Headchange
 back to albums |
Track Listing
1. Change
Download MP3 (2.96 MB)
2. Took a Trip
Download MP3 (3.04 MB)
3. Joy
Download MP3 (3.81 MB)
4. Just Be a Friend
Download MP3 (2.70 MB)
5. Mental Pain
Download MP3 (4.15 MB)
6. Leech
Download MP3 (3.52 MB)
7. Serenity
Download MP3 (3.00 MB)
8. Family Doesn't Matter
Download MP3 (2.88 MB)
9. Worship
Download MP3 (3.26 MB)
10. Joy (Acoustic Mix)
Download MP3 (4.58 MB)
|
Headchange
Their grooves are well-intentioned: laid back, unobtrusive, and generally likeable. And, when vocalist Kaari Bakari switches gears from singing to rapping, he pulls a seamless transformation from Nick Hexum to Anthony Keidis. But much of the material on Headchange's self-tiled album never really pushes beyond likeable. In moments, the music threatens to break that barrier - particularly during Jesse Batiuk's occasional guitar divergences - but it never really takes the risk.
Instead, what we're left with is a collection of groovy but eventually monotonous songs Some of them, like "Joy", work; some don't. "Took a Trip" is an example of the latter. Here, Bakari tries too hard to make his rap stylings work; and it becomes work to listen to him packing sentences into the beats and not quite reaching the notes that need to be reached. It's like listening to an aspiring Dr. Dre rapping behind guitar-driven off-beats, his voice either trailing behind or moving too far ahead.
Bakari's word choice further handicaps some tracks. Lines like "Maybe I should scatter my brain/Like that white boy Kurt Cobain" and "What's the prognosis on my psychosis/The ghost of Sigmund Freud couldn't even diagnose this" are. for different reasons, enough to make you cringe.
- Irene Yadao
|
