Since his last album on Planet Mu a couple of years ago, Adapt (one of the tracks being remixed by Hrdvsion), Milanese has further diversified on this new “heavy as f” follow-up album.

This album starts with the subterranean ‘Baby Blue’ featuring RQM (aka Lukasz G. Polowczyk) as in part of Jahcoozi/Robert Koch extended family and the excellent collabs as The Tape vs. RQM and Al Haca along with Oliver Grimball. It’s a hard start that’s hip-hop meets bass warp horror movie; a theme that turns up again of ‘Shake Wut Mama Gave Ya’ remix (and worth checking out the original on Booty Cologne myspace site, see links below).

Those two tracks are worth getting the album for alone but then there’s the ‘main’ body of the album. And when Ben Sharpa raps on ‘Wonderful World’, you know it ain’t any Louie Armstrong tribute (we’ll it is of sorts but there’s no trumpet). Ben Sharpa turns up on 4 tracks with two goes at one of the stand-outs ‘B Sharpa’ that’s a lively bounce compared to the dubstep rave grime up of ‘The End’ that’s as heavy as an ageing elephant on its way to the graveyard.

In fact, Milanese (who was invited by the Peel family to perform at the BBC’s Electric Prom as couple of years ago) is as hard to categorise in musical taste terms as the great John Peel himself and the album doesn’t come over as sound of the sunny South coast where he now resides.

The untold remix of ‘The End’ is probably the most radio friendly on the album with an upbeat ska-dubstep feel to it along with his remix of Unique 3’s ‘Take This Love’ (the original being from the album of “16 tracks of electro-tech-breakfunk”, Invasive Signals).

But it’s the darker ‘Disclosure’ (and instrumental version) plus the various versions of ‘B Sharpa’ and ‘The End’ that make this album strangely hypnotic and menacing at the same time. Don’t have nightmares as someone used to say.

Reviewed: Milanese - Lockout (Planet Mu) Cat. No: ZIQ243 Release date: 15th June 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Baby Blue (Remix) featuring RQM & Oliver Grimball (4:32)
2 Wonderful World featuring Ben Sharpa (4:02)
3 The End (4:08)
4 B Sharpa (Reload Mix) featuring Ben Sharpa (2:16)
5 The End (Untold Remix) (4:45)
6 Unique 3 - Take This Love (Milanese Remix) (3:49)
7 Disclosure featuring Ben Sharpa (4:03)
8 Fun With Robots (0:55)
9 B Sharpa featuring Ben Sharpa (3:04)
10 The End (Off Mix) (4:35)
11 Booty Cologne - Shake Wut Ya Mama Gave Ya (Milanese Remix) (5:36)
12 Disclosure (Instrumental) (4:51)

Links:
www.mr-ion.com
www.myspace.com/milanese1
www.myspace.com/rqm1
www.unique3.info
www.myspace.com/uniquethree
www.myspace.com/bootycologne
www.planet-mu.com