Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip

A hip hop night at Sheffield union, something I don't usually do. As someone that viewed 8 mile as a documentary I'm probably in the wrong place, saying that, tonight is a surprisingly white dominated crowd. The reason I'm here is Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, a duo who came to fame through their killer track (pardon the pun), "Thou Shalt Always Kill". With one of my favourite albums of 2008 in 'Angles' I was in keen anticipation to see what their follow up 'The Logic of Chance' had in store.

But before that the support acts, picked by the headliners, as Kid Carpet and Gideon Conn had been before. Sound of Rum and B Dolan hit the Sheffield stage. Sound of rum, are a very southern act, they reminded me of a Big Brother contestant who’s listened to lots of early Plan B thinking if they can do it... Maybe it's just me, she probably gained new fans tonight but I wasn't one of them.

B Dolan, on his first UK gig however instantly warmed himself to the audience by asking the audience to direct all their negative energy towards him. That combined with catchier beats, much deeper and intelligent lyrics, a genuine ability to laugh at himself along with an impromptu stunt involving security left the audience suitably primed for the headliners.

DLSvsSP haven't got the handiest name for writing reviews on your phone during a gig, but their debut album, Angles, in my opinion was an obvious Mercury Prize omission, intelligent, well written, catchy, well produced. The test will be the 2nd album syndrome. Trying to, in their own words, 'get better' but not moving too drastically away from the winning formula that received such plaudits.

As a live act who are keen to entertain, their last set of gigs were a series of 'lectures' in small university venues. Tonight though showcasing their new album, 'the logic of chance' they go back to a more orthodox format. Opening with first album track, 'The Heart that My Beat Skipped' immediately dispelled the worry I had that they were still a one track act, with the crowd singing every word back at the pair.

The band release 'The Logic of Chance' today and have been previewing it for free on their Myspace for the last week, going by the number of people signing back new tracks like 'Sick tonight' and politically motivated 'Stake a Claim', it seems like something acts should do more frequently before tours. After a fuller sounding 'Magician's Assistant' Pip tells the audience "As you heard there, as well as writing 2nd album we've finished off some of the songs on the first album", a harsh but fair reflection with the new live impetus of the track.

The mix of genre's and influences is quite shameless at times with samples from Dizzee Rascal in 'Rapper's Battle' and a Prodigy inspired 'The Beat'. Latest single 'Get Better' might not be the greatest track they've written but has some great lyrics, which we were told wasn't about helping people to be better, but something else I can't really talk about here! After revealing his nerves about completing new track 'Five Minutes', Pip nailed it and then went back to familiar surroundings with 'Thou Shalt Always Kill', much to the delight of the mostly student crowd. Finishing off with a previously announced encore, the crowd left happy with 'A Letter from God to Man'.

The new tracks fit in well with the set, and giving the album a spin writing this review, it seems like they may have done it again. Buy the album from today and see them anywhere they haven't yet sold out!