No Prisoners

Gaudi – No prisoners
Reviewed by Sadie O., 4/8/10
Dub/Reggae/club/electronica/World from a London producer and featuring guest vocals and instrumentalists. Definitely a dance/breakbeat production, but with lots of original and interesting combinations of electronics and musical elements. Most tracks have long fades.
No FCCs detected. I really like almost everything…
1. 4:55 ****hollow, dubby skank with toasting intro – gets a rather clubby beat when the drum comes in, but the bass really is BAAAAD. Gnarly electronics, too.
2. 4:30 **starts with random people noises, rather low. Bits of echo-laden spoken word (Michael Franti), then uptempo jungle beat, breathy spoken word with Franti’s recognizable lyrical style. Switches to underwater lounge jazz, for some reason, then back.
3. 5:16 ****yummy midtempo dub skank. Slinky bass, squinky dub percussion. Nice. Some rather odd Jamaican spoken word, and some great noises. LONG-ass fade.
4. 4:44 ****butt-scuttler fa sho. Get out there on the dance floor and shake it, or I’ll be deeply concerned for you. Fine bass.
5. 5:11 ****lovely, simple oud, snaky rhythm. Part gorgeousness, part gnarly dance club groove. Goes all weird midway along. Bitchen!
6. 5:02 ****bitchen downtempo dub skank. Kinda goes 80’s Europop on us, but it’s still bitchen.
7. 3:18 ***slow dub skank, slinky (like the toy).
8. 5:51 ****bagpipes! Then grunty dance groove. What’s not to love? Bagpipes, begorrah! Ends with several seconds of busy signal…
9. 5:54 ***bells bells bells… bells… Jamaican chanting and gronks, then uptempo dancehall/club groove. Later, plodding beat with organ chords.
10. 4:17 ***R&B female chorus, downtempo slinky skank with rapid-fire toasting.
11. 6:21 ****insistent scronky grunty metallic electronic dance. Goes to dub skank with something a bit like melodica, and back again. Gnarly! last 30 secs are very faint loop of roots singing.