Fo sho Mpho

There's a lot of waiting around in music these days. New acts come along with their impossible to find taster singles, then they take up acres of space in magazines and broadsheets and then before you know it, six months later, their album drops. Brixton-born Mpho is being talked up by those in the know as something quite special and whilst rooting around in someone else's box (!) at work we found a 5-track album sampler, an amuse-bouche if you will, prior to the main meal (the album, Pop Art, is out in October).

This is her face:



Here's an in-depth track-by-track guide to the sampler:

'See Me Now' - Lyrically it's all "you didn't think I'd make it, well look at me now", whilst musically it's got some real nice beats, chugging guitars and some sweet "ah ho, ah ho" bits. Very good.

'Box N Locks' - The first single. It samples this, and can be seen below.



'Fix Ya Face' - Features the worst 'robot' voice effect in musical history and is very obviously the least inspiring thing on the sampler. It does features some nice synth effects, some odd whooshes but it's a bit dull to be honest.

'Hips Go Pop' - Now this is more like it. MASSIVE beats, a juddering synth line, some orgasmic breathlessness and a lyric about loving your ass and shaking what ya mumma gave ya. Or something. It even features a conversation with God about how He made her with a "whip in her hips".

'Paranoid Type' - More familiar territory here, with Mpho stalking her boyfriend via myspace and getting jealous and paranoid that he might be cheating on her. It's a funky little ditty to be sure, with lots of squelchy beats and it rattles by in less than three minutes.

Overall, a very promising start Mpho.