Groove Armada Album: “Soundboy Rock [Limited]”

I really dig this album. As usual with GA it's hit and miss but the hits really make up for the misses in this one!

I don't need Groove Armada to try to recapture the magic of

or

. Those albums exist, and GA doesn't need to try to remake them. Fans who complain that this album is missing their trademark lounge appeal are understandably hungry for more of the same, but it's equally understandable for artists to grow or experiment. This album represents GA's continuing efforts to build a peppier, poppier sound.

For the most part, it works. The first full track, "Get Down," is unapologetically clubby, its synthesized bass line 'roided up until it sounds like an adrenalized back massager set to music. It's a shock to the system for normal GA fans, but it grew on me the more I listened. Other tracks work even better (the playful digitized rap of "The Girls Say"), while some didn't really do it for me ("Drop That Thing" has too much techno-repetition to sustain my interest). The other high energy songs are made with broad, cartoonish colors that would make them unbearably cheesy in other hands, but which GA makes seem playfully fun ("Song 4 Mutya"). Some of GA's normal lackadaisical brilliance is also still present, if not in a less articulate or sculptured form ("What's Your Version?" is a beautiful song). There's not the same attention to detail as before, but it's still not bad.

There are a few misfires. I'm not a big fan of

, and "The Things That We Could Share" sounds like it was lifted directly from one of their albums. The diva cheese of "Love Sweet Sound" might have worked for me if it hadn't been accompanied by what sounded like someone tinkering with a Playskool Synthesizer. "Soundboy Rock" succumbs to a problem common for most reggae songs: it sounds like most reggae songs. And "See What You Get" would be enjoyable if the achingly repetitive lyrics weren't delivered in monotone.

The rest of the album, though, still has enough juice to get listeners past these few dry spots. Not nearly as accomplished as the work of their past, this album still shows GA's got (some of) the goods, and at least the moxie to keep pushing beyond the same old-same old to find something different, new, and still pretty fun.

Soundboy Rock, like the latest (excellent) GA release Black Light, is consistently listenable from beginning to end, which probably can't be said for too many electronic/dance CDs. Although it often shifts moods and styles considerably from track to track, each track easily stands alone and yet still sounds like an important part of the whole.

I discovered Groove Armada when I heard Superstylin' on an internet radio station. This album is all over the place in terms of musical style. It mostly reminds me of Len, and NERD. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Being a long time Groove Armada fan, and following them through all the twists and turns in their career, I was really excited when this new album was coming out. Now that I have the album... my excitement has ended.

"Get Down" (the lead single) is horrible. I mean it's cool to sound retro, but it should sound like GOOD old things, not garbage old things. It sounds like the Basement Jaxx "Jump'N'Shout" if it had been made by complete amateurs. "Get Down" would do well to look at its sister track "Things We Could Share" which gets the retro feel very right and is one of the few great tracks on this album, the others being "Girls Say" and... that's about it.

I know that every time an artist goes in a new direction or a new album comes out, there is always a segment of its fanbase that hates it. Unfortunately I guess that's me in this case. I'll still go see them live if they ever decide to grace Chicago with their presence again, but this album is a large failure in my book.

Aside from the above mentioned two tracks, stay far away from this album.