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Kukan Dub Lagan - Life Is Nice (Candyflip Rec.)
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lazy_i
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
15
Posts :
276
Posted : Mar 13, 2005 08:52
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well, got it a few weeks ago, my cat loved it at first sight and i soon followed. It's still not out of my cd player. rather than give one favorite track, i think the album is a whole, a journey to be experienced with your eyes closed. as you know i love what you've done so once again, great work Itai. |
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kukan-dub-lagan/ItaiTaiko
kukan-dub-lagan/ItaiTaiko
Started Topics :
144
Posts :
1728
Posted : Mar 14, 2005 11:35
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cheers for the wrods
all my best
 Check out my music page - free music , new style and more :) |
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KakoOlalaJwal
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
116
Posts :
2565
Posted : Mar 14, 2005 13:27
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There are already many reviews of the album, however here are a few thoughts about it..
First of all, the cover Micky Noise created is looking good indeed, even if I'm not definitaly fan of the work on the Kukan font (I mean the stroked and embossed letters "floating" on the background layout). Sure it doesn't ruin the whole work, but it could have been skipped imho..
Now about the music :
The album-titel song opens the album, stating that life is nice (T1) with some steady dub and a lot of little sounds, melting roots elements and more specificaly psychedelic ones.. The flute melody is not really my cup of tea however, maybe "too" nice hehe..Itay is using a lot of vocal samples, as it has been said with obvious skills, and opens Saiko Dub (T2) with some.. The bassline he adds is quite driving, and the hihats placed in triplets just make the rhythmics even more groovey. The ambiance is a little more "dualistic", I mean both lighter and darker elements, underlining more the contrast of Life. The whole is again quite dense, which is a characteristic of the album, without becoming indigestible.. Then the wink to Pink Floyd (T3) is only a wink, which is largely enough, the track has is own feature, dominated by a doped ambiance, and featuring less "roots" reggae elements.. They come again just after (T4), with the good ol' out of time keyboard, again combined with highly filtered elements. The rhythmics are quite danceable with a nice alternance of the snares. The melodic elements are here again very light and sharpen. Then the tribute (I assume) to Gandhi (T5) is more steady with a very nice built-up of the rhythmic elements (thumbs up for the hihats). The declaration to Jah (T6) is a very nice piece of very groovy dub/breakz based on a simple flute partition, quickly accompanied with several instruments (guitar, violon, ...) and nice percussions, natty-roots vocoder-samples are completing the whole. Then Itay wants to share more quiet moments with us and brings a long opening in the following track (T7) leading to again useful rhythmics. No Man Control (T8) is in he same mood as Defence Yourself Jha, which means quite energic, and still the roots vs digital combination. Shinzon Romulan after that (T9) is much slower, but the melodic full-fx elements are going to all the directions, the whole is here and there pulled back to the ground by some piano chords. The Sound of the Sword (T10) opens in a very nice way, and features a bit less layers, I believe it is then a little more powerful than the others, there's also a little more mysterious atmosphere, while the rhythmics are as always built-up in a very efficient way. The closing track (T11) sounds like the end of a day with a somehow more melandcolic ambiance, but promizing another "Nice" tomorrow..
Life is Nice is a great shot for a first opus. Very homogenic and with some solid built-ups.. For sure allergic people to Jamaican music will hardly like it, but all the Irie freaks should find something they like in Life Is Nice.. However I tend to regret a little bit that several tracks use the same recipes. Those recipes are good, but the album could have been a little more varied. I'm sure Itay will try some different things in his future works because he has the technical luggage for it.
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"Get your dose of BoOgie !"
http://www.bunkum-records.com
http://www.myspace.com/zekakoo |
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