So, I'd agree that this album isn't quite as dope as Nino's other, The Fix. Nonetheless, it's incredible. This dude is fresh fresh fresh. Great tunes with monster hooks, incredibly creative production, and a bass player that should receive an award for downright dirty nastiness (in the days of liner notes we'd all know his name...). Totally worth the purchase.
Loved the first record. Unfortunately, Nino ditches much of what made that record so damned charming. The pop sensibility is almost gone here. The beats don't thump along -- they are mostly glitchy and discombobulating (check track #2 for a particularly annoying example of this). Many tracks offer an an out of key never-ending croon that grates the listener, while still others offer a jammy-style noise core (New Orleans) that is pure filler. Too bad, because this guy knows how to write for sure. I miss the hooks and joy of the first album. Check it out for sure if you don't have it.
Coulda sucked really damn easily. But it doesn't. In this much abused idiom of funk and soul where white people have become a novelty and throw-back horn sections have become even more trite, Nino Moschella is the anomaly. The happy anomaly. Thanks, Nino. Keep rockin'.
