"Pieces"/"Eastern Jam"
by Chase & Status
(Ram)
On October 5, the BBC Radio 1 Independent Top 10 had new entries in eight slots. The UK charts are notorious for their turnover, but this seemed especially noteworthy, and I'm marking the occasion by looking at a few, starting with this drum 'n' bass 12-inch, which entered at number three. On "Pieces," guest vocalist Plan B (UK, not Seattle) flips between son-of-Staind acoustic dejection and crazy-personal-trainer hollers of, "I remember when I used to feel something!" I remember, too: It was back before drum 'n' bass became part of the mook arsenal. What is this, 311? On the B-side, "Eastern Jam" is one of those "tablas... break beats... HEY!" tracks that jungle fans were gaga about around 1996 that tries very hard to be modest about how blatantly it exoticizes its sources.

"Naked on the Dance Floor"
by Towers of London
(Vibrant)

Funny to encounter loud-and-proud glam-metal redux on the stereotypically effete indie chart, where this song landed at number five. In that context it's pretty wild, though in isolation, it seems a little more rote. Great title hook, but that's pretty much it, whining riff or no. Someone should get Electric Six to write their own song with the same title—I'm sure they'd do a lot more with it.

"Dance Wiv Me"
by Dizzee Rascal ft. Calvin Harris and Chrome
(Dirtee Stank)

"Do Me Wrong"
by Roll Deep ft. Janee
(Roll Deep)

Dizzee's didn't debut this week (it's at number eight on the indie chart); "Dance Wiv Me" went number-one pop over the summer and has been hanging around the charts ever since. It's easy to hear why: Early grime MC Dizzee Rascal has real presence even when he drastically slows his rhymes down to make sure they hear him in the cheap seats. But if you've ever been a Dizzee fan, it's not a heartening development artistically. You'll also probably prefer, as I do, Agent X's boisterous "Bassline Mix" to the original. "Do Me Wrong," in at number nine, is basically the "Dance Wiv Me" rip-off you might expect, and it, too, has some pluck—but not enough to save it from death by comparison. recommended