Marseille London Experience

The second album from this unusual Marseillais reggae crew finds them reprising several of the songs from their Roker Promocion debut (issued in the U.S. on the RAS label in 1992) and delivering up a handful of new ones as well, this time backed up by the celebrated UK dubmeister Mad Professor and his Robotiks band. As always, the group's combination of dancehall reggae grooves and local cultural celebration — they all both speak and celebrate the regional patois of Marseille and its environs — is both linguistically incomprehensible and thoroughly enjoyable. Of the old songs, "Joyeux Voyous" and "Canti, As, A" both benefit from the more muscular treatment they get at the hands of the Robotiks, while " Violent," one of the most breathtaking of the debut's songs, fares less well in the modern rockers setting it gets here. Of the new ones, "Ma Ville Est Malade" takes top prize, while the spare but funky "Fai Virar" comes in a close second. Highly recommended overall.