These Are the Breaks

by Andy KellmanKrafty Kuts isn't a line of sliced cheese marketed toward young urban professionals. It's actually a he -- a U.K.-based breakbeat DJ named Martin Reeves. These two discs, spun by Reeves, are broken up into separate themes, with the first dominated by old school and golden age-era hip-hop (KRS-One, Public Enemy, Kurtis Blow), while the second disc is centered around funky breaks and left-field house (Plump DJs, Chicken Lips, Freestylers). Just when Reeves veers toward the safe and predictable, he manages to pull off a trick -- like when he lays the vocals from Ultramagnetic MC's' "Poppa Large" atop Röyksopp's "Eple" -- to make the set stand out from the average mix. Even though he's no stranger to throwing wrinkles into the sets, he still keeps the listener/crowd in mind at all times. There are worse ways to spend a couple hours.