August 2, 2004

{ Homelife - Guru Man Hubcap Lady }

Homelife serve up a weird stew of garage-orchestra, multi-ethnic, acid jazz-tinged pop on this latest release, Guru Man Hubcap Lady. While the disco-housey beats remain toe-tappin' and fairly consistent throughout, each track delivers a different range of instrumentation and vocalization, giving them a distinctive flavor unto their own. Tempos variate as well, from the chilled out and loungey (in a Combustible Edison kinda way) Heaven Knows to the rousing and flamenco tinged April Sunshine. The overall effect is of having stumbled upon a back-porch jam-session of extraordinary magnitude. A hoe-down throw-down incorporating everything from xylophones to drum machines to spoken word Engrish into some kind of homegrown organically mutated funk. There are moments where it wanders a bit too, but all in all things seem to be rather competently held together by helmsman Paddy Brooks and recurring vocalist Tony Burnside. A less imaginative reviewer might be tempted to use words like "eclectic" and "cacaphony" to describe the Homelife sound, but I prefer to use my imagination for good instead of evil. So in place of such played out descriptives I give you the phrase "polyphonous boogaloo". May you use it in good health. You'll have to wait until August 31 to hear the full length, but the single drops in a couple of weeks on the 16th. Imbibe deeply of the madness and grab them both.

» Ninjatune
» Homelife's madwaltz.com

By Adam in Music