This is definitely the best installment yet in the Bip-hop
Generation series. V. 3 feels more like an album than a
loose collection of unrelated tracks. Neotropic starts the
compilation off with two tracks that remind me of Future Sound of
London’s ISDN. Bovine Life follows with four short
tracks, clunky noodlings on an eighties keyboard. Ardtalnaig
is the best of the lot with its deep and provocative metallic beat. I
hadn’t previously understood what’s so great about Pimmon, but
the dark atmosphere conjured up by the swarming loops in two of his
three tracks here does have that something. French artist
Zonk’t delivers the most impressive track on the CD, a 14
minute epic journey that could be the life story of an instectoid
robot, with its rambling bass loop like the beating of some alien
heart. Atau Tanaka continues with the same kind of stumbling
bassline, it complements sweeping white noise and high-pitched
squeaks. Completing this musical tour around the world is russian
Novel 23, who delivers two impressive tracks of classic,
Beaumont Hannant-esque electronic listening music as well as the
annoyingly up-tempo last track. Ah well, all can’t be perfection.
