Ugly Side Of Love

Malachai | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 2, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Domino
• ASIN: B002P5XY06
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #173,043 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Domino release the 'Ugly Side of Love' album by "stand-alone Bristol sensation" (Mojo) Malachai. Initially released on Portishead's Geoff Barrow's Invada label (under the band's old name Malakai) last year.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars forged from homage and futurism and as sonically enjoyable as it is intriguing, February 7, 2010

By 

David M. Madden "nonnon/dj_webern" (salt lake, utah United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ugly Side Of Love (MP3 Download)

Reposted from my [...] review



Occasionally, you listen to a new band and the "love it, hate it" reaction can't immediately be addressed due to the music's disconcerting and ambiguous aesthetic (i.e. Bitches Brew, Portishead, Odelay, The Go! Team's Thunder, Lightning, Strike); your mental label maker overloads with "I hear this and that, though it's not quite this or that but a bit of other stuff..." and so on.

As the instruments hiccup with a prominent, pulsing pop and Malachai (formerly Malakai) vocalist Gee recites "warriors, come out to play" alongside a percussive loop of the unnerving finger-bottle clanks from the film on the opener, "Warriors." The first minute indicates this as a scratchy 33 1/3 of sessions with Hendrix on guitar, Keith Moon on drums and a reggae-induced Jack Bruce on voice/bass. You're shaken, scratch your head, then decide to just enjoy the hazy, collaged illusion that producer "Scott" permeates throughout Ugly Side of Love (Geoff Barrow, who originally released the record in late 2009 on his Invada Records, might have some influence on the Bristol duo's sound).

Complementing a foundation of clever, transparent, empowered sampling (think Madlib), hazy `60s-rock-meets-early-`70s-psychedelia-meets-Spaghetti-Western (don't think The Black Crowes), greasy production, Gee swaggers with the best singers of said era and takes on subject matter as timeless and odd as, say, Marc Bolan. It might be gibberish, invented phrases, slogans for Green Teams across the globe, pure poetry, communication with another planet - or all of the above - as when he sings, "You, you must be crazy / you, you're a blackbird / take off when you want, and don't you be back, bird / pokin' around like a needle full of hay / baby, I'm a juicer" on "Blackbird." Who knows, but the delivery exudes a collected, slightly lunatic confidence, Gee wailing and reaching for growling consonants and piercing falsettos over Scott's backwards drums, Gatling gun rolls, phasing organ drones, funk vamps and duck pond ambiance.

But enough name dropping. Gee and Scott have carved a niche, one innocent and sans gimmick, forged from homage and futurism and as sonically enjoyable as it is intriguing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like Crack, July 31, 2010

By 

DW (chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ugly Side Of Love (Audio CD)

Much like crack, this album is highly addictive and hard to get out of your system. Malachai uses hyper-samples from old songs and rearranges them in weird and interesting ways. The singer sounds a bit like Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys).

My only complaint is that it's too short. I need my fix.

[DW]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent, May 20, 2010

By 

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ugly Side of Love (Audio CD)

I am not too crazy about the cover of this: in 2010, that Southern Rock evil smoke daddy vibe is an annoying giggle inducer.

But the music on Ugly Side Of Love is what counts, and this music is absolutely no problem. Malachi carry a Southern vibe, but their take is extremely varied. Blues informed tracks with unique chord changes, darker sonic tunnels that work as music and not obligatory experiment tracks, this band really knows how to make a rock album

Remember in the early 1990s when every major rock band made the seventy three minute CD where they hit every base, just to say they did. Ugly Side Of Love clocks at a half hour, but the diversity is textured and organic.

The difference is Malachi knows how to put a much richer thread through a much deeper needle.