Customer Reviews

Ugly Side Of Love

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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]

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.

The album opens up with "Warriors," a brilliant song that not only samples parts from the 1979 cult film, but reflects the indefinable, auditory experience that's to come.

"Snowflake" seems to be a song about frustration, and I guarantee you'll want to roll your windows down and scream/sing along to this gospel-grunge-rock groove. "Blackbird" is another energetic yet schizophrenic ride through sound, which I can best describe as TV on the Radio meets the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.

"Only for You" is a trippy, garage-rock song who's fading lyrics and melodies seem to reflect the song's title quite differently. Apparently Geoff Barrow (of Portishead) assisted Malakai on this track, (as well as discovering the band itself). "Lay Down Stay Down" has a 70s jazz-funk appeal, and could easily belong to that decade if only for the song's message, while "How Long" starts off sounding like the Guess Who's "Hand Me Down World."

Track ten is undoubtedly my favorite. Gee's vocals, like most of the album, resemble that of slightly warped Crosby Stills & Nash, while the song itself sounds like it's being played on a vintage stereo, scratches and all. "Another Sun" will indeed make you feel like you're listening to something created decades ago, and that's more than refreshing in an age where technology is used to make a mediocre piece of music sound more advanced than it ever could be.

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Please support good, creative, genre breaking music and buy this album.
For best results you should be about a 8 or 9 on the stoned-o-meter

This album sounds like it's a sampler LP of songs from San Francisco based hippie bands from the late 60's. Beatles, Love, Grateful Dead and more, you can all find them on this fine LP but these two Brits.