Stanton Warriors DJ Music Review

Stanton Warriors the other week put on what I might, wearing my hack-critic's hat, call a "solid" performance: consisently pumping, mildly inventive, frequently anthemic. I was a bit disappointed though to confim a growing suspicion that they seem to be contracting their sonic scope, toning down their more interesting facets (eg. debts to 2-step, hip hop and vocal house) in favour of an acceptably energetic straight breaks style. Like, it was great to hear them throw in an a capella of Ms. Dynamite's "Boo" ("fuck you up like it was cocaine!" startled the crowd the first time, but the second time there was an appreciative roar; I was perhaps foolishly surprised to realise that no-one in the crowd had any idea of what they were listening to), but why loop it over such a staid breakbeat when they could just play the ever-so-awesome original?

Maybe it's just my own personal prejudices showing, but it increasingly seems like the real rhythmic excitement comes not from the force of the beats, but from their own internal friction - something 2-step produces naturally and Stanton Warriors used to be distinguished by. And I walked out of the club satisfied (or at the very least tired), but at once feeling like my own personal vision wasn't fulfilled or challenged by something more interesting.