Hard Livin The Things We Do 12" A double A-side release from Sin Nombre featuring production from Mike-S and S.Kalibre on the mic. First track, “Things We Do”, works over a synthesised Arabian string groove, moving the song nicely forward. S.Kalibre spit’s a familiar of tomfoolery and petty theft and laddishness, backed with nice imagery and metaphors on all manner of things from “breakin bread with your crew” to stealing. He spins a nice yarn about the lengths we go to in order to stay afloat. There is a nice mix between humour and aggression that is brought through in both in his delivery and vocabulary. The production is pretty constant and the melody is nice enough to carry the entire backing track. It may have sounded better live (the string melody) but this is only a small quibble. “Oh Girl” features a speeded soul/country (??) sample over a nice groovesome guitar. It soon launches into a nice nostalgia-tinged summery track on a strong beat, harmonica and soaring strings that evoke summers gone by in the way “Worst Comes to Worst” by Dilated did. The lyrics are nice, telling stories of summer madness, violence and past relationships. It’s not soft by any means. It’s funny and edgy, but the backing track softens it making this a really nice summery song. A good release from Sin-Nombre, it will be good to hear more from these boys in the future. The musical influences are nice and S.Kalibre’s slowly building flow can only get better. - Nikesh  Related Links: Sin Nombre © ukhh.com 1999 - 2003