Team Shadetek "Pale Fire"

From the moment they released last year's "Brooklyn Anthem" single (featuring Jah Dan and 77 Klash), the press stood up and took note of Team Shadetek. In the US, where we hear the same music on the radio daily, and yearn for more than that, this very forward thinking music got a ton of recognition from media outlets throughout. "Brooklyn Anthem" is an in-your-face track, paired with in-your-face lyrics. Brooklyn always needed an anthem, and these guys stepped up with one that suited Brooklyn to a tee. Now, it's 2007, and Shadetek have released their long player, titled "Pale Fire" on Sound-Ink Records. With scoops of UK Grime influenced production, topped with dancehall and spitfire Hip-Hop rhymes, this disc gives us many flavors to enjoy. This music bares it's roots fully, while taking the music up out of the ground, and into space. Wiry synths, metallic snares, beefy bass kicks, and stuttering hi-hats weave throughout. Tracks range in speed from 80bpm to 130bpm. It's nice to find this kind of range in an album that's not "commercial". In fact, this album really challenges many ideas of what "commercial" and "underground" production is supposed to sound like. It displays much of what you hear in today's commercial music, and so much more that you don't. It takes a certain level of finesse to compile so many influences and production techniques into one CD, so kudos to Team Shadetek for doing just that.