Music Monthly Review: Michael Franti, Red Earth Collective, Somi

Michael Franti and Spearhead
All Rebel Rockers (ANTI [Epitaph])
Out now

Michael Franti has earned his reputation on the outer borders of left field hip-hop since the early 1990s. With The Beatings, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and, since 1994, fronting Spearhead he has spent the best part of two decades touring and performing with everyone from Public Enemy, U2, Ziggy Marley, and REM to Digable Planets, Cypress Hill, The Fugees, and A Tribe Called Quest.

Never afraid to experiment or collaborate either his passionate and sincere lyrics on peace, globalisation and the environment have established him as an intellectual conscience of the music scene.

All Rebel Rockers –the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Yell Fire – is his most recent album. With rock touches and dub vibes Franti moulds his thought provoking ideas to a reggae beat. Recorded at Anchor Studios in Kingston, Jamaica in 2008 with production by legendary riddim twins Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare this eclectic collection clearly targets the intensity of Spearhead/Franti’s renowned live performances.

Joined on four tracks by charismatic Jamaican actress and singer Cherine Anderson [A Little Bit of Riddim, Say Hey (I Love You) and Soundsystem]; and Marie Daulne from Zap Mama [High Low] Franti brings his experience of world tours and global travel to strong, intelligently crafted lyrics.

The reggae tracks – distinctly ska, old school and rootsy – are strengthened by Cherine Anderson to best effect on the upbeat, platinum-selling reggae/dancehall-flavoured Say Hey (I Love You).

Franti’s whispered delivery is perfect with the hypnotic melody and insistent hook of High Low [Featuring Zap Mama] balancing just right with the strong voiced Marie Daulne. With the delicate, acoustic folk-soul of Nobody Right Nobody Wrong Franti’s restrained performance climaxes into a rousing rock style electric anthem.

Funk and hard rock collide on Soundsystem with Cherine Anderson bringing powerful vocals to a deep bass line and festival style track, which aims fire at the world’s social and political problems. Similar lyrics frame inspirational and heartfelt Hey World (Don’t Give Up Version) where subtle strings and pulsating keyboards offer a lament for an alternative world.

This collection of 13 tracks mixes memorable beats and music with Michael Franti’s socially concerned lyrics. It’s not all heavy going though; he shows a spiritual side with love songs and erotic ballads. The best of these are the bass heavy, dub style love song All I Want Is You, the infectious guitar lick driven I Got Love for You and sensual ballad Have a Little Faith.

The bare-foot singer’s voice is surprisingly versatile, if not always smooth and effortless. Stylistically, what’s lacking in vocal quality is made up for with fiery delivery. That space on the left field is well deserved.
Shaun Hutchinson

Red Earth Collective Featuring Soothsayer Horns.
Red Earth Dub (Red Earth Records)
Out now

Imagine you’re at one of those big music festivals. It’s mid afternoon and the sun isn’t shy and the grass is crunchy. You’re in aimless-wander-about-mode in your dirty T-shirt and shorts. Your ears catch the unmistakeable sound of dub. You walk over to a small stage where the audience is lying on the grass, sitting down or making awkward body gestures that can be considered a distant cousin of dancing.

You turn to the band at hand where the bass has been marinated in reverb, echo is dispatched with impunity and the horns are like horns on any other dub record. Every now and then a strange sonic effect spans out of the speaker like a West Indian interpretation of the Doctor Who theme tune. Sharp keyboard stabs to keep your mind from drifting too far into trance-ville. This is dub designed for that bit before sleep; it feels like the musicians have restricted themselves to playing at a tempo barely above ‘lullaby for adults.’

You think about giving the band a few more listens before you ask someone what their name is. The introduction of strings breaks the lull for one song, your eyebrow arches. A cover of Outkast’s Spottieottiesupaliscious is a mid set highlight, but if you wanted covers, Easy Star All-Stars have that, erm, covered. By track eight you’ve given up waiting for some personality or freshness and start a chat with whoever is closest. If not, you’re either asleep or appreciating the overall beauty of the sky like you haven’t done in a long time. By track thirteen you’re totally zoned out. The band realises they may have sonically lobotomised their audience, so they crack out the afrobeat rhythms on the last track, Africa, complete with Fela-esque poetry. You now have permission to sway.

And when it’s done, you clap, you whoop, maybe whistle once and say ‘well done, lads’ before moving on to something else.

Now snap back to reality. You spent an hour plus on a mild diversion. Red Earth Dub was the soundtrack.
Joshua Idehen

Somi
If The Rains Come First (ObliqSound)
Out now

Let’s start with what’s good; Somi has a wonderful voice. She sings in a very breathy fashion like she’s furnishing her words with air, like a loud pleasant whisper kissing the ear, familiar yet fresh. Her album, If the Rains Come First, feels like I’m in a studio session of seasoned professional musicians, the percussion (congas) in particular producing some stand-out rhythms. If this review was about skill, this album would get an A or an A-minus, but Somi’s songwriting doesn’t include a lot of imagination, and none of the songs on this album rise above just ‘meh.’

The album isn’t bad it’s just uninspiring. Maybe there was a void for a world music equivalent of Katie Melua. At its worst it harkens to that region-less African Soul, made by/for people who have never been to Africa but wanted something ‘Africa-lite.’ At its best it’s reminiscent of Zap Mama’s Ancestry in Progress; very little personality, lots of unadventurous world-beat. The bassist is riffing on autopilot, the drummer’s on co-autopilot, the pianist is phoning it in from the terminal, and the percussionist’s hard work crashes and burns on the runaway of bland. No excitement bothers these melodies, there’s very little drama and nothing here moves the spirit.

Perhaps this might’ve been overlooked if the lyrics had been better, but bar a few flashes of decency, Ms Somi’s writing treads the line between ‘alright’ and ‘downright  amateur’. Track three, Wallflower Blues, for example, begins with a concerted effort by the musicians to rescue this album from the mediocre pit stop with some initially deliciously mournful melodies, but then she drops the Anvil: ‘ask her to dance, and she’ll be sweet, ask her to dance, and you’ll fly away.’ It’s the kind of pretentious-mysterious-means-nothing-meh that only sounds good when you’re drunk or not really listening.

That said, if middle of the road, inoffensive, safe, made-to-order is your thing, then Somi deserves a space in your CD Collection. But then again, you wouldn’t be reading this site if it was, would you?
Joshua Idehen