There go those kids drumming in the basement again
Fulfilling your next craving for a congeries of spaced-out sounds from alternative Hip Hop to tropical and Big Beat, I submit to you twenty wide-ranging jams from some folks that call themselves Baby Godzilla & The Iron Chefs 12” [Daly City Records DCR110]. Maybe they only cook in those big old cast pots, kettle drums or something. Baby Godzilla, aka Bay Area DJ David Wang, is apparently the central creative core of this effort which begins humbly enough with a deep upright bass sound that might make one conjure anticipation of a Jazz album. Nope, those impressions are soon to be pounded out of your ears. The flute work on some tracks is like a soothing and refreshing waterfall in the midst of an earthquake; witness “Ghostplant”, which actually has traditional structure and melody by dint of that wind instrument sound.
There is just about every synth musical mood represented on this album, all mortared with concurrent, oft staccato booming marching band-style bass drumming. Add a few indiscernible Hip Hop spoken words and you have track two, “Live Human Break 7” as an exhibit of the above. “The next track, “Crazy Dancing” takes the listener to San Trope` with a brief stop in Kingston. Suddenly I’m at an outdoor café surrounded by umbrella tables. Otherwise this is funky sci-fi music, and none of these are particularly danceable unless you like to twirl in circles while possibly inebriated.
“Beats Ballet”, number five is the least troubling and only one close to being my favorite amongst these instrumentals here due to the bright and optimistic beginning. Yet, there goes that faceless drumming again; there is only one cut that has actual, sustained verbiage that holds your “Attention”. This album is slightly annoying, so don’t go near it if you have anything close to a headache going on. As a radio person, some cuts may be usable as production beds for announcements and the like.
Get to their website to make any sense of the names of the players at www.dalycityrecords.com. Finally, I won’t be reaching for this one unless it is in production, so this disc gets two-and-a-half stars just for raising my blood pressure – as if I needed that.
