kano is IT. definitely one of my favorite bands from this era. part of the reason i’ve been so fascinated by late 70s/early 80s soul music (and its various designations) is how much it plays with the conventions we hold. for example, kano. when you hear this track, i doubt you’re thinking, ‘oh, this is obviously three italian dudes appropriating classic soul and disco and helping lay the groundwork for future dance genres like house music.’ bonus points if that is what you’re thinking. anyway, kano is IT. i fucking love the bass on this track. you may be familiar with kano based on their first hit, “i’m ready,” which found it’s way onto this awesome mixtape that tang posted a few weeks back. download “can’t hold back (your loving)” here.

Big Kano, aka that guy who was on every grime feature in the early 2000′s, is back on his grizzly. Actually, he never really went away, but following some years in the wilderness (see: the autotune and synth heavy Brit Weezy rip-off Rock N Roller), he’s getting back to some of the good stuff that put him on the radar in the first place.

So what’s that mean?

Well, it’s got some pretty angry parts for one. And while angry music doesn’t always (rarely?) equal good music, grime has always seemed to aspire to sound angry. Plus, the beats. Oh, the beats. Not to over generalize, but early grime was basically built around beats that walked the fine line between face-scrunchingly good and awkwardly-rhythmedly terrible. It wasn’t graceful music, and it wasn’t trying to be. The first actual song on this mix starts with an olde timey showtune that flips harder than showtunes are supposed to flip.

Modern grime still carries a similar vibe with it, even as other UK-born sounds have evolved around it, notably the dubstep movement, the glitchy sounds of Hudson Mohawke and the Lucky Me crew, and even groups from a closely-related family tree like Foreign Beggars.

Grime’s still being grime, and this Kano mixtape, the Jack Bauer 7 Day Mix, shows that. Maybe it’s too simple to separate grime away from the rest of the UK sound at this point (a la the perennial, tired, and frankly overstated arguments of hip hop vs rap vs hip pop vs Kanye), but until someone gives this guy a road map, we’ll just keep appreciating it for what it is.

Downlaod: Kano – Jack Bauer – The 7 Day Edition

Shouts to the Felicia over at First Up for the heads up.