Jamiroquai - Dynamite
Originally written by GrfxGuy from the R4NT forums
Many of you will remember Jamiroquai from his only real North American mainstream song, Virtual Insanity, which hit the MTV and MuchMusic circuit in 1996. The British funk group's newest album, Dynamite, came out in November 2005, with little or no exposure on this side of the pond.
People just don't know what they're missing.
The best part about Jamiroquai's particular brand of music is the "feel good" nature it incorporates. The songs are all upbeat, with an infectious groove that will have even the most uptight person tapping the steering wheel. Hot Tequila Brown, one of the new album's best songs in this author's mind, is impossible to resist.
The genre here is difficult to classify. "Disco" is what immediately springs to mind, even alluded to on the artist's website (of which he has two or three). I like to think of it as funk: the intense slap bass riffs and well placed horns, although subtle, give it a better flow than your traditional disco music.
The one downside that must be presented for this album is, although it has a seemingly diverse presence, follows the artist's standard formula. The music does tend to blend together a little after you listen to the whole album a few times, especially since most of them follow about the same tempo. The lyrics sometimes pretend to be political, while this type of music should just convey the good vibe that the music gives into the words.
An added bonus to this disc is the new "DualDisc" feature it uses: one side is a DVD which contains the enhanced stereo version of the album for those of us with higher-end systems, as well as music videos; the other side is, of course, the normal CD version. The disc also has the tags on the songs properly in place, so car stereos that can read those tags can display song, artist, and album information. For some strange reason, this small feature is often ignored by artists and recording companies. With the recent explosion in car audio, it's a wonder that people put up with simply looking at "Track 13" on their screens rather than a very easy to add tag.
For myself, a big fan of funk and acid jazz, Dynamite is a must have.
Four out of five stars.