show last night / album review

[Zaskar]

The Album....

It's a change. You're gonna see no guest appearances other than Abstract Rude for one track. This seems to be a big change from Balance where almost every track had a powerhouse guest. What this CD really is missing is another Chali 2na collab track. The songs are alright. The beats have jumped up a step in terms of a more commercial sound (i like the beats better than in Bad Dreams, they suit the style better). The actual spits Mad Child has gone more bling but wayyyyy better flow in sections, Moka Only still sings a bit but does more spits, and Prevail sounds the same as always. The stuff is actually alot better live cuz it's more raw and this album sounds a little overproduced and Moka didnt do all the gay stuff live. 3/5

The Show...

Fourth World......
These guys were rad. At first they were a little wack but once you get in to em after about 2 or 3 mins they ripped it up. Great opener. One of em was intense on beatbox, sounded like someone scratching up a storm.

Sweatshop Union......
They never went on and we never got a reason or anything, they just went from Fourth World straight to Swollen Members and ended it after that, which is a bummer.

Swollen Members......
They were pretty good, mad child was piss tanked by like 1/2 or 3/4 way through so for the last quarter it was basically just Moka and Prevail and Mad Child like half ass rapping way off beat and slurring hahahaa Some songs they played.....Steppin Thru, Fuel Injected, Take It Back, Lady Venom, Killing Spree, Groundbreaking, Pillow Scrilla, Heat, Therapy, Watch This, etc I can't remember lol I think they played those.

Any beefs cam???????
Never go to an all ages show.

Cam.

[bikeaddict]

my sister was there haha but i dont think you've ever met her lol

[Zaskar]

who knows, maybe i have hahaha i talked to people there

[FuManChu]

ugh i wish that swollen would go back to a sound more similar to what htey ahd on balance god damn that was a good album. heard watch this and disapointeted at the more 'electronic' sounding backbeat. they where much better sounding with a like soul/funk/rock backbeat type sampling goin on. oh well. i guess everyone progress

[Zaskar]

swollen changed their beats for balance too. if you listen to some of the songs when they were released on 12" and then listen to them on Balance the beats are different, the 12" being better. As artists they've improved, their skills and such. It's what they're saying and their style thats lacking.

But think of it this way, you could not do 4 albums of Balance. It's just not saying anything much more than we can use a dictionary and say stuff with alot of metaphors. I think any artist wants to move past the artsy side of things and in to more striaght forward stuff as the audiences grow.

[EaTDuRRRT]

man, I saw these guys live last year at university. I got to Carleton Uni in Ottawa and they did a concert at the end of frosh week which was SICK! they're really cool guys plus I was front row so they were stage diving and all that crazy stuff over top of me.... and then I hit the beer tents, that's when the real party started

[Zaskar]

yea they were MAYBE 5 feet away from me. they asked everyone what to play i yelled groundbreaking, they were like alright played it 1 songs later and fuck...horrible hahahaha they were so drunk hahaha

[EaTDuRRRT]

haha, yeah...beer is a typical beverage at Swollen Members shows...and that's an understatement I've got all 3 of their albums and balance is by far the best...I can listen to it over and over again and it still sounds great