Frying the Fat

From 1995, this compilation drew together some of the best previously released instrumental hip hop from Manchester’s Grand Central/Fat City record labels. The tunes on here fall under the trip hop banner but didn’t exhibit much of the ‘trippy’, noir, or soundtrackesque trip hop tropes; this was the party-friendly, funky end of the trip hop continuum, with some of the chunkiest, most sound-system-friendly beats of the mid-90s. Highlights included First Priority’s Jazz Hypnosis and Pure Arithmetic, a pair of, respectively, hard-hitting, moody and jubilant, funky cuts taken from their debut 12” release. The slower, more introspective tunes are drowsy, soulful and slinky, a couple of selections in particular from Funky Fresh Few beautifully realised soulful sample cut-ups, and three high energy forays into the smoother end of drum & bass are also included. Top-notch head-nodding sample funk and dexterous instru-hip hop.