On a Mission - Katy B

Background

For years the UK have been trying to find the ideal candidate to represent the underground with a Pop voice. In dribs and drabs, attempts to bridge the gap have been embraced, but rarely do they have the staying power to change anything. All that changed in the case of Katy B. As a signee to Rinse FM, also home to the biggest pirate radio station (before it was made legal in 2010), the Peckham songstress made an unexpected climb into the limelight with the infectious, Benga-produced single, “Katy on a Mission”. After giving a helping hand in getting Dubstep over to the masses, her club-orientated “On a Mission” album dropped in 2011 and hoped to make the same happen across the Dance music spectrum.

Good Points

Katy B maintains a healthy balance between what works in underground clubs and what will liven up commercial radio. Initially, this comes as her powerful vocals blast over a dingy bass-rich instrumental on the lead single, but this continues through the rest of the project too. If you took to “On a Mission”, you’ll probably feel the same towards the Funky-leaning “Lights On”, where she bounces along with a Geeneus beat. Her ability to create euphoric Friday night anthems continues as tunes like “Perfect Stranger” creep up and is surrounded by Housey tunes to keep the energy levels up.

Bad Points

If you’re into your clubby music, there really isn’t an area she doesn’t touch on. If Drum & Bass is your kind of thing, or you perfect the icy mid-tempo House styles, she makes it with solid tune worth getting excited about. Her highly melodic approach is a winner all-round and fails to drop down into filler territory, so there’s no point in looking for any flaws here. You’re best just sticking the album on before you go and rave the night up, without worrying about when you need to skip onto the next tune.

Overall

With a body of work which sounds like a compilation of singles, you can’t really go wrong. “On a Mission” is a landmark album which reflected the state of UK music in 2011. It’s a lively blend of credible dance, which doesn’t have to rely on any annoying Euro-based House to get by. Instead, it opts for home-grown styles which run through the past decade’s timeline of UK rave music. From Breakbeats to D&B to Garage to Dubstep to Funky and everything in-between, it hits the mark. However, more than that, it shows that Katy B can really do it all as a vocalist and songwriter. Some may criticise her for sounding like a generic singer at times, but when she can fill a CD up with tunes like “Movement”, “Broken Record”, “Easy Please Me” and remain as marketable to a full Pop crowd as she does to professional ravers, she’s doing something right. “On a Mission” deserves all the praise it’s received and is an undoubted must-hear, regardless of your usual tastes.