‘Music is something of a joy’. That was the brief put together by Orin ‘Afronaught’ Walters, Paul ‘Seiji’ Dolby, Kaidi Tatham, Daz-I-Kue, Alex Phountzi, Cliff Scott, Mark Force and Matt Lord – or Bugz In The Attic to me and thee, a Sarf London collective more commonly known for their beat breaking, boogie down, hip-swivelling nu-jazz remixes for the likes of Amy Winehouse , Macy Gray, Zero 7, Amira, Nitin Sawhney, Jazzanova and Amp Fiddler. Then there was that fizzy, ass-slapping, shapeshifting, b-boy carnival that arrived with last year’s ‘Booty La La’ record – a sound laced with all manner of funky acid-popping beats, electro stylings and sweaty (and faintly ridiculous) vocals. It was like the Tom Tom Club and the crew ofSesame Street were locked-down 6-Stepping with the The Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash. They’d taken the beats, they’d broken them up and then offered them like communion to a dance crowd hungry for the kind of crack previously tendered by Kruder & Dorfmeister, Jazzanova and the distant 1980s.
‘Back In The Dog House’ is described as the boiled down brew of over 90 demos that the Bugz have been variously working on together, individually, secretly and obsessively since the boys first met over a drum machine at the latter’s attic, studio, doghouse in the late 90s. And if you’re looking for hints about the direction this record takes, look no further than what these guys included on their ‘LifeStyles’ release: Jermaine Jackson,
Herbie Hancock, Loose Ends. Some classic r n’b, some Parliament funk-a-trocities, a smidgen of jungle, a tab or two of acid, a little soul and a thick spread of jam. Guests include Reel People’s Vanessa Freeman (‘Inna Row’), singer/songwriter Michelle Escoffrey (‘No More’), Basement Jaxx singer Vula (‘It Don’t Work Like That’), rock-steady Bugz lass Yolande (‘Happy Days, Once Twice’) and long-term collaborator Don Ricardo (‘Worla Hurt, Redhanded’).
Naturally, your closest point if reference is going to be those similarly fundacious emissaries for party-funk, the Jaxx – but that’s probably because the Bugz, like the Jaxx, amass a mountain of ideas, chip-fat and influences and toss them into one gorgeous melting pot of musical madness and bring them to the boil over some simple, classic tunesmithery and an easy, natural pace.
Listen-out for the slammin’ burst of sudden-impact funk traded by new single ‘Move Aside’. From the basement to the attic, it couldn’t have arrived at a better time.