underlying message sneaks through and you realise that you’re surrounded by a load of people who (a) love partying and (b) share the same general worldview that you do. The overall effect: big fucking smile, isn’t this great, now I remember why this scene is so nice.

Lose Your Illusion pt 1 balances melody perfectly with a more earthy, go-harder vibe, while the gorgeously sunrise-chasing Not Responding has what the sleevenotes describe as a “super kitschy melody”. Knul Hfaf Bash makes you want to throw up in a good way.

Best of the bunch is probably Happy Flight, with a sample so wonderfully perfect you simply can’t lose. This sample is singularly the most appropriate, best-placed sample yet witnessed. Check it, you’ll love it.

ITP’s use of Spanish Guitar is questionable: Guatemala’s massive arpeggio breaks are a little too much; on the other hand when placed in the adorable Gato Escaldado they work a treat. Which is beside the point, of course, as I expect their inclusion is firmly taking the piss.

All in all, utterly fantastic. The production is perfect, with every sound getting exactly the right amount of weighting and presence. When you couple this with the talented musicianship and wonderful sense of humour that’s so frequently absented from music today, you’re looking at a very tempting prospect indeed.

Bloody, bloody, bloody good.