Kicking things off with a spoken word intro remarking on the music industry’s need to genre-fy everything is entirely fitting here, as after a few listens Angles becomes harder and harder to pin down. At first, it seems straight-up UK hip-hop; the beats match, the flow is there…but it’s so much more than that. The intricacies of the lyrics become more akin to poetry that happens to have found a background, and this background melts seamlessly into the words, bringing them alive and making them dance around your head. It becomes less like a hip-hop record and more like a work of art.
The aforementioned intro blends itself into one of the album highlights, ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’; its intelligent lyrics and general freshness pushing it through boundaries created by lesser artists. This theme continues on, surviving drastic changes of pace and content.
Pip has a genuine talent with his words. He is head, shoulders and mighty beard above his contemporaries, with each syllable perfectly constructed and laid with care. The same can be said about Le Sac; his beats fit with the mood of each track, and are incomparably original without being too experimental. The album deals with some difficult topics with aplomb…death, suicide, love; topics that in any other, less skilled hands might not have came out appropriately. However all the subject matter is treated with due respect, and is all the more profound for it. “The Magicians Assistant” is a good example of this…a take on suicide from the view of friends and family that brings up points some people may not even think about. It sounds morbid, but that’s the point.
Of course, it’s not without it’s upbeat fare; “Back From Hell” is probably the most instantly likeable song on here, the brisk pace and steady rhythm getting even the laziest heart pounding.
It would be too tiresome to go through track by track, I simply don’t know enough alternatives to the word ‘good’, and I’m wary of resorting to ‘exemplary’. I just don’t like it. It’s easier to simply state that there is not a single weak song on Angles. Every track has its moments, from rapping the periodic table on ‘Development’, to the poetic powerhouse that is ‘Waiting For The Beat To Kick In’. Special mention should also be given to the Dizzee Rascal sampling, scene-bothering ‘Fixed’.
It’s a testament to the album that everyone I’ve shown it to, and in some cases forced it upon, has come away with something to like, regardless of their particular musical tastes.
It may seem like I’m gushing…because I probably am. However, it’s justified. One of the best, most original albums of 2008. Everyone needs to experience it.
Rating: 
I can’t wait to hear what they do next.
