Dutty Moonshine Big Band release their second album ‘City of Sin’

Fusing live brass, keys, drums, digital hardware and vocalists, Dutty Moonshine Big Band promise explosive bass music inspired by the big bands of days gone by.

Have you ever heard Duke Ellington's “Caravan” performed as a huge Garage banger? Or a 12 bar Blues manipulated into a Half time DnB/Carnival anthem? Or maybe even a New Orleans funeral song turned into a whisky soaked mid tempo Breaks dancefloor destroyer? Not unless you’ve seen Dutty Moonshine Big Band in action, because there’s no band in the entire world quite like these guys!

Dutty Moonshine Big Band is the brainchild of Michael Rack aka Dutty Moonshine, a successful DJ who’s toured 4 continents and entertained thousands upon thousands with his take on 1930’s sounds meets dirty bass music. 5 years of Dutty Moonshine Big Band has seen the 12-piece grow year after year into an unstoppable dance floor monster, never failing to pack venues and fill up the UK’s biggest festival arenas.

Here at LiveWire we like things a bit different, and that’s certainly what you get with Dutty Moonshine Big Band ! Their second album is due out on 29 May 2020 via Universal Music Group, and you can pre-order it here, but is it worth it ?

This is 1930’s big band music brought explosively into the twenty first century with a nuclear sized bang, and the band set their stall out right from the off, as opening track ‘Big Band Fam’ throws us right in at the deep end. Pounding electronic drum beats lead us to an anthemic offering, with the MC’s delivering brilliant grime influenced lines, this is the kind of thing most bands would end a show on.

Next up we have ‘Click Clack Boom’ which starts slowly with wonderful synth sounds, before diving right back into the pounding heavy beats. It has one of the best, and dirtiest sounding synth bass lines I’ve heard in a while which will be popular in the dancefloors.

We then follow the police sirens as we head into the title track ‘City of Sin’ which features some incredible, fast paced rapping from Maria Laveau. The chorus contrasts brilliantly with this with some beautifully slow vocals almost Amy Winehouse-like.

Next up we have ‘Outlaws’. This has more of a big band undertone to it and a jazz like vibe, and is catchy and one to get the crowds moving. This leads on to ‘Fever’ with it’s old school 1930’s female swing vocals mixed with a slower paced rap lyrical line. I loved the acoustic guitar and muted trumpet elements which add to the overall swing feel, and it’s a real toe tapper.

We continue the slowed down pace as a lounge piano introduces us to ‘Tommy & Loretta’ with it’s almost poetic, spoken word lyrics which lead into a beautiful chorus sung by Maria Laveau. Slow, sultry and stunning.

Just as I’m starting to mellow ‘Fall From Grace’ starts up with it’s baritone sax and starts to raise the tempo. The electronic basslines kick in again supported by the deep sax, broken up with some beautifully dreamy vocals.

The intro to ‘The Arrest’ mixes the sound of distant sirens with wistful sounds, camouflaging what’s to come, before the track bursts out in full. A simpler but powerful deep bass ties the track together and underpins the great interplay between the two MC’s over a wonderfully discrete muted trumpet.

As we approach the end of the album ‘It’s Alright’ comes in with its sax and heavy bass lines. A wonderful mix of modern and old school. I love the way the track switched part way through into a sleazy prohibition era gin-bar track, before the bass beats kick back in again, but the smooth vocals remain over the top. I loved this one, my favourite track on the album.

The penultimate track ‘Fiança’ introduces us to guest singer Chininha, and with this change we have a significant change in feel. It feels very Latin American, with its carnival feel, which intensifies as the track develops fusing electro, garage and samba so brilliantly.

Rounding off the album we have ‘Locked Up’ which flows beautifully from ‘Fiança’ as it opens with its conga drums and subtle vocal cries, before the beats kick in. Unusually it’s an instrumental track to close the album, but it seems to work really well here. With no vocals except for the ringing phone at the end with the simple lines “yo”, “have they got everything they need”, “yeah”, “and are they going to be at the location on time?”, “yeah, you can trust me”…… “ok”. It’s a wonderful ending, leaving you hanging… what ? Where ? Why ? is it innocent or something far more sinister ? Wonderful.

A really great experience, unlike anything I’ve had musically before. I really enjoyed it, my only criticism would be that for me, the order of the tracks could be better, a more even mix of the fast hard hitting and the more laid back…. But this is only a personal thing, and all the tracks work really well. There are some absolutely brilliant tracks here and I really enjoyed the album. Definitely one I’m going to return to again and again. A worthy 4/5 LiveWire marking.

After curtailing their UK tour part-way through because of the current virus and lockdown situation, Dutty Moonshine Big Band have confirmed that they will complete the tour in the autumn of 2020. Previously purchased tickets remain valid, and the last few remaining tickets can be bought online at the bands website here: www.duttymoonshine.com