Ghettoblaster

Socalled: Ghettoblaster ... This album is mostly clean with a few FCC's in "These Are the Good Old Days" and one glaring FCC in "Ich Bin a Border by mayn Vayb". Ghettoblaster gets high marks for being unique; it's jam-packed with Yiddish rap and chant, heavy beats, and Klezmer tunes. But the album falls short in that it gets quite repetitive, with much recycled material dispersed throughout different songs and many songs simply going on far too long. This guy is basically hip-hop's version of Matisyahu, only less skilled. That said, there are some solid tracks here and Socalled makes good use of solid hip-hop beats when combining them with traditional Jewish chant. Best tracks: #'s 4 and 7.
1. Intro: slow, chanting vocals with heavy beat; spoken word clips in background; light marimbas
2.* These are the Good Old Days: FCC, Klezmer-ish violin background with child-sung vocals in beginning; medium-heavy beat picks up with chorus; spoken word sections throughout
3. Let's Get Wet: Deep drum beginning, trumpet beginning; monotone, robotic chanting, also Klezmer-ish trumpet solo, lots of electronic background sound, a bit repetitive
4.** You Are Never Alone: Choral chanting beginning, background piano, heavy and catchy beat; female vocals throughout, trumpet melody slows down into chant periodically; male rapping vocals halfway through; catchy female vocal chorus
5. Slaughter on 10th Avenue: Bit of an anomaly, slow piano song in minor key, very calm and see-sawy lower piano; soothing, but very different from the rest of the album
6.* Ich Bin a Border by mayb Vayb: FCC, Spoken word intro by old Jewish guy, deep bass melody, Yiddish rapping; grooving, funky beat with high pitched violin and trumpet; recurring Jewish chant
7.** (Rock the) Belz: Spoken word beginning, religiously driven words; deep voiced Yiddish/Hebrew minor key singing, funky beat kicks in with light piano, French lyrics halfway through with good flow; lots and lots going on
8. Rece Cica: Light percussion, Jamaican speaking with Klezmer music; faster paced singing with accordion background and Reggae influences; occasional flute in minor key, sounds like a Jewish festival song, like some Bar Mitzvah thing
9. Slaughter Interlude: Same piano piece from track 5 with some bad quality recording over it, sounds like the dude is drunk, skip this one unless it's comedy hour
10. Heart Attack Feeling: Deep piano beginning, see-saw, Yiddish singing accompanies; slow-paced beginning, strings slowly chime in; picks up with light percussion then morphs into deep beat with piano in higher octave; English rapping with Yiddish singing, slightly repetitive and long
11.* Baleboste: Violin in minor key with high pitched minor chanting; intricate, moving bass, grooving beat kicks in with trumpet background; medium pace, very busy and develops interesting classical background strings towards the end
12. Bikel Family Nign: Same Klezmer chant as intro, very short with only chant
13.* Let's Get Wet (Louder Remix): Basically track 3 warped into a techno/house song, excellent thumping beat and cool electronica sounds, just unbelievably long and repetitive, fast paced with robotic voices, but Klezmer sounds don't quite fit
Reviewed by Iceman Earl