The High Decibels – HD
Reviewed by Sadie O., 9/4/08
Blues guitar and old-school-style Hip Hop – why didn’t someone think of that earlier? It’s a great combination! A couple of young guys from Oakland – I think when they get their flows just a bit smoother they’re gonna blow some minds – musically they’re already unusual and highly listenable and dude straight-up shreds that guitar!
A few scattered and muffled FCCs (they seem to have blanked some others out pretty well) – tracks 3, 7 and 12 are iffy. I like 1, 2, 6, 9, 11 best.
1. 2:45 ***slow makossa-style funk with bluesy guitar, scratching. Great music, fairly mundane lyrics about a sexy girl.
2. 2:47 ***midtempo bluesy funk. Blues guitar and scratching go together like chicken ‘n’ grits.
3. 3:22 FCC (fairly muffled) “dis shit” **acoustic country blues guitar
4. 3:08 **midtempo funk strut, dance beat.
5. 2:34 **uptempo blues rock, high-speed rap.
6. 2:45 ***downtempo slide blues guitar & scratching (little else) – the rapping could be a bit more in synch, but I love the music.
7. 2:57 (might be a couple FCCs, but hard to tell) ***downtempo hand claps and muffled hard rock blues guitar
8. 2:38 **acoustic, rather folky guitar. Kinda… pretty! Strong lyrics, though.
9. 3:02 ***slide blues guitar.
10. 2:21 **acoustic guitar (reminds me of Pete Townsend!), odd electronic clicking beat. Unusual!
11. 2:37 ***fuzz guitar and bits of soulful female vocals, positive lyrics.
12. 1:50 FCC: “shit out metaphors” **sound of scratchy record, then SLOW country blues guitar, upful lyrics.