The Groove Diggerz – winners of ‘Best Breakthrough Producer’ at Breakspoll 2007 and nominated for ‘Best DJ’ in 2008 – have been providing discerning DJs and clubbers with some of the funkiest nu-skool breakbeat around for a few years now.

Not content with sitting on their collective posteriors in the studio churning out solid gold broken beats, Words: Will Jobbinsthey are also a regular fixture at clubs and festivals around the UK and beyond, and will seamlessly blend their own material with that of their peers to create a seriously bouncy set. I should know, I saw them perform in October 2008 and wore out a pair of trainers in less than two hours.

But their new studio album, Money For Good Times, will come as something of a surprise. Those looking for an easy fix of thumping beats and squelching bass will probably be surprised, for the album reveals a mature, refined side to the Diggerz’ creativity that, until now, has been overshadowed by a succession of balls-out dance floor bangers.

The opening track, Ultrafunkula, quickly sets the scene with a laid-back trip hop groove before dropping into the electro-infused body mover We Rock. Highlights of the album include track five, Weirdness, which is a quirky introspective rap offering and is subsequently followed up by the silky-smooth chunky beats and crystalline vocals of Beautifully Dazed. Another gem is Just Be Good To Me – a breaks cover of the original ‘80s classic by The SOS Band. Amazingly, the Diggerz managed to drag singer Lindy Layton out of retirement to re-record her vocals especially for this version – she, of course, provided vocals for Beats International’s cover of the same song in 1989 called Dub Be Good To Me. Now that’s cool.

Simple Plan is an upbeat song with a perceptible UK garage influence in the bass riff, but which has been refined like double cream and soothed with samples of classical instruments and even the haunting echoes of a sitar. But then we come across Funky Heroes and although it is hidden well away in the second half of the release, this is what I’d been waiting for. This is much more of a typical Diggerz breakbeat production with a real pumping rhythm, and oscillating bass frequencies Label: Breakin Even Records
Website: www.breakinevenrecords.co.uk
Format: Currently CD only.
Good Times Drum n’ Bass Edit out soon on vinyl. so deeply harmonised that it makes your brain melt and ooze from your ears onto your shoulders. This one, at least, will keep the clubbers happy. The penultimate track, Sunrise, is a soaring downtempo job with some great guitar and orchestral work, which eventually drops into a thoroughly sterling offering – a drum n’ bass remix of an older Diggerz hit, Good Times. This isn’t just one of the best – and hardest – tunes on the album, it’s one of the greatest d&b tracks I’ve heard in recent months.

Money For Good Times is a very polished production, and while some of the tracks lack initial impact, the album boasts plenty of depth and invites further listening in the way that relentlessly banging breaks albums often don’t. A wide range of styles and tempos makes it refreshingly diverse, even if it occasionally veers a little too close to ‘pop music’ for me, and it will definitely be most at home in your car glovebox, waiting for those long drives in the summer sun with the window down.