(Rock/Soul) Nash - The Chancer - 2001, MP3, 320 kbps

In a nutshell this is Ocean Colour Scene with beats. Lead singer (and guitarist) Russell Nash has a croaky, raspy voice straight out of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels that vocally and lyrically show his stage roots (a drama school veteran, he was a west end child actor in the likes of Oliver).

Along with DJ, producer and rapper Steve 'Tha Force' Ellington (last seen spinning tunes and cussing Ali G's patois on the comedian's TV show) and musicians Don Bannister, Pete Cherry and Izzi Dunn, Nash has produced a passionate mixture of hip hop, folk and funk that occasionally hits superlative highs on tracks such as the powerful ballad 'Soon To Be' and the recently released and very funky single 'A 100 Million Ways' (which the group re-perform in a semi-classical way at the album's close).

Honed over two years of hard gigging 'The Chancer' is a tight if occasionally self-indulgent record that manages to merge both street and chin stroking Dylan-like culture in a fairly neat trick. Each song tells a narrative while Ellington keeps the flow and the feet moving with forceful hip hop influences (he was once part of the Ronin posse). Worth a punt.