Rating:
Genre:
Electronica
Release Date: 06/09/2009
Run Time: 57:27
The story behind this album is almost laughably unlikely: club music producer
David Last was on vacation in Australia, putting some dancehall beats together and looking for a vocalist. A colleague directed him to Chicago-based dancehall singer
Zulu, and
Last sent him a track via e-mail.
Zulu voiced it and sent it back. The result was so good that they made an entire album that way, which the honchos at Berlin-based label
Staubgold subsequently heard, thus completing a geographically enormous triangle along which enough data eventually flowed to create this finished product, a tremendously entertaining fusion of dubstep, reggaeton, dancehall, electro, and pop that hits a high energy level from the very beginning and never really flags. The title may be somewhat ironic: although the impact of this music is pretty massive, its construction is often quite minimal. Check out the bare-bones Roland 909 accompaniment to the bouncing
"Exhibition Virtue," or the even more minimalist
"Ever Ready." In fact, when the sound thickens up the impact tends to fade a bit, as on the enjoyable but somewhat more pedestrian
"Necessary Evils." But before you can register disappointment with those tracks, you'll be lifted out of your seat again by such top-notch fare as the energetically chugging
"Caresss" or the fun combination track
"Put Me on Your Guest List." If you want a sneak preview of what dancehall reggae is likely to sound like ten years from now, this may be as good a guess as any.
~Rick Anderson, Rovi
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