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6 out of 10
Perfectly timed to take advantage of the promised summer heat wave (A quick aside - could everyone please calm the fuck down. It's a bit of sun. We are not all going to perish in an inferno), comes the second album from these eight numerically challenged brass-botherers. Though I must admit, I initially asked myself why there had to be eight of them anyway. All of the songs were written by the band's founding member Paul Thorpe (bar one cover), and since it's mostly vocal-less beat and brass-driven dance tunes, there isn't much that couldn't be done with a fancy computer sequencing programme and some samples. As it turns out, the performance of the band is pretty damn good, actually near metronomic, making the theoretical version of the band existing in a laptop case unnecessary, and (I would hope) making the live performances more engaging.
All of the tracks are based around a nice solid beat, backed up with enough horns to give Mark Ronson a raging hard-on. Mostly they lean towards the more funk-laden dance end of the spectrum, like 'Vibrations' and 'Do It Your Own Way', although a few are more laid back, like the soulful lounge/chillout of 'My Name In Food' and 'Double Bluff'. Meanwhile, 'Edgar' does a nice ska-tinged Mescaleros impression right down to the Strummer-esque echo-laden vocals and occasional bits of organ shining through. Like I said, most of the songs don't actually have any vocals, and with the music touching on pretty much any style with a bit of bounce to it, the overall effect is of the perfect background mix for a summer barbeque. And I suppose that's OK, as long as background music is what you're after, and not something you can get lost in.
Listen: www.myspace.com/voodootrombonequartet
Tracklist:
1. Vibrations
2. South Westerly
3. My Name In Food
4. (Hey You) The Rocksteady Crew
5. Do It Your Own Way
6. Edgar
7. Chinese Burns For Free
8. Honey Bee
9. Double Bluff
10. So Innocent
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