SoomT & Monkey Mark - Bullets Over Babylon Vinyl

Classified as digital reggae, Soom T & Monkey Marc’s collaborative Bullets Over Babylon is much more apocalyptic bass manifesto than celebratory ragga dancehall. Soom T nods to plenty yet has a voice all her own; Monkey Marc nods to plenty yet crafts beats all his own. Both partners bring swagger and style to sustain such an ambitious dystopian statement. “Aliens In Jars” ambles in on a foreboding drum loop – paired with appropriately extraterrestrial ambience – before the distinctive vocals soar in. Spitting quickly, Soom T would surely make Dr. Octagon proud with lyrics that include ‘go deep like a dracula, steppin’ over nebulas’ and ‘mining diamonds that put them them bodies in the ground, stone cold earth left lying around, who wins when the fire dies down?’ The auto-tuned outro finds the right balance amidst the murk. Then it’s all “Bullshit” as a slow horn wails, the layered funk drops, and Soom T calls it as it is, emphasising righteousness over the titular thing that weighs modern society down.