First Transmission

"I'm the mirror man. So don't ask who is it. London is my city. Jamaica's my country. Africa's my history. It ain't no mystery. How I came to be Earthling-free. Sitting in Ilford watching TV ..." Released right in the middle of one of the greatest periods of pop music Earthling's Radar LP seems to be quintessentially part of the Bristol blues and roots thing, complete with Portishead connections. But then you catch the torrent of words Mau uses on the opening track, First Transmission, and you realise he's talking about being from London, and watching TV back at home in Ilford. He mentions pretty much everything else too, from the Only Ones to Juliette Binoche, like Bob Dylan's stream of consciousness poetry might have been like if he'd grown up listening to the Native Tongues. It's a fantastic record, but then any outfit that samples Spizz AND Curtis is going to be great. It's not even as though First Transmission is the only song on there that mentions Ilford ...