"How many DJs do you know that's from Russia?" asks Blaze on DJ Vadim's From Russia With Love . While that may be a fair question, the London-based producer and DJ's country of origin is nowhere near as interesting as his instantly recognisable production style.

Sparse tracks with the world's driest beats, strange rattles and atmospheres that are more to do with musique concrète than mainstream hip-hop, and pregnant pauses where the whole track falls away for a little longer than is comfortable: I always had the impression he heard RZA's beats on the earliest Wu-Tang Clan releases and decided to see how far a scuffed, abstract mess could go while still having hip hop's indispensable head-nod factor. He'll put a lawnmower in one track, someone brushing their teeth in another, jam with a harpist or jazz vocalist as often as with an MC, and break things up with all manner of odd spoken-word interludes.

In the late 90s things started out largely instrumental, with Vadim's debut on Ninja Tune, Buy MP3 Album . These often moody, sometimes plodding instrumentals had Vadim squarely pegged as a trip-hop artist, mentioned in the same breath as contemporaries from other parts of the planet like DJs Krush and Shadow. However, like those peers, it's become clear as time has gone by that Vadim just had a more liberal view of hip-hop than some critics allowed for.

The highlight to date is his second album of originals, Buy MP3 Album . There have been plenty of great tracks since, but this album is the point when the vocalists and virtuoso guest DJs first showed up. Vadim strikes a perfect balance between the Eraserhead found-sound atmos of his earliest productions and the more traditionally musical direction he has taken recently. There are amazing performances from many of the guests, from Company Flow's El-P and Bigg Jus, through Dilated People's Iriscience to London stalwarts like Skinny Man, Starving Artists and the Scratch Perverts. The beats have started to get punchier, and the diversity and quality of vocalists involved means interest is maintained across the whole course of the album.

The biggest single off that album was Your Revolution . Referencing Gil Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", Sarah Jones pulls out a funny diss rap of the dubious way women are portrayed in most hip-hop, with the refrain "Your revolution will not happen between these thighs."

But among my friends the instant classic on the album was It's Obvious . It's got a gong loop, a sunny funk bass groove, Blu Rum 13's blunted rhymes ("yo, where'd the beat go?" he laughs at one point) and the rawest scratches from Vadim himself: "It's obvious I ain't your average hip-hopper." Yeah, duh. You can say that again.

Featured Tracks:
Headz Still Ain't Ready
Live From Paris

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Featured Tracks:
English Breakfast
The Terrorist

Buy MP3 Album