DJ Vadim - Can't Lurn Imaginashun

Rating:

* * * *

Head-nodding hip-hop veteran DJ Vadim is accessible but no less innovative.

He's back yet again with another bombardment of tunes covering vast musical styles, although somehow the Russian-born, currently New York-based, producer brings it all together with his trademark big, loping, bass heavy beats.

You know he's a musical scholar when he can make the

Days Of Our Lives

soap opera jingle not only work but sound like something inspired on

Game Tight

.

Stylistically he's all over the place: there's his trademark instrumental hip-hop that slopes along with bounce and poise; then there's the likes of the MC and dancehall-driven

Soldier

; the jumped-up ska of

Hidden Treasure

; and best of all, the thigh-slapping P-funk of

Thrill 103

, which oscillates like a mid-70s Mothership anthem.

Apart from a few of the tunes with guest MCs sounding a little samey - hey, that's what you get when it's 18 tracks long - and

Rock Dem Hot

being a discordant bunch of bleepy nonsense, this is another fresh and inventive offering from the loose unit of Leningrad.

Scott Kara