Sepalot: Red Handed

As a connoisseur of dance floor genre-fornication, German DJ Sepalot travels the world hoping to ignite flames under the feet of clubbers. On his debut album Red Handed, his choice of spirits is a flammable concoction of crunk, funk, soul and glitchy electro-house. Over this constantly shifting stream flows the rhymes of various divas and emcees, most notably Detroit Emcees Frank Nitty, who on three tracks unleashes club anthem after club anthem, and though fun to listen to and packed with meaty, catchy hooks, the rhymes don’t stick to your mind like the juicy beats stick to your hips. What Sepalot apparently does well on the dance floor doesn’t flow as well to an album listening experience. Aside from the soulful stomping sanctification of diva Ladie6 on “Go Get It”, the tracks might masquerade as a DJ mixtape but Red Handed needs a club atmosphere to really take off beyond the lyrical silliness and lack of seamless sonic storytelling.