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| Record companies or distributors or independent artists send out promotional copies of their material. Sometimes in order to stop the ripping and subsequent illegal distribution of music tracks a CD is imprinted with an audio 'watermark,' which is typically a deeply annoying message from the artist. |
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Unfortunately, the watermarking in Use Your Confusion is annoying. So annoying, in fact, that it renders many of the tracks virtually unlistenable to because the watermark comes in at just the wrong moments. The situation: you're concentrating on the lyrics, appreciating couplets and all that, and then "THIS IS AN AMALGAM DIGITAL RECORDING PROMO," quoth the CD in caps. I appreciate artists might need to protect their work, but this is ridiculous. Anyway, that pain has now been set aside for the remainder of the review.
I've only heard of the Juggaknots because of Breezly Brewin's presence on possibly the greatest hip hop track ever - 'The Fire In Which You Burn' on Company Flow's seminal Funcrusher Plus. Equally impressive was their featuring on the title track of Mr Len's Pity The Fool. Aside from these and other guest tracks, the Juggaknots have largely been in a state of dormancy since their debut, Clear Blue Skies from many years ago (I'd heard that the two MCs dropped out of the hip hop 'game' for a while to do some teaching. End of trivia). Thus it's slightly hard to know what to expect from them.
Juggaknots is a family (literally) of MCs Breezly Brewin, Queen Herawin and DJ/producer Buddy Slim. Also joining them on this album is a scattering of other MCs (e.g., old school hero Slick Rick) and a few guest producers. Lyrically most of it is spot on and although Brewin is hard to understand at times and is at others uninventive, Queen Herawin's carefully calculated rhyming skills and delivery more than make up for this. Probably the best of both is the title track, 'Use Your Confusion,' which backs up the two with a quick marching beat - totally untypical for hip hop - resulting in entertaining rhythmic quirkiness aplenty. 'Daddy's Little Girl's family story is further time for Herawin to shine.
Although the production is generally upbeat and bouncy, it's a bit of a shock after the grim minimalism of 'Here Comes...' and the low-fi grind of 'Hey Listen.' Sometimes the production is also at odds with Brewin and Herawin's incredibly monotone deliveries. The strange character of them combined is 'distinctive,' but also can get a little tiresome on the ear after a while, and you'll be craving the guest MCs to spice it up a bit.
It's this monotony of the two MCs that means I can't get excited about Use Your Confusion. It's not that the album is shoddily produced (it is at most simply uninspiring), and it's not that the lyrical content is lacking. It just doesn't have the magic I'd expect of a group of this vintage. |
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| Stuart Reeves - 6/10 |
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Name:
kepRigninue
| Date:
26/01/08 | Reply
I am sorry may be the wrong place for a post! But have you heard that Heath Ledger recently died in NY!
So young and Such a great Actor! Rest in Peace!!!
Angel2008
i was crying a hole day
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