There are two incarnations of Malachai. Both of them feature the same people, the singularly named Bristolians Scott and Gee, and both of them draw heavily from the same musical sources. But the results are disappointingly different.

More positively, the Malachai sound system showcases Scott and Gee’s amazing record collections, most recently and notably heard on their Soundcloud mixes which have shown off their ability to put their loves and influences together into a dizzying, genre-mashing array of non-stop musical pleasure. So far so good.

The problem comes with their original recorded output, in this case, their second album Return to the Ugly Side, which after hearing the mixes, doesn’t really live up to expectations. It’s an album that doesn’t just wear its eclecticism on its sleeve; it shouts it at you a little too loudly. This is a shame, because although Malachai clearly have impressive influences, this album is surprisingly conservative. Most of the songs have a similar languid breakbeat over which are draped the scatterings of songs. Some of these are good, such as the cute male-female vocal interplay on ‘Rainbows’, but too often they seem to have forgotten to include the tune.

The album starts with a sense of grandiosity, the orchestral swells of ‘Monsters’ building up a sense of importance, only for us to be hit next with ‘Anne’, which isn’t any more interesting than a Stereo MCs b-side. This pattern returns to haunt us with the appearance of the similarly orchestral ‘Monster’ midway thought the album, this time with lyrics. At the close, despite the duo’s credentials and even some impressive vocals, most of the album has drifted past too innocuously without registering. There’s too little compelling to grab the listener, even when the beats pick up speed and volume. And although individually some of the songs are decent and well-crafted, perhaps the best place for them is dropped strategically into a mix, since that’s where Malachai’s real talent is to be found.