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Review: Jack Foley
THEY may hail from Midhurst, Portsmouth, and Bath, but Lockdown
Project seem to have their roots on a different side of the Atlantic
- roots which fuse some vibrant hip-hop beats with some ferocious
rap and sumptuous Latin guitars.
The result really ought not to work as well as it does, but the
ensuing collection of beats, breaks and pop orientated rap is
strangely enticing - drawing in elements of toned down Limp Bizkit,
slightly more aggressive Athlete, the easy pop-tinged rock of
mainstream Third Eye Blind and the Latino hip-hop of Delinquent
Habits.
But then as frontman, Ollie, defiantly states: "We are what
we are. It works for us. Anything else is a bonus."
Whether it will appeal to the mainstream is a mute point, of
course, but for those willing to give it a try, the rewards are
very generous.
Tracks such as album opener, Take A Look Around, and former
single, Goodfellas, are typical of what to expect, with
lyrics as cheeky and hard-hitting as ever.
Goodfellas, needless to say, seems to have been written
in part homage to Martin Scorsese's seminal movie, while Take
A Look Around tells it like it is - that love makes the world
go round, a love of money!
The album works best when playing up the Latin guitars, especially
during final track, I Wish or Can You Feel It?,
which probably find them at their most laidback and accessible.
Here, the Latino vibe becomes infectious, enveloping you in the
urgency of the lyrics, and almost inviting you to sing along.
Some of the more shouty stuff, as in second track, Twentyfour/7,
fails to work quite so well, and threatens to knock the album
off course, but there is always another eye-opener just around
the corner, making this a long-player which is compulsively listenable,
in spite of some of its failures.
You can go on ticking off the references, too, with the Chili
Peppers, Timberlake and Rage Against the Machine all being hinted
upon at times.
But then this is such a busy album, there's barely a dull moment.
When they ask you, can you feel the love that we're giving you,
you're liable to be shouting back, yes!
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Track listing:
1. Take A Look Around
2. Twentyfour/7
3. Goodfella’s
4. Can You Feel It?
5. Everybody In The Morning
6. This Girl
7. I Don’t Want To Lose You
8. Down In One
9. Looking Pretty
10. Deadly Still
11. You Said
12. I Wish
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