The fine people at Culture Deluxe posted a fine review of Thieving yesterday. And they gave it 8 stars, which was also fine. Peep game:

Culture Deluxe Review
8/10
Akira the Don
‘Thieving’
Released on 10 March 2008 on www.akirathedon.com

The title track and album opener shamelessly admits that Akira is fond of lifting the odd sample - but we knew that. Hell, even the artwork to this fine new release is a clever re-reworking of Blur’s pastel reworking of The Beatles’ iconic ‘Let It Be’ cover. Along with some great new material, ‘Thieving’ revisits some of Akira’s greatest moments to date and, naturally, a number of the tracks which influenced this indie / hip hop crossover with a sense of humour and lyrics to rival the wittiest social commentator.

Old favourite ‘Thanks For All The AIDS’ benefits from a sharp steal of The Kinks’ ‘Days’ as an introduction while the Elastica-sampling ‘Boom!’ originally surfaced on a mixtape called ‘third hand Wire riffs’ before its release as a bonafide cheeky b-side. Both sound immense here along with other such pilfered material as crackly 70’s disco records on ‘Y R U So Layzee’ and XTC’s ‘Making Plans for Nigel’ on the soon to be classic ‘Giro’.

When not audaciously stealing tracks outright on ‘Werewolves of London’ Akira makes references to both Amy Winehouse and surely the first to slum landlords since Carter USM’s ‘Sheriff Fatman’. Despite his hip hop medium, Akira definitely owes more to Jimbob and Fruitbat’s influence than that of Dr Dre. Akira is the closest thing we have to Ian Dury in this modern age, mixing the jocular and seemingly inconsequential together with great results. I mean, how great is ‘Oh! WHat a Glorious Thing’, itself a humdrum tribute to Ice Cube’s ‘Today Was A Good Day’?

Even at twenty three tracks in length, ‘Stealing’ never becomes trite, irksome or stereotyped. It presents the perfect opportunity to get on the ATD freedom buggy to rhymin’ oblivion - so hop on.

The album can be ordered on CD, MP3 and, er, t-shirt through Akira’s website.

Posted on 13 March 2008 by Richard Brown”

Cheers Culture Deluxe! I am also at number 10 in their top ten artists, for some reason. Two places above The Teenagers. My little brother was taking me to see them on April 7th. But now I am playing a gig with The Indelicates, which is kind of his fault for getting me into them. Is that irony?

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Tags: akira the don, giro, the teenagers, thieving