TAG: Jack Bruce

Feb06

Malachai – Ugly Side of Love (Review)

Malachai

Ugly Side of Love

Released by Domino


Occasionally, you listen to a new band and the “love it, hate it” reaction can’t immediately be addressed due to the music’s disconcerting and ambiguous aesthetic (i.e. Bitches Brew, Portishead, Odelay, The Go! Team's Thunder, Lightning, Strike); your mental label maker overloads with “I hear this and that, though it’s not quite this or that but a bit of other stuff…” and so on. As the instruments hiccup with a prominent, pulsing pop and Malachai (formerly Malakai) vocalist Gee recites “warriors, come out to play” alongside a percussive loop of the unnerving finger-bottle clanks from the film on the opener, "Warriors." The first minute indicates this as a scratchy 33 1/3 of sessions with Hendrix on guitar, Keith Moon on drums and a reggae-induced Jack Bruce on voice/bass. You’re shaken, scratch your head, then decide to just enjoy the hazy, collaged illusion that producer “Scott” permeates throughout Ugly Side of Love (Geoff Barrow, who originally released the record in late 2009 on his Invada Records, might have some influence on the Bristol duo’s sound).

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