Latest CD releases reviewed

STEREO MCS
Paradise Graffiti
***

It took some nine years for the Stereo MCs to follow-up their breakthrough Connected album, so a mere four-year break between Deep Down and Dirty and Paradise does count as progress for the veteran British hip-hop crew. While some things have changed - they're no longer signed to their longtime home Island, for a start - you will still recognise their stoned, shuffling beat from a couple of streets away. In spite of such familiarly, it's still a strangely, strongly compelling sound, all the more so when Rob Birch starts to do some paranoid jive-talking about vigilantes, crack addicts and general frontline unhappiness all around him. There's nothing faked about Birch's dope psychosis, but it's unlikely anyone will be using tracks such as Warhead or The Fear to flog mobile phones, no matter how rootsy and funky they actually sound. www.stereomcs.com

Jim Carroll