(Discograph/Shock)

Je suis un gangsta

Missill is hardly your average French musician – she’s a multi-talented woman steeped in hip hop, grime and reggae who not only DJs and produces but also designs graffiti and her own line of Missill characters. But is her début, Targets, any good? Those into bleeding-edge urban beats will, no doubt, find Targets appealing, as it blends hard-edged grime and electro sounds with dancehall vocals courtesy of a range of guest vocalists. Opener Forward, with Dynamite MC on the vocals, is a good indicator of what this album’s about: reggae guitar licks mashed with a pulsating electro synth line and a crisp hip hop beat. Later tracks go on to make this combination seem tame: lead single Toxick is a grittier affair with harsher electro sounds, while Dark Moon adds some cheesy overdriven metal guitar sounds. As the album goes  on, the nascent electro edge of the earlier tracks becomes the dominant theme, and the last brace of songs (Comic Book Soundtrack, Glitch, Get Busted) would be at home on Ed Banger’s most recent compilation. Unfortunately, Targets suffers from the dance musician’s début album syndrome: the idea that an album is really just a collection of dancefloor fillers. While Missill knows that an album needs pacing, her attempts to do provide this (in the style of hip-hop interludes) are only perfunctory. But if you’re after something fresh, urban, and diverse enough to make all but the most recalcitrant wallflower get up and dance, you owe it to yourself to give Targets a spin.

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CHAD PARKHILL

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