- Lil Jabba is probably best-known as a satellite member of Rashad and Spinn's Teklife crew, but the New York-based Australian has always pursued his own agenda. Last year's Scales LP was a collection of footwork and hip-hop hybrids parachuted in from a Lynchian nightmare—dark, gothic and faintly silly to boot. On its follow-up, Jabba strays even further from convention, offering a selection of tracks that slither uneasily through the cracks between genres.
The opening salvo of "GroTTo AnThEM" and "SKkiMM RiDDiM" recalls, if anything, dubstep. But that halftime lope has rarely sounded quite so louche ("SKkiMM RiDDiM"'s B-movie theremin lead line is a particularly inspired touch), and Jabba pumps the mix with all manner of strange swamp gasses until it takes on a sickly hue. The title track is less easily classifiable, opening as an anesthetised rap instrumental before writhing out of its torpor. By the closing 30 seconds we're raging on some cartoonish techno dance floor—a new and tantalising place for Jabba. The remainder of the EP returns to the brisker tempos and twitchier cadence of Scales. These tracks are proficient, if a little too densely packed (it turns out quiet, unsettling detail is Jabba's forte). More importantly, though, they feel much safer. Still, Jabba makes sure to end things on an "iNTeRLuDE," just to keep us guessing.
Tracklist01. GRoTTo AnTheM
02. SKKiMM RiDDiM
03. GuLLY
04. SPuR
05. FLeX iNTeRLUDE
06. FLeXIN (JaBBa's CuT)