Aswad – Aswad vs. the Rhythm Riders (Liaison)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/24/06
Kings of the English reggae scene team up with dub/electronica producers for some often experimental dancehall. The album seems to get much better as it goes along, or maybe I’m just getting more used to it. You certainly can’t accuse Aswad of resting on their laurels! And they still have great vocal harmonies, although they’ve added some fun, growly dancehall rapping as well. I can’t stand the chick vocals on track one, and track 6 is just pure pop poop, but there’s also some really unusual and extremely cool stuff here as well.
No discernable FCCs. Tracks 8-9 and 11-12 are definitely best, IMO.
1. *a few seconds of random noise at start, then a dancehall groove and very modern R&B female vocals, but fun male dancehall rap. A bit commercial/BET for my tastes, but the beat rocks.
2. **downtempo dancehall bounce, male rap and female chorus. Nice female spoken word in Spanish.
3. **random electronic bleeps until somewhat uptempo electronic dancehall beat comes in after a minute. Manic monotone male rap, cool male singing. Ends with more random bleeping.
4. *midtempo, rather laidback electronic dancehall with mysterious noises. Lots of dubby bits.
5. **hard stepping razor beat, lots of electronics, tenor singing and dancehall rapping.
6. Smooth groove, relaxed love song
7. *a bit slow and rather funky dancehall – almost a “Shaft” vibe. Bits of rap, but mostly instrumental, one for fans of experimental sound collages.
8. ***uptempo electronic dancehall, hyper rap and sweet singing
9. ****trumpets and uptempo dancehall dub, nice vocals, great cut.
10. *uptempo dancehall bump composed of bell-like sounds.
11. *****cool uptempo dubby boopy riddim, sweet vocals, cool rap
12. ***no riddim for almost a minute, but lots of rather mysterious vibe, and vocal harmonies. Rather alarming rap. Only bassline for most of last 30 seconds.