Youngblood Brass Band- Pax Volumi

 

Funk and jazz, hip-hop and punk; these are just some of the places that Youngblood Brass Band have gone to draw inspiration for this latest release.

Pax Volumi, the fourth album from this 10-piece collective from across America. Blending hip-hop rapping with tongue-in-cheek lyrics, jazzy horn lines, punk-y beats and funky bass lines, there really is something to appeal to all audiences about this music.

The album successfully captures the energetic craziness of the live band, and shows off the way the group is influenced by New Orleans Dixieland jazz with the semi-improvised nature of the tracks, and the interaction between the different parts.

Youngblood Brass band really have got some fantastic tracks on this album- the opener and debut single, ’20 Questions’ shows off their Hip-hop stylings to great aplomb. The horn riffs crackle like fire and the lyrics come thick and fast. ‘Wrestlevania’ is a much more jazzy number- instrumental, it shows off the band’s prowess as players. The cover of Chaka Khan’s 80s classic ‘Ain’t Nobody’ is full of life and energy, with some great sections of powerful horns, with a slightly latin beat. ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ takes the feel and sounds of a New Orleans funeral march, slow and sombre, before lifting up into a celebration of life with the segue into ‘His Eye is on the Sparrow.’ The moments where individuals have solos only serves to show how talented the individuals who make up the band are- both tasteful and complicated, these short solos add little bits of individual character to certain tracks, rather than being used as something to have in every song.

Overall, this album crackles with energy, and shows off the talents of the band as a whole; as well as individual musicians. Equal parts jazz, rock, hip-hop and funk, there is something for everyone on this release.

8.5/10

Lazy Habits- Lazy Habits

Mixing Hip-hop beats with New Orleans Dixieland Jazz, Lazy Habits’ sound definitely keeps a mixture of the old and new well and alive.

Opening with an instrumental, New Orleans style funeral march “Processional”, Lazy Habits opens in a calm, sombre style, which is immediately revoked with the first full number, “Ashes”, showing how the group mixes rapped lyrics and brass jazz licks and riffs which creates a hard hitting style and enables the group to get a range of textures, fusing funky bass riffs, and piano melodies with the horns.

“Surface Dirt”, shows a more mellow side of the band, opening with a lilting piano solo before coming in with the rest of the band.

Lyrically, Lazy Habits retain just the hip-hop, rap style of vocals and tend to write about diverse subjects such as modern life, drug problems, and broken families.

The album is, at 16 tracks, a bit long, which means that there are some tracks that feel a bit like fillers, which could be taken out to still leave a fill length album. The tracks follow largely the same pattern, other than the opening and closing instrumental numbers (“Processional” and “Ghosts (On My Way/Small Screen)”- which closes the album in a lonely, melancholic style).

Overall, the album is very well written, and the quality of musicianship good too. But it could have done with a few fewer tracks in order to retain a high quality and more contrast between the songs.

5/10