Talen - Kingston Book / New York Book [EP]

Mouthwatering Records

November 3, 2009, 12:21 AM

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It feels like these guys have been around forever now but Sizzla and Cutty Ranks are still making fresh music straight out of Jamaica thus the “Kingston Book” EP. Me being the lucky boy I am have received this nice little CD with not just one EP on it but the best part of two! “New York Book” sees vocals provided by Oddateee and Sensational and moves away from the standard lyrical style that Sizzla and Cutty Ranks spit on the first two tracks.

Not one for conforming I’ll start with “New York Book” or tracks eight to twelve of the promo disc in my possession. ‘The Morning Rush – An Oddateee Tale’ gives New York rapper Oddateee his chance to shine alongside reggae legends like Cutty Ranks and Sizzla. There’s a notable difference in production styles between the “New York Book” and “Kingston Book.” The American counterpart doesn’t try to have a trademark Jamaican sound but for me it doesn’t really work. Its kind of like it wants to be underground reggae or something. Its got digital basslines but we’ve kind of had that since the 80s to be fair. The “New York Book” doesn’t look worthy of the buy to me but it might suit heads that want to get that bit more spaced out than I do right now. Oddateee and Sensational far from let themselves down but the remixes from Bit-Tuner and Al Haca don’t do much to whet your appetite for more.

“Kingston Book” on the other hand sees two of Jamaican’s finest deliver the goods in pretty awesome fashion. Sizzla’s opening verse on ‘The Vibes – A Sizzla Tale,’ (they’re all tales by the way!) is sick to say the least. This wouldn’t be out of place on the Major Lazer LP which for me is not gonna be beat this year as the No.1 dancehall / reggae LP – you heard it here first kids! I think there’s a bit of crossover potential in this one but only time will tell on that front. As Sizzla says ‘Don’t fight the vibes, I like the vibes..’

Well... me too as it goes.

‘Sniper Sniper – A Cutty Ranks Tale’ has some ridiculously nice synth programming from the outset and the vocals certainly don’t disappoint. The production on both the “Kingston Books” blows the NYC tracks out of the water and that’s not to say they’re particularly that bad – its just that the Kingston sound is so good.

Sandwiched between all this you get four bonus tracks which I believe will rear their head on yet another offering entitled “Kingston Book Digital.” Here you get three remixes of ‘Sniper Sniper’ together with an alternate version of ‘The Vibes.’ Something for everyone here almost but the digital section certainly goes down the breakbeat route skirting into some fairly dark drum n bass from time to time courtesy of Alien Entertainment, Dillon Dug and Markus Kienzl.

Rude.

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