Ever since No Doubt struck it big with their album
\nTragic Kingdom<\/i>, I’ve been waiting for someone to pick up on
\nthe ska influence that ran as a vein with No Doubt. Surely someone
\nwould eventually try to repeat the success by capitalizing on the
\ndanceable sound of this form of reggae.<\/p>\n
Boston-based Lovewhip has done just that, relying on the
\nshuffle-like beat of ska and a bare-bones horn section. Their disc
\nWhip It Baby!<\/i> tries to beat No Doubt at their own game, even
\nthrowing in some African rhythms, but in the end, the only words
\none could say to the group would be, “Nice try.”<\/p>\n
It’s not that vocalist\/guitarist Erin Harpe and crew don’t have
\nthe style of the music down; rhythmically, they do a very good job
\nlaying down a groove that even Frankenstein could dance to. But
\nwhat they are lacking is a sense of magic that lifts the music to a
\nnew level. In the end,
\nWhip It Baby!<\/i> sounds like a carbon copy of what other groups
\nhave already perfected.<\/p>\n
There are moments where such a synthesis of Carribean rhythms
\nand African beats and chants does succeed. “Buana Juju” has an
\ninfectious style to it, making sure that the listener is locked in
\nfor the length of the song. It almost has a Paul Simon-like quality
\nto it, especially in the guitars. Maybe that’s the best way to
\ndescribe what Lovewhip is trying to accomplish here: No Doubt
\ntrying to record
\nGraceland<\/i>.<\/p>\n
If only all the songs were as successful as “Buana Juju” is. For
\nthe most part,
\nWhip It Baby!<\/i> is filled with half-developed ideas that could
\nhave been great, had one thing or another been augmented. A
\ndifferent lyric style here, a better beat there, stronger vocals
\n(or at least with greater range) than what Harpe offers in other
\nplaces, the list goes on.<\/p>\n
Tracks like “Oh Dear Jehu” and “Come Down J.J.” do, admittedly,
\nget a little better with repeat listens. But despite all the band’s
\nefforts, the bulk of these tracks are missing some intangible thing
\nthat would kick them up to the next level. This is what is
\ndifficult about reviewing a CD like
\nWhip It Baby!<\/i>: it’s too easy to say something’s missing, but
\nit’s damn near impossible to say just what that something is. It’s
\na style, an attitude, a feeling – something you can neither put
\nyour hands on nor attempt to fake.<\/p>\n
This doesn’t mean that
\nWhip It Baby!<\/i> is a bad release; repeat listens do show the
\npromise this group has. (Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, this
\ndisc at least lends itself to multiple listens.) But what Lovewhip
\nneeds to do is to hunker back down, work on really crafting their
\nstyle, and coming out of the box the next time with a sound and
\ngroove that would blow a hurricane back into the sea. Until then,
\nWhip It Baby!<\/i> is an okay attempt, but it seems to suggest
\nthat Lovewhip could have done so much more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7624],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39489","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-lovewhip","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39489"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}