The Bug albums
2008
London Zoo - 77%
Best Songs: jah war, poison dart, murder we, fuckaz
2014
Angels and Devils – 89%
In a way The Bug albums remind me of what Massive Attack did on Blue Lines back in 1991: they take the top vocalists they know of for the style they need which is some kind of mix of dance, reggae, and hip hop. The difference is that Kevin Martin has been doing this for 25 years under different monikers (Techno Animal, God, Ice) and refining his craft so that each of his albums keep getting better and better. While the record could be divided into two halves, each one devoted to different kinds of songs, it works as a whole better than almost anything else he has ever done. The world did not feel the same way, as Martin's newest record got very mixed reviews but in all honestly it is his most touching work. "Ascension" and "Pandi" are instrumentals of incredible power; "Function" and "Dirty" are some of the most badass reggae tracks ever made in any era; and "Void", Me Lost" and "Save Me" are some of the most odd and touching tracks Bug has done yet. Hopefully we wont have to wait 6 years between each album from now on, as this record make you crave for more.
Best Tracks: Function, Save Me, Dirty, Mi Lost
2017
Concrete Desert – 82%
2021
Fire – 93%
While the previous full length of Kevin Martin’s The Bug contained an interesting idea- half moody sort of despair ridden ballads while a second side of hard-hitting grime UK dub tracks featuring all sorts of hip hop and reggae alumni- this sort of sprawling clash of style is not for everybody. So for the first time in his career, Martin decided to just have an album that seems to be following Angel’s and Devil’s (2014) second side idea and have the entire album be straight heavy dark bass beats with amazing rapping Mc’s on top. What the album also has, aptly named Fire, is a sense of dread and urgency that never lets up. Tracks like “Demon”, the excellent world shattering single “Pressure”, and echo heavy “War” sound exactly like their song titles, like the horsemen of the Apocalypse themselves are here to tell us it is time for a new world the spring out of the ashes of the old one. Like many albums this year, many parallel’s the Covid-19 state of the world is given, perhaps even taken further with the call to arms of “Hammer” (which is still related to the techno music Martin began with) or the poor vs rich feeling that “Clash” creates. “Vexed” tells the story of a prostitute (?) that seems to do whatever he has to do to survive, where “How Bout Dat” is more of a female led track that puts the Megan Thee Stallion pop garbage of the world to shame; this music is what people should be flocking too in a society under constant attack of a virus and constant fear of airborne death.
In all, there is such an air of an alternative universe going on with Bug’s latest. There is a call back to the times of prime reggae of the late 60’s and early 70’s with “Ganga Baby” though its updated to our modern times with the expert production. “Bomb” especially deserves to be mentioned as one of the great reagge songs, no matter how demented and ugly it sounds, with Bug regular singer Flowdan at the hem it is a song that sustains its power throughout even though in the middle of the song the ‘bomb’ explodes and everything goes quiet. The final two songs are especially powerful, finding a more personal political bend as “High Rise” reflects on the collapse of buildings that are built poorly for the poor in Britain (and in america, pretty notoriously the Miami high rise collapse earlier this year), while “The Missing” is sort of a coda for the album with no percussive beats only nuclear fallout. The atmosphere of noise and sound pollutes our ears as we listen to it; there is nothing left of the landscape after Fire is played in its entirety. It’s Martin’s best album yet.
Best Songs: Pressure, Hammer, How Bout Dat, Bomb