Ubzorb – Ubzorb
Reviewed by Sadie O., 12/6/06
Dance/beatbox/electronica with sitars and astonishing female vocals and impressive acoustic and electric guitar and bass – oh, and it’s funky and trancey, too. I think that covers most of it… Whew! They’re from the Bay Area, and obviously do one helluva wild mashup. The vocals sometimes amaze me and sometimes kinda annoy me, but the music is dead on astonishing throughout. I gotta go wash my brain out, now – cheers!
No FCCs that I can hear, although I can only make out a fraction of the actual words. I like 9 and 10 best, I think.
1. *soft echoing intro, then downtempo snakey groove, electronica with nod to Classical, female vocals range from whispers to modern soul stylings.
2. ***electronic bongs and shakers, Indian bowed instrument and Indian-styled vocals, then funky cool midtempo groove with rather alarming vocals.
3. **tabla intro, sitar and drones and funky groove – gorgeous combination of electronics and Indian instrumentation.
4. **midtempo, Andalusian-tinged guitar and electronic dance groove, fade out in middle, then back to aggressive yet spacey sound. Electronic fade.
5. ***wild electronica intro with acoustic guitar, chat about earthquake myths, and almost metal guitar bit. Crazy mashup!
6. ***electronic heartbeat, then slightly downtempo funky beatbox with sitar.
7. **downbeat midtempo, drippy electronics and Indian bowed instrument (I guess that’s the “erhu”?)
8. ***uptempo dance electronica with tabla and buzzy noises.
9. ****gorgeous acoustic guitar and beats, operatic singing a bit like fado, quite trancey and mysterious. The music really has me in awe.
10. ****random electronics resolve into a midtempo funky dance beat, metal guitar, wild vocals. A bit of Bungle here….
11. **sitar drones, uptempo tabla beat, cosmic vocal. Gets quite emphatic in a way.