Howie B vs. Casino Royale

Enter Howie B. Humble, the Glaswegian, world-renowned purveyor of UK electronica who got his start creating instrumentals with artists like Portishead and DJ Shadow. That he has produced music for Björk, Tricky, Sinead O’Connor and Goldie gives us a sense of his sound capability. Casino Royale are a massively popular funk ska band (with a touch of drum & bass) in Italy. Meeting Howie B on a 1997 tour with U2, Howie B later recorded the album Beale for the band. Not artistically satisfied with the final product (despite critical acclaim), Howie B remixed all the songs and released Not In The Face. It’s a cool pairing of big sound electronica (with chill-out flavour) and live instrumentation such as bass, guitar and many aspects of percussion. This record kicks and carries ample production vision, as well as killer rhythms, live, echo-y percussion, space noises and some serious funk.