Album Review: V.I.C

Disappointing, Disgusted, and I Disapprove and a bunch of other “diss”es I have to discuss with this V.I.C Beast album.

 

What does V.I.C. even stand for you ask? It’s an acronym with a meaning no where to be found, except that it may be short for his name Victor Owusu. Born in New York and raised in Atlanta, this 22 year old says his music is a hybrid between witty battle rhymes and southern party music. V.I.C is signed with Warner Brother Records and has worked with big name artists Soulja Boy Tell ’Em, Hurricane Chris, E-40 and few others that jumped on the hit ‘Get Silly Remix’. ‘Beast’ is the first album for V.I.C. and Get Silly, his first single, was a dance craze hit. Many confused him with Soulja Boy Tell ’Em, a featured artist on the remix, as the main artist of ‘Get Silly’. With an album like ‘Beast’, V.I.C. sounds like a one hit wonder.

 

The album starts out with heavy breathing and then drops the beat hard with chants of “I’m a Beast”. He continues this animal theme in the next track, with a person trying and failing to impersonate an Australian accent talking about mating rituals. There are also two other skits that carry out this same theme. The skits were not entertaining or funny, and could have been left out. The songs that were put on the album just didn’t flow together. Songs “Get Silly, “We Ridin” a song sampling the batman theme song, “Wobble” and “Duck Off”. These were more dance party songs for teens.  Then there were songs on the album that were decidedly more adult, with lyrics like, “Beat that” with the hook that rings, “I don’t let the p***y beat me up I beat that p***y”, and “Blow my mind” all about sexually pleasing a woman. Dance songs for teens and overtly sexual songs just don’t seem to go together on one album.

 

Overall he had some really great beats on the album. Too bad his nasally rap tone and odd emphasis on words ruined the majority of the songs on the album. “Get Silly” was the only hit on the album and that’s because superstar Soulja boy hopped on the Remix. This is definitely not an album I would listen to twice. I give 1 star : ( 

Album Review: Morcheeba “Dive Deep”

By Tamra, www.FromTheCrowd.com contributor

I’ve never heard anything like the Morcheeba album Dive Deep. Dive Deep is definitely an easy listen from beginning to end. This is the 6^th album completed by the band. With a fitting title and album cover of the ocean the album puts you into a calming deep trance like the ocean with the occasionally big waves to move you deeper. Morcheeba is a British band with an eclectic sound with many collaborating talents. The group members Paul and Ross Godfrey had a falling out with past lead singer and decided they no longer wanted to share decisions with a permanent singer; which lead them to the internet for the collaborations on Dive Deep. The album honestly sounds like a mix someone put together of there favorite songs with all of the different vocals. These collaborations gave the album sounds of many different genres of music such as; electro, blues, folk, country, and even trip-hop. 

 

I’ll give you a little taste of what this album offers. “Run Honey Run” a country folk song with an electro twist to the instrumental throughout the song. Run honey run and never stop to look inside your mind rings the chorus against the banjo the main instrumental in the song. Bradley’s twang flows well with the music creating a great melody.  A couple of tracks down you’ll find “One love Karma” telling you to keep it copasetic. “One love Karma” is featuring cool calm Pete a hip-hop track with the electro laid back beat. You’ll find a French track “Au De la” following “One Love Karma”.  Morcheeba also incorporated two tracks that are just instrumental no vocals. Now that’s just a taste of Dive Deep.

 

 For an album that is only 40 minutes Morcheeba gives a variety of different sounds to relax to. With out a lead vocalist to identify with on the album Morcheeba doesn’t sound like a band, it sounds like a CD of a variety of different artists. If you’re looking for a mix of relaxing music Morcheeba Dive Deep would be the album for you.

 

I Give 3 Stars.

Album Review: Bloodsimple “Red Harvest”

By Tamra, FromTheCrowd.com Contributor

Bloodsimple biography starts out by saying “Let’s face it, life isn’t pretty.” Bloodsimple an American Metal group formed in 2002 definitely lives by that through their music. Red harvest is their second album released under Warner Bros record that came out in 2007. Red harvest follows their album A Cruel World. The group consists of Tim Williams (vocals), Mike Kennedy (guitar) Nick Rowe (Guitar), and Kyle Sanders (Bass). The group has three songs that have charted in the top 40 off of their two albums. Red Harvest, their latest album, is full of harsh vocals, spoken words, and a lot of mediocre randomness.

I was not a fan of the majority of Red Harvest as it was subpar in my opinion. Red Harvest lyrically content is of killing, temptations, and the usually darkness of heavy metal. The first track on the album ‘Ride with Me’, reminds me of twisted version of Tenacious D song Tribute. Red Harvest begins with telling a story over the guitar chords setting the scene for the album. His screaming vocals seem forced, and the solo’s that should sound like an outrageous freestyle feel rehearsed. The album does not have a flow; where themes begin they are not finished throughout the album. In tracks 2 ‘Red Harvest’ and track 3 ‘Dark Helmet’ the songs end with random sound effects that are not heard in any other tracks again until track 8 ‘Whiskey and Hell Bound’. ‘Whiskey and Hell Bound’ begins with another random sound effect of an airplane following a bomb introducing the intense riffs. Some tracks implement spoken word well while others tracks like ‘Dead Man Walking’ and ‘Suck it up’ try to have catchy hooks.

Overall the album had potential but each song ended with a boring snore and a distant memory of what I was listening to. Not one of the ripping guitar strings complemented by the bass stuck with me. I give this album 2 and ½ stars