Customer Reviews

A Night in the Park

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If it were necessary to reduce this review to a single word, it would be: Bangin'. Given another, it would be: F*ckin' bangin'. Whatever John Kelley is sprinkling on his Cheerios, every DJ should be given a spoonful or two when it comes time to release their first artist disc. Due props must also go to Brian and Brian, as in Saitzyk and Golub, since one or the other (or both) show up on every track but one.

Whatever the combination of composition and production chores, this album breaks fast and hard out of the gate and for the most part continues with some of the most infectious instrumentals to ever roll out of Ball Of Waxx - and that's saying quite a bit. The title track is followed by crushing groove of "Eighty Eight," powerfully punctuated by the chest-thumping rhymes of Dynamite Jive. Executive Producer and BOW bigwig Dave Delaski adds some 303 on "Desert Days," which, along with Alex Spuriel's percussion, adds up to the most fully-realized cut on the album. John's lone solo piece is "Alleycats," a reverb-y howler that definitely has some back street in it. "Dye Sky Drive" and "Funkasaurus" both feature scratching from Spider, the best of which brings to mind Peanut Butter Wolf's work on BT's "Movement In Still Life."

The disc's only real soft spot is "Heavy Affairs" which isn't all that bad, just not up to par with the rest of the record. Simply Jeff lends a hand on "Force Ten," another solid slab of breaks and then John and Brian G close with their second pairing (along with "Fat Stacks"), the take-out inspired "Chopstix," as in "take me out dancing, baby." In fact, JK dedicates the entire album to "the fans and beat junkies that like to shake their ass out on the dance floor" and while these tunes will no doubt sound great rolling out of PA systems in clubs around the country, the complex interplay of the beats begs for the intimacy of headphones, so splash this one all over your iPod like Friday night cologne and let it soak on in.

Seriously how many more words do you need. I have never heard of this artist before and I first found some samples of his tracks through Winamp. Once I heard them I could not stop listening to them. They keep me moving and I can not get enough. This is a solid first album, and I can not wait for more.

DJ John Kelley is a well-established figure on the West Coast breaks scene, and what he serves up here with his first artist album is a solid 46 minutes of pure funk pleasure, most of it instrumental and all of it written by Kelley in collaboration with a variety of friends and colleagues, mainly Brian Saitzyk and Brian Golub. Kelley knows how to mix up the flavors and textures without sacrificing his groove, and he also knows when it's time to let a fleet-fingered turntablist come in and spice things up, which Spider does brilliantly on both "Dye Sky Drive" and the heavyweight "Funkasaurus." There's also a nice cameo by rapper Dynamite Jive on "Eighty Eight." Those who don't have a natural affection for breakbeats may find things getting a bit tired by the end, but they're probably off dancing somewhere else anyway. Highly recommended.

This stuff reminds me a bit of The Crystal Method and Sasha's Airdrawndagger. But this is not Crystal Method or Sasha. This is a bit wobbly in the bass frequencies and it makes this music much darker especially when you turn the bass up. Personally, I like it with a flat EQ, but this music is clearly made for clubs with huge subs, so it will definitely work well with the big-bottom-end system.

For me the highlight tracks are Desert Days and Funkasaurus, but there are really no bad songs here. The only area where I feel like I could critique this is in the hooks, of which there are few, so it doesn't grab me as hard as some music has, but this is very solid stuff. Great transitions and great grooves. Nobody should skip this one, unless they are into elevator music or they think that metal is the only true music or some such nonsense.