You may be be forgiven for perhaps not having heard both Wu Tang Clan or Fugazi (especially the latter), maybe you’ve heard a few songs from each or heard nothing from either - this is some air for the vacuum. Wu Tang Clan are the seminal rap group from New York and Fugazi were a post-hardcore band spawned by Ian MacKaye of influential DC hardcore band Minor Threat. Where artists like 50 Cent and the current rap sensation Odd Future would be nothing without Wu Tang Clan’s gangster rap, equally the guitar bands of new would be nowhere without Fugazi - even if they don’t know it.

This is no Linkin Park and Jay-Z type mash-up - there’s little chance of these artists being on stage together and where that was a money-making trip, this is not. This project is the brainchild of Midwestern producers Cecil Otter and Swiss Andy, little to do with either artist (except of course using their songs), and done in completely the correct way - respecting and eulogising the songs they came from and making some great music in the process.

For someone who has not heard either artist, you may end up with two new favourite artists. Sleep Rules Everything Around Me is a mournful and haunting ballad, it is a slow beginning to an album and sets the tone to one of introspection. Suicide Surprise cuts open the melancholia with its lyrics as a razor, a stealing and lumbering guitar and hit-hat, with a scream from MacKaye opening onto the Wu’s vocals. Another Chessbox Argument is a the next highlight after the opener - throughout the album, Fugazi’s sounds sound stirring behind Wu Tang Clan’s lyrics; the producers do a very good job of seamlessly fitting this unlikely pairing together, “It’s all about strikes now, so here’s what’s striking me”, sings MacKaye before Meth asserts “hey you, get off my cloud!”. Ghetto Afterthought, “Wu Tag is for the children!”, is a triumphant sounding track - relatively lighter in tone than it’s predecessors. Looped drums, bass and guitar - simple, elegant and effective. Shame On Blue, the chorus a sample of Gloris Gaynor’s I Will Survive, “When I first stepped on the scene, niggas was petrified, Jet back to the lab like they were being chased by homicide”, is sung by sirens with Fugazi instrumental underneath. Floating Labels has a hazy and plodding guitar and crackle and uses Genius’ Labels as its template. Nowhere to Wait is the beating heart of the album, it uses the spiky guitars and thumping guitars from Fugazi’s Close Captioned then drops into the relatively famous Waiting Room. The latter’s guitars chugging and MacKaye hollers, “Everybody’s moving/Moving, moving, moving/Please don't leave me to remain/In the waiting room”; it is crashingly powerful and climaxes the song fittingly. Forensic Shimmy is the final track on the album, it’s sparse and hitting from both of the artists involved, “Oh, baby I like it raw!”, sings Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Guitars screech and caress the listeners ears and ODB rips into his lyrics for the final jam. Wu Tang Clan are the ghosts in the haunted house that Otter and Andy have made from Fugazi’s back-catalogue.

It is an emotional album made by two producers who obviously love the artists they are fusing. It’s a great sampler; if you haven’t heard either of these artists properly (as with this reviewer aside from a few songs) then this is a very good place to start - killing two birds with one stone. The artists compliment each other, which is perhaps unlikely as they are almost polar opposites in music and ideology; the rappers drinking and taking drugs and Fugazi being straight-edge. One problem is that sometimes the songs sound a little samey, with little change in tone or feel - but when they push the sounds they do so with success. There’s a sense that these songs are not as good as the originals they are made from - but don’t let that bother your listening, enjoy how the producers have stuck songs together and if you like what you hear go searching further into the artists on show. Thus, it’s a triumph for the two men who concocted this and a successful if unlikely match-up.