Weekly > Reviews
Juba Dance - Orange
Benjamin Lamar and Polyphonic the Verbose (aka Will Freyman) make up the two main components of Juba Dance, conveyors of fresh and genre mashing Hip Hop.
“I was born in Chicago” is Lamar’s first line of the album but now residing in Rio De Janeiro, the south and central American influence is hugely apparent. With Hip Hop going through a lengthy and overly commercial stagnant period, ‘Orange’ is a breath of fresh air. Blending old school rhymes and electro beats through jazz, blues and Afro-Cuban rhythms, so many different styles and influences shouldn’t really work but hats off to these guys and their rotating cast of accomplices who pull it off with seriously good results.
Take opening track “Tomorrow”, a sign of the eclectic feel to follow. Lamar smoothly rolls off a spoken intro to the album over back porch style vocals and intricate rhythms. A talented musician as well as wordsmith, he plays a vast array of the instruments on show here while Freyman takes charge of the programming and engineering side complimenting each other so well. Lamar is also involved with Innovative Brazilian outfit A Filail.
“Double Dutch Hymns” binds insanely funky beats with block party style hand claps and rhymes. DJ Noble takes the decks on a few tracks with his scratching completing the ‘street’ sound. On to “Fisherman’s Jig” and each track is a surprising excursion from the one before. I could almost smell the fish as they mellow us out at a Brazilian harbour with trumpet and cowbell.
Onto debating the state of Hip Hop with “Favorite Words” this recalls Guru’s Jazzmatazz project. Lush Jazz percussion layered with fast scratching and a smooth as silk vocal delivery. Possibly the track of the album “Cachaca” has the grooviest bass I’ve heard for eons and mixed with crackling beats and sonic synths, the production is nothing short of sublime.
- Juba Dance
- Orange (2007)
- Category: Album
- Label: Audio8 Recording
- Reviewed by: Sascha Boehm
- Published on: 29 May 2007
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
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Straight up acoustic Blues on “Willow Blues”, eighties style electro of “Hecky Naw” and the bold and sweeping string melancholy that is “Message From Cham” takes us onto the albums title track after a quick ride to Jamaica on the rolling drums of “Adams & Wabash”. “Orange” reigns in the whole feel of the album with a deep cello and conga combo that is cut open with a violin as sharp as a scalpel, class!
Finishing with the full on sombre Jazz of “Momma Holds Child” this album has so much going on that it demands to be listened to again and again. It’s an infectious record with the obvious Chi-Town roots but so much more besides. Turn your world Orange for a while, you won’t be disappointed.
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