The Black Seeds – Solid Ground
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/14/09
Roots Rock Reggae with elements of dub and funk, from New Zealand. As so often happens these days, I love the music and am not quite as crazy about the vocals – but I give them major props for neither trying to fake a Jamaican accent nor resorting to the goddamn vocoder. So, the vocals are good and the music is great – which is better on both counts than 99% of what’s coming out of Jamaica these days, and I ain’t complaining. No FCCs that I could hear – I like 2, 7, 9, 11-15 best.
1. 4:41 **emphatic midtempo skank with a bit of dubby sound and a lot of guitar.
2. 5:30 ****downtempo finger popping skank with a lot of funk. Great sound.
3. 4:43 **a bit uptempo and very jaunty bubble.
4. 4:01 **wonderfully rootsy bubble, a bit relaxed – lyrics seem a bit hippy-cheesy to me, though.
5. 6:19 ***a bit downtempo skank with nice horns.
6. 5:23 ***uptempo, bouncy, danceable bubble.
7. 5:19 ****a hint of Kashmir in the intro… then a midtempo skank with a great bottom end to the sound.
8. 4:27 ***energetic roots bubble, a hint of Pressure Drop, breathy vocals.
9. 3:09 ****makossa! Midtempo funk. Yay!
10. 3:56 ***midtempo bubble, nice message.
11. 5:17 ****slow funk skank, great noise.
12. 5:14 ****slow, moody bubble. Dub instrumental – nice!
13. 3:41 ****bouncy midtempo soul/funk groove. Instrumental with lots of horns, and whammy bar on the guitar.
14. 3:55 ****downtempo deep dub of track 10.
15. 4:43 ****uptempo bouncy danceable dub of track 6.