Ego War

Do you ever get the feeling the British are just a lot cooler than we are? (Yeah, us neither.) But Audio Bullys’ first album, Ego War, is the kind of thing that could’ve never been birthed on our side of the Atlantic. It’s an engaging mash-up of hip-hop, funk, ska, rock, punk, dub, garage, and house music, pulled off without any of the awkward pretense that ordinarily makes this sort of combinatory pop sound like a diversity-training seminar. Simon Franks and Tom Dinsdale, the West London pair who make up Audio Bullys, spin everyman yarns about drugs, girls, punch-ups, and such, covering similar ground as Mike Skinner did on his debut as the Streets. Beyond the jaunty, shuffling beats and hypnotic grooves driving street-life serenades like “Way Too Long” and “Real Life” are slithery, spy-theme orchestrations (“The Things”), sweetly sung choruses (“Veteran”), and a strangely perfect sample of the terminally unhip Joe Cocker (“Face in the Crowd”). Resolutely unconcerned with impressing us with their street credentials or wowing us with their genre-bending, the Bullys end up doing both.