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Blotto
Singles Collection 2004-2007 |
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Tracklist |
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01- KEMU-NI-MAKU
02- inside out
03- Black Stone
04- Diablo Anastasis
05- prosperity
06- Windy Lady featuring Yu Sakai
07- Morning Haze
08- survivor featuring Mika Arisaka
09- GR27
10- Time Flies featuring Steve Spacek |
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Review |
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Most touring bands and DJs tend to release studio albums that leave fans with a diet version of their sound. Listening to the half baked opener "kemu-ni-maku", it feels as if Cro-Magnon hold the sound to make their music explode - but never let it. The album is neither a live mix, nor an attempted re-creation of a show, which leaves it feeling like an inconsistent variety of what the trio can offer.
Cro-Magnon label themselves as jamband/new wave/disco house, and at least two of these genres are best on the dance floor. There's a light thump to Cro-Magnon's sound, and their delicate beats stretch over Latin breezes, organ jams, corny vocal tracks and touches of funk. The voiceless variety glides along, full of air, autopilot drums, and hints of danceability.
Cro-Magnon's three members play drums, keyboard, and guitar and bass. This is proven on the album sleeve, not on the album. The dull jams of "inside-out" and "Diablo anastasis" are proof that instruments are involved, but without much desire to change time signatures or chords. When III switches to the electronic realm with "prosperity" and "morning haze", it's simply mild. There are no pulsing beats, no blasts that demand attention. On "morning haze" a slow smear of drums and synths are finally killed off in a blissful guitar line - it's a trend that's often repeated on III. To get to moments of immediacy or bliss, the listener must sit through 3 minutes of bullshit.
Although I hoped Cro-Magnon's third release could have been blasted out of big speakers, the album is simply too sparse and lifeless to accomplish dancing. When Cro-Magnon add guest vocals to three of the ten tracks, two result in lounge jams and one in the danceless stupidity of "survivor". Thumping beats blasting over "let's work it out-on the dancefloor, keep on spinnin'-will you want some more?" and "work it, work it out, let's work it" could be forgiven "on the dancefloor". But not on an album that begs to be jump started, from beginning to end.
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