Various European reviews - click to enlarge
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WomensRadio.com

The 8th album! - Experimental funky Cumbia dubby grooves & Caribbean rhythms with Mexican spice! Feat. Control Machete, DJ King Ruly, Sistema Local Sound System, Romanowski, Subrok Mission, Blanquito Man, Jim Barr, a.o. - over 70 minutes with bonus video shot in Mexico. Mexican Sessions (Our Simple Sensational Sound) - a title evoking the fun and chance of this colorful musical journey. Up, Bustle & Out went to Monterrey, Mexico to meet the platinum selling Hip Hop crew Control Machete (who's Femin IV Caballero is also featured on the Cypress Hill album Los Grandes Exitos En Espanol). Together they experimented with Cumbia Music - and what was to be a 12'' single became the foundation for an entire album. Up, Bustle & Out also took their ideas north to California & NYC, they glided over the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico & Jamaica too before landing safely again in Europe. The Mexican Sessions captures the creative input / output of cultural experimental that began in Mexico, married the bass and sexy rhythms of the Caribbean with the flavours of Mexican spices. Simple Sensational Sound, the caption captures the feelings and ease of this musical journey. Up, Bustle & Out went to Mexico in 2003 to collect an award for Mexican film music. Being loved for their Latin fusions, their presence created a little buzz. A bus jouney past the Temple of the Moon & Sun delivered them at the doors of Monterrey's platinum selling Hip Hop band Control Machete, who are deeply involved in Cumbia Music experimentation. By Brian Ball, Music Editor www.womensradio.com

BPM Magazine
Genre: Dub Hip-hop
Sounds Like: Pancho Villa meets King Tubby meets De La Soul
For Fans Of: Experimental bilingual spacey hip-hop
Bottom Line: These artists ventured down to Monterrey Mexico to meet up with Control Machete to record these dubbed-out sessions, chock full of funky swelling organs, organic percussive bits and moody Rhodes melodies. Experimental and groovin’. (Praxis) www.bpmmagazine.net

RE UP Magazine

Categories shmategories. These cats can get down. Way down inna Baja California stylee with their new release Mexican Sessions comin’ atcha from all angles and influences. It’s a raw rub-a-dub spicy salsa for your ears with the base of the project from Monterey, Mexico messing around on the Cumbia tip with platinum selling hip hop group Control Machete, but also bringin’ it stateside to San Fran, NYC, with a little layover in the Caribbean before wrapping it up on their home turf in Bristol, England. As with past releases, UBO opens the door to welcome quite a faculty of talent for this semester’s school of rhythm. Along with Mexican professors Control Machete, lessons are dropped by DJ King Ruly, Sistema Local Sound System, Subrok Mission, DJ Mexican, Blanquito Man and Fragment Crew just to name a few.

“Intro” is sort of a pre-requisite track instead of cramming the Latin style down your throat, then goes from warm to hot with Romanowski representing the West Side on this unrelenting bangerbeat. Folllowing is an international high-stepper with plenty of bounce that ends with a little feedback to segue into the next track. It’s not really one continuos mix but subtle blends like this eliminate some dead air that might have stopped your body rockin. Speaking of body rockin, the accordion lends a big helping hand throughout and being a Puerto-Jew I dig the intro on “Corazon De Leon,” as it’s almost like a switchstance of Fiddler on the Roof, or more like “Fiddla on Roofies.”

If you get lazy and skip class after track 8 or 9 you’ll miss out on some dancing keys, big robust echo ridden horns, more tweaked accordion and solid flamenco trip plucked out by Cuffy, a.k.a. “El Guapo.” I’m not talking Three Amigos here, however, there is a plethora of skill displayed here from beginning to end. www.reupmag.com

Giant Step

Bristol's Up, Bustle & Out are back again with a fun, fun album called Mexican Sessions (Our Simple Sensational Sound). As you might imagine, the group has collaborated with musicians in Mexico including the collective known as Coco Machete, among other artists and locales Over three years in the making, the end results is a stew of Mexican, Reggae, Carribean, and UBO roiled into one mean recipe. Look for it now on Germany's Collision. www.giantstep.net

Candied Pop

I’ve been enamored with Up, Bustle & Out since the first time a clerk over at Other Music in NYC slipped their sublime Rebel Radio: Master Sessions, Vol. 1 across the counter for me to try. The blend of Breakbeat and Cuban music was and still is intoxicating and the respect that they approached the traditional forms was refreshing. Mexican Sessions Our Simple Sensational Sound sees them head to Monterrey, Mexico to whip up another cross-culture creation this time blending together Dancehall, Dub, Rap, and Cumbia into a languid but heated mix which is the perfect herald for warmer days.
The album lopes along in no particular rush, providing a backdrop that is slightly exotic and often trance inducing. “Mundo Insolito” is one such track with its Cumbia shuffle that makes your body just ache to slide about dancing like you’ve had five or six mojitos too many. Seamlessly that track staggers into “Cumbion Mountain” which will have you waving your arms in the air like an uncaring fool and will have you spinning around all the way to the sublime Flamenco breakdown, “Guitar Ahoy” at the album’s close.
You can get a little taste by sampling the album over at their website but really you should just go out and buy it. Mexican Sessions Our Simple Sensational Sound is just that good and makes it on to the skeletal beginnings of my Best of 2007 list. Very highly recommended. Published by James 22/3/07 www.candiedpop.com

Mexican Sessions - allmusic.com

It's very tempting to go out on a limb and say that Up, Bustle and Out are the most exciting dance music collective currently releasing music in any genre. No matter what genre or style they experiment with, they manage simultaneously to do honor to its traditions while also creating music that is undeniably their own. For their eighth album, they traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, and collaborated with the Control Machete hip-hop crew; the result is some kind of deliriously funky cumbia-hip-hop-reggae-dub fusion that simmers and bubbles with a constantly changing but consistently brilliant and spicy heat. Turntablism, dubwise sound effects, Latin percussion, rap en español, and Jamaican toasting are all woven through the fabric of this wonderful album, and there is literally not a single boring or even underwhelming track. Particular highlights include the turntable-fueled dancehall strut of "Mi Chat Latin," the smoky Spanish dub-hop flavor of "Genio del Dub," the swaying minimalist funk of "Tinto Tintero," and Kabanjak's Latin-reggae remix of "Corazón del León." It simply does not get any better than this. By Rick Anderson www.allmusic.com

visionsfromtheroof.com or .myspace.com/visionsfromtheroof

Urban Landscapes Entertainment

Tremendous album....fun to listen to, fun to hear the peeps enjoying themselves....love the blend of dub/reggae/cumbia/ranchero/other elements. Very good stuff!
Will chart it/play it on the show/write it up in my column. www.urbanlandscapes.org

The Beat Magazine

I think this is one of their strongest- in fact I would like to use it as a premium on our next fundraiser on "Cosmic Barrio" (KPFK). In addition I am pitching it as a story to "Day To Day" (NPR) where I have been doing music segments for a couple of years. www.beat.com.au

Properly Chilled

Up, Bustle & Out's "Mexican Sessions (Our Simple Sensational Sound)" is a tight exploration into mid-tempo, funky breaks and dub infected by hip-hop and a wide array of Latin influences. The big horns, accordions, and resonating percussive rolls of Mexican music wind their way through most of the tracks here, as well as Spanish sung lyrics so even without the title, the Mexican session theme is strongly played. When you're in the mood for some jabañero breaks, Up, Bustle & Out absolutely serve it up here on Mexican Sessions; never weak and never over-peaked on the bpm's this should sit very well with lovers of funky breaks. www.properlychilled.com

CraterTech/KKFI

Up, Bustle & Out "Mexican Sessions, Label: Collision
A slick moving bunch of tunes that will shock you, and make you want more. These are in full force and will be coming from far left, and then going to extreme right. The trip is made of dubbed out tropical rhythms and soul filled low tempo funk. They keep the root of it all true to vintage forms. Bass heavy beats and raga vocals designed for the sound system. Press play and let it repeat again, it’s the schooling of dub you need. There is good sense of samples and stabs from instruments along with vocal rhymes that make this a new style of hip-hop. Some of the tracks are most likely to get plugged into some film or a commercial; it just has that much potential. So, stop reading and check it out for yourself. cratertech.com

Up, Bustle and Out Head to Mexico

by Paul Zimmerman, First Coast News

Up, Bustle and Out's Mexican Sessions - Our Simple Sensational Sound grew out of what was to be a 12" single. After experimenting with Cumbia Music and taking these ideas to California, New York, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica the idea of just one single became a problem so the only solution was to make an album of what Up, Bustle, and Out came up with.
The resulting album is a crazy chilled out tropical trip that sounds as if Jamaica and Puerto Rico were relocated to the Monterrey coast. It's a Cumbia album that's been updated and remolded into something almost completely different. Call it Mexicali hip hop, call it reggae on a Latin tip, call it whatever you want but one thing is for sure for the Mexican Sessions grooves.

You might not be able to understand about half this album but that only adds to the tropical feel of this record. With reggae vibes pumping out and Spanish being rapped, this is the sort of thing you need a margarita for. It's not gangsta, Mexican Sessions is way too worldly for such cliches. This is all about conscious vibes via Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. As Blanquito Man and Fragment Crew say on, "Bristol Brooklyn Bridge," it's all about unity.
And while perhaps this is a little trendy sounding at times, it is a nice listen. Without a doubt this record would be huge in Miami, New York, or Los Angeles. It's cultured, open minded, and all about the vibes. Perfect for a day at the beach, drinking on a boat, driving around Ocean Drive, or doing absolutely nothing Mexican Sessions - Our Simple Sensational Sound is the ideal soundtrack.

Up, Bustle, and Out's never ending journey of exploration, experimentation, and ideas are continued on Mexican Sessions - Our Simple Sensational Sound with fantastic results. Mexican Sessions - Our Simple Sensational Sound is a heck of an album that its simple origins could never have handled. Thank heavens Up, Bustle and Out couldn't contain themselves and allowed us to follow them on their journey.

Created: 2/6/2007 5:33:35 PM www.firstcoastnews.com

Up, Bustle & Out
"Mexican Sessions"
(Collision Cause Of Chapter 3/Groove Attack - 2007)

Rupert Mould und Dave Ein aus Bristol sind dafür bekannt, an ihre Alben konsequent undogmatisch heranzugehen. So haben sie für das aktuelle Album "Mexican Sessions" mit der Hip Hop Crew "Control Machete" vor Ort in Monterrey (Mexico) zusammengearbeitet, haben weitere lokale Musiker eingeladen, ihren Beitrag zu leisten, sind dann über Kalifornien, New York und Puerto Rico nach Jamaika geflogen, um aufzunehmen und zu mixen. Und so strömen die verschiedensten Einflüsse in die Musik des neuen Albums. Auf der Basis der von ihnen bekannten urbanen Sounds wird hier in Richtung Weltmusik geschielt (ohne deren Klischees bedienen zu wollen) - Reggae und Dub tauchen weniger auf als bei den vorangegangenen Alben. Interessant ist vor allem das Spiel mit Cumbia - allerdings in mächtig verwandelter Form. So gelingt eine kulturelle Melange, die dennoch als ein in sich geschlossenes Album und weit entfernt von Beliebigkeit daherkommt. Selbstverständlich darf auch des Öfteren das Tanzbein geschwungen werden. Gelegentlich - und das ist der einzige "Makel" - werden Ideen jedoch für meinen Geschmack zu breit getreten und hätten kompakter präsentiert werden können. Als Bonus gibt es das Video zu "Cumbion Mountain".

Karsten Frehe www.irieites.de