Ras G - Brotha From Anotha Planet [Album]

Brainfeeder / Alpha Pup

August 25, 2009, 09:17 PM

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Close your eyes and imagine you have walked into a horrendously hippie shop; the staff are all wearing huge hemp jumpers and there is that strange smell that doesn't seem to exist anywhere else. This is where Ras G's latest collection "Brotha From Anotha Planet" will be playing, wafting through the air with the incense.

The first track, 'Dishwater', is like being in a mechanical rain forest, with noisy birds squawking over your head, giving you the uncomfortable feeling that you're about to be shat on. 'Dishwater' welcomes you to the album and if you don't like it, you probably wont like the rest of "Brotha From Anotha Planet". Ras G has created a mixture of strange sounds, which echo uncomfortably in your ears and I can only describe it as a clash of Glitch-Break-Dub-Ambience.

Although the album sound is creative, the tracks themselves merge into each other and the lack of track individuality means there really aren't any album highlights. The album seems to offer one vibe / idea: a reflection of today's contradictory society, but it may be that it just offers whatever the listener want to hear? Unfortunately, the down side of having the listener decide the meaning of the music is that the music itself then becomes a void, and although you can fill it with whatever you want, it is essentially empty and meaningless.

The album skips through tracks with each song making a slight impression, electronic beats interjected with occasional vocals, but somehow all running into the same sounds. The tracks are like rewritten chapters in an unfinished book, telling the same story of an isolated loneliness. Each one merging into the next, repeating the same story.

'Astrohood' has a stronger vibe than the other songs but it's only 2 minutes long and soon develops into the similar sounds of the previous tracks. The sounds build up, varied with electronic melody and unfocused speech and it takes advantage of the stereo aspect of the recording but could have been used to much greater effect. 'In Coming' has slightly heavier beats mixed with what seems to be a flute and a woman's voice. Its effects are just this side of annoying, making this track an instant skipper. With it's faster, uplifting beats, final track 'Alkebulan' offers the listener a slice of hope at the end of a terrible hour, but still has an unsettling vibe with a spooky melody and occasional crash and remix of beats. As the album fades out, I am glad it is over.

"Brotha From Anotha Planet" creates a feeling of disappointment, not that the listener is actually disappointed but that this album demonstrates what disappointment physically sounds like. It has a dulling heartbreak to it. "Bortha From Another Planet" sounds like you're driving down a busy street overhearing snippets of industrial noise and chatter, the sound breaks off with a disjointed beat and constant reverberating, the chatter coming in and out of focus, mixed with a fractured pulse from drum and bass and the occasional vocal.

"Brotha From Anotha Planet" is atmospheric and moody, built out of a collection of chilled oddities, obscure samples and topped of with a pulsing background noise which, if you're listening to it with headphones on, will probably make you feel sea sick. Ras G builds up the sound layers but he never lets you climax, and all in all it's one big disappointment. "Brotha From Anotha Planet" is likely to get lost with all the other music that no one -without dreads and hemp jumpers- has ever heard of.

Tracklisting:

1. Dishwater
2. Earthly Matters
3. Pennys Confession
4. Shinelight
5. Eunice in White
6. Sun Behind the Clouds
7. Astrohood
8. Nothing But Change
9. In Coming
10. Come Down (2 Earth)
11. Desert Fairy
12. Return From The Great Unknown
13. Alkebulan

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