Audio Bullys deliver a sound so up-front and fresh, the press have christened it with its own genre, Hooligan-house. Audio Bullys are two Londoners, Simon Franks & Tom Dinsdale. Ego War is their debut on Astralwerks and it's a two-fisted grab of ska and punk, acid-rock and UK garage, underground house, hip-hop and funk. Astralwerks. 2003. The hype is strong for Ego War. Trumpeted by the dance-music press as one of 2003's "next big things", London's Audio Bullys have been causing something of a stir with their fuzzy soundsystem beats, loud basslines and shouty cockney vocals. Debut single "We Don't Care" was a menacing musical manifesto; a loud, laddish, bass-heavy mash-up of house, dub, hip-hop and bassline garage that seemed to stick two-fingers up at perceived musical boundaries. Clearly, these guys mean business. The duo's much-heralded debut long player expands this manifesto further, taking in elements of ska, punk and electro. It's pretty good, too, mixing genuinely abrasive floor-fillers--"Real Life", "The Snow" (a disco-punk-house mash-up of epic proportions)--with more contemplative numbers (such as the wistful "Veteran" or "100 Million").