Miss Red - Murder

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  • In the world of dancehall, a white, female, Israeli MC is going to stand out, but Miss Red is no novelty act. She comes packing riddims built for her by that master of skull-crushing bass pressure, Kevin Martin, AKA The Bug. The woman born Sharon Stern has an association with the British producer going back to 2011, when she grabbed the mic at one of his DJ gigs in Tel Aviv. She was invited to record with Martin the next day, and soon after moved to London, appearing on The Bug's Angels & Devils album and onstage at his live shows. Now we get her first mixtape, Murder. Martin produced the lion's share of the album, along with Mark Pritchard, Mumdance, Evian Christ, Andy Stott and Stereotyp. Stern and Martin have described their recording process as "DIY as fuck," and although Murder isn't coated in the lo-fi hiss of many mixtapes (having been mastered by arch audiophile Stefan Betke, AKA Pole), it fizzes with spontaneous incendiary chemistry. The steamroller bass of "Sugar," the apocalyptic torrent of distortion on "Mad" and the slasher sounds of "No Guns" have a visceral energy that plugs into The Bug's "acid ragga," industrial grime and bashment's unrelenting fusillade of beats. Stereotyp deploys air-raid sirens and ricochets. Pritchard's bassline dive-bombs like a fighter plane. Mumdance's "Pull It Up" bungee jumps into cavernous bass. The most elastic sound of all, however, is Stern's voice, which can leap from guttural mic chatter to an uncanny squeak. She can also do the kind of smoky spectral singing you'd associate more with a trip-hop chanteuse than a dancehall MC. Given her background, it's tempting to take the refrain "talk is better than a gun" from "No Guns" as a comment on Israel's political situation, but most of her lyrics deal in dancehall's standard party-starting proclamations, braggadocio and paeans to weed. But there's also proud female empowerment, and "What You Like" is even a touching love song. Stern's vocals are often so dizzying it can feel as if the beats strain to keep up. If there was any danger that Miss Red on the microphone could be overshadowed by the big producers behind the desk, she quickly makes it clear that she's riding her friends' riddims, not their coat-tails.
  • Tracklist
      01. Mad 02. Murder (Mark Pritchard riddim) 03. No Guns 04. What Would You Like (Andy Stott riddim) 05. Rollercoaster 06. Ganja Man 07. Sugar 08. Lean Back (Stereotyp riddim) 09. Trash It 10. Fever 11. Pull It Up (Mumdance riddim) 12. Leggo (Evian Christ riddim) 13. 1 Dog Shot 14. Come Down
RA