We've been away since September so Irfan could set up his shop, but we're back in force now and the first album review we hit you with is ‘Sirens', a D&B disc by Mo Magic.

Fans of the desi underground will know Magic from ‘New Breed UK ' and the ‘Mixed Breeds' track which found its way onto a few compilation albums. This is his first out-and-out album, and features a few big name collaborators in the forms of Asian Dub Foundation's MC Spex, Aref Durvesh and Sonia Metha among others.

So is it any good? Let's have a gander…

The title track opens the album with some nice flutes and then a hard, raw beat which is a good contrast to the mellow flutes. The bass comes in siding with the beat and we have a proper mish-mash of what you might like and what your parents might like.

Track two isn't as harmonious, but it's got a nicer vibe and is one to keep a party going. ‘On The Edge' houses some Qawalli wails which are worked well over another raw sounding beat and bass, and the production build up throughout the track is alright, although the ostinato main chord sequence does get a bit too repetitive.

Now, track three takes you to two places: the introduction of  the ‘China Doll Remix' will lift you from wherever you are sitting to heaven on an oriental magic carpet, with piano chords caressing you all over, with power provided by a well programmed and easy drum ‘n' bass beat. But then, after a bridge, all sense of tranquillity is thrown into a sinister spin by a nauseous b-line sending you from heaven to the Plains Of Insecurity, and you won't quite feel the same about it. It's like a trip on acid that turns sour. Beauty morphing into the beast. You can rave to it though.

We get a vocal track for number 4, with Spex taking a break from Asian Dub Foundation to drop his ragga style lyrics over a nicely constructed taal and melody (made with some help from DJ Size). Sonia Metha is present to drop further vocals to further add to your listening pleasure on a track that I liked from the outset. Only criticism is that Spex's words are a bit unclear from either recording quality or post production, and had he sat on top of the beat instead of within it then it would've been a fantastic vocal underground tune.

The vibe chills for ‘ River Of Dreams ', which has Aref Durvesh adding tabla licks to make a very pleasant piece of music. Sonia Metha sticks around for her Hindisms, and this is one to either have a cuddle with your kurri to, or to get you out of a foul mood. Uneventful but a satisfactory platform.

‘Break ‘Em' is track 6 which is a pretty unfresh mix of vocal Qawalli gymnastics over a settled breakbeat and is really a waste of an interesting flute pattern provided by Mikel Banks. This is the sort of track where you find Mo languishing below the top producers in Asian Drum and Bass; I can imagine Ges-E making a much more of the vocal, and Nitin Sawhney doing something creatively unthinkable with the flute.

‘Warrior' is the next track and is again a sedate working of classical Indian instruments and urban drums and is genial yet uninspiring. The crescendos are intriguing and warped, and it's produced well but despite the thoughts it conjures, nothing really happens.

The rave atmosphere re-enters our atmosphere on track 8, ‘Payback'. The dark bass hits, strong snare and manipulated vocal sound are one to get busy to in the dark, smoky places that play this sort of music. The violin is well dropped in and should be out of place but works well.

Number nine is the remix of ‘Rock The Beat', which has a really good beat, and it does rock, but the incessant vocal sample pisses me off. I feel bad because that sort of thing may have taken ages to make and it's just too much. The beats are nicely broken and repatched together, and surprisingly they were recorded live, with Francisco Arini the session artist employed.

The roof blows off the house with the evil and beautiful ‘Knowledge' which is a first class throw up of Asian sounds and hard beats. This had me casting my mind back to Nasha's ‘Streets Of Basra', with the waving b-lines but had a sense of air and breathing space with its breaks from the excellent madness.

The best dance melody of the album comes to the fore on ‘Nuclear' which is one you can skank to all night. The beat is spot on, and the more traditional musical sounds skate around the top of a really good urban dance track. The drum programming is down to a tee and this is real good stuff.

Mikel Banks' flute comes back on track 12, which is entitled ‘Untitled Beginnings'. This is a bigger showcase of Mo's talent, with more swing elements to the drum pattern and its laziness of flute, drums and bassline work well.

The album closes with ‘Stupid Games', an instrumental mix of a fairly old track and is a production showcase and a light hearted finish but it doesn't stimulate me through musical talent or anything.

In a musical field such as drum ‘n' bass, the one weapon which a producer must utilise is ‘different' sounds; the ability to make your bass sound different from next man's bass etc. My feeling with ‘Sirens' is that this hasn't been employed enough and the edge that makes great D&B hasn't quite been sought here. Whether it's because of a poor quality mix-down or what I don't know, but the sound of the electronica doesn't grab me. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent album, and the collaborations and live recording are real highs and Mo Magic has good talent as a producer. I'm a big fan of underground Asian dance music and my one concern is that there is never enough of it around. Although this is not as creative as some other stuff in the genre it is still worth checking out. 6.5 out of 10.