While many musicians are content to ride one wave of success through to early retirement, the Stereo MC's are determined to break free of that narrow destiny. Following the fireworks success of their 1990 single "Elevate My Mind" (the first rap single to hit Number One on the U.S. pop charts) and the 1992 smash hit album, Connected, the dance-happy London group became disconnected, disappearing from the music radar for most of the past decade.

"It was quite complicated," says MC's rapper Rob Birch of the group's sudden success and soon-after hiatus. "The whole thing needed unraveling and taking apart, like an engine when there's something wrong right in the center. You have to take the whole thing apart and figure out what the problem is, correct it and gradually start to put yourself back together again."

"You can get stuck feeling a bit chewed up by the music business vehicle," adds MC's DJ Nick Hallam, "and I think it took us a while to sort of recover from that feeling. Some people become successful, and they love it. They love going to all the parties, and they just love the fact that they're famous. I think that was always the least interesting aspect for us, and so somewhere we kind of shied away from some of that."

The Stereo MC's are shying away no longer. Deep, Down & Dirty -- their first album in eight years -- just hit record stores. Though the album does not stray too far from its natural habitat (the dance floor), the tracks on the album sound fresh, yet with a darker tone. Many of the songs on Deep, Down & Dirty weigh in with bass-heavy beats, sassy horns and semi-cynical lyrics sung with Birch's raw voice. Highpoints include "Breeze" with its swanky keyboards, robotic vocals and a slow-building, ghostly beginning and "Graffiti (Part 1)," which opens with the jungle-like sound of drums and hand-clapping.

"When we started rehearsing the new record, it felt great," says Hallam, "and then we started playing some of the old tracks again, and in a way they sound fresher now than I remember them sounding before."

The band is also about to begin a world tour, and Birch is especially eager to get back in front of an audience. "It must be able to be done person to person, because it's a different energy somehow, than hearing something on a jukebox or on the radio," he says. "It's a different connection really."

KERRY L. SMITH
(June 20, 2001)