Big Soup

AMG Review of Big Soup

John Bush
All Music Guide

While many electronica artists cover at least a little bit of every style extant on each of their recordings, Luke Vibert has maintained a bit of isolation for his various pseudonyms -- Vibert/Simmonds was a harsh echno record, Wagon Christ charted a course through ambient music and hip-hop (definitely leagues away from what is known as rip-hop), and Plug became his alias for experimental jungle excursions. The first album he actually recorded as Luke Vibert, 1997's Big Soup, lies closer to straight-ahead hip-hop than any of his previous projects, with great production which fills in the gaps and vocal samples doing their own share. With an ever-growing legion of abstract hip-hop maestros boring the socks off listeners, however, the stakes are upped for Vibert to create an instrumental rap record with listenability. If he didn't succeed, he at least managed better than most of the crowd. Though most of the record is downtempo, the addition of the jungle-based "Fused Into Music" (with a break borrowed from his Plug record) does lend a bit of variety to the proceedings.