Katchafire – Revival (2B1)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 8/30/06
Roots Rock Reggae from New Zealand. Pretty heavy influence by Steel Pulse and other British reggae. Solid music, but it veers from great and interesting production to painfully commercial – most cuts are excellent, some really suck… In fact, it’s a bit perplexing!
No FCCs. Follow the stars – huge range of quality, here.
1. **bouncy midtempo, full sound, harmonies. Easy going and happy.
2. ***solid midtempo skank. Cool music.
3. Intro is from hell, song marginally bearable midtempo bubble. Avoid.
4. *midtempo bubble. Love song, pop/smooth jazz.
5. **uptempo dancey bounce, rather commercial, but lots of cool elements to the music. There’s even a rap...
6. ****slightly downtempo bouncy bubble with a bit of xylophone and dub. Vocals definitely owe a debt to Steel Pulse – not half bad.
7. ***midtempo, solid and forceful. Spoken bit is forgettable, but other elements are very strong.
8. ***uptempo skank – interesting riddim, tough lyrics. Fun!
9. **midtempo and very bouncy. Cool music.
10. *midtempo skank, poppy love song.
11. ****uptempo Rock Steady. Infectious music and fun vocals.
12. ****midtempo dub with strong one drop. Dub of track 4, which is one of the suckier tracks, but the dub loses the sucky aspects.
13. *****sweet midtempo skanky dub with marimba – terrific!
14. *****downtempo dub with cool bits of electronica. Ends more than 20 seconds early – beware!