"Up to date / state of the art / take part, get taken apart as I make my mark"
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Rum Committee | Summers Broken | free stream/DL
Near the start of Rum Committee’s Summers Broken mixtape there’s a skit, a snippet of someone (Gi3mo, I think) boasting to a group of mates about the time he was part of a group who stole an inflatable octopus from the King Alfred Leisure Centre in Hove and threw it in the sea. The next day they read in the paper that authorities were trying to figure out why it had turned up in Brighton Marina, four miles down the coast. As soon as he finishes telling the story one of the other guys pipes up “bullshit!” but I’m not so sure. I tried checking on The Argus website but it only goes back so far and I’m not even sure they put everything online in the early days. Besides, I’m sure I can sort of remember reading about something like that, sometime back then.
It’s a great skit and sets the tone well for what feels like a transitional mixtape, albeit one with some brilliant moments. Summers Broken started out life as a compilation of summery tunes from producer Kid Danger given a stealth release on his Soundcloud at some point towards the end of last year. It doesn’t present the full spectrum Rum Com experience because it wasn’t designed that way, it’s not an ensemble production in the vein of “Boozetown” or “Committee Is Still Boss“.
There’s exceptions. There’s a brilliantly sleek posse cut in “70 Blunts”, Bukioe sketches a mean vignette of his morning process in the ninety-nine second miniature “It’s Summer”, Mr Rag & Bone provides a hook for the title track but they all these moments feel like cameos. But overall the tone is set more by Ceezlin in party mode on “The Waveman” and wistful on “Here We Go Again”, by Gi3mo playing an aggressive Scrappy Doo on “Winning II” and no less than seven guest appearances from suave charmer Mas Law but especially his earnest, almost romantic ode to a one night stand in “Fight Emotions”.
The upgrade to Bandcamp is welcome not just for the spiffy cover art but the invite to throw a little something in the tip jar for a set that’s worth at least a few quid of anyone’s money.
"Up to date / state of the art / take part, get taken apart as I make my mark" 