Chaos In The CBD – A Deeper Life (In Dust We Trust) (13th Floor Album Review)
With a name like Chaos In The CBD, I’d always been under the mistaken impression this group was either angry green-haired punks or an extensively tattooed heavy metal crowd.
I really should have paid more attention.
Louis and Ben ‘Beans’ Helliker-Hales are in fact two New Zealand brothers whose musical output blends electronica/house music, ambient, jazz, soul and a sprinkling of hip hop. Promo material and online information notes this is their first full length album, on their own label no less (respect for that), after a decade producing their own music and the output of others.
Their sound is fairly reminiscent of many NZ acts you’ve likely seen and heard of – Sola Rosa, Del Rey System, Mark De Clive-Lowe, Breaks Co-op. NZ musicians Isaac Aesili (horn player and singer) and Nathan Haines (flautist) both appear as guest players on a lengthy 14-track album.
Further afield – musically speaking – on this album you’ll also hear similarities to Thievery Corporation, London Funk All Stars, Omar and 4 Hero.
The first highlight is Maintaining My Peace, with rapper Novelist (great name) offering a nice set of rhymes over a trip-hop style rhythm which chugs along at about 120bpm.
I Wanna Tell Somebody, featuring Josh Milan, is the other stand-out, with Milan’s vocal perfectly suited to a electronic-bossa nova crossover rhythm which immediately has the foot tapping and the rest of the body yearning for the dancefloor.
That’s the sixth track, and in a clever move to keep the listener engaged, it’s at that point on the album the tempo increases noticeably. The subsequent seven tracks – bar the ambient closer the appropriately titled The Eternal Checkout – all keep that pace nicely, suitable for the discerning dancefloor or DJ set.
To be clear, these aren’t “total dancefloor bangers”: it’s not four to the floor house music in the Bob Sinclair or Armand Van Helden sense – they’re more refined, sophisticated and in no way abrasive. That said, Marlboro Sounds (the third of three tracks with an Aotearoa geographical reference, the others are Tongariro Crossing and Otaki) is a genuine club cut, up around 145pm and with a flavour of New Order or Detroit’s deeper house quite evident.
This is a highly listenable album, safe and sound territory for punters who’re likely to hear it bubbling away at their local café or restaurant in the very near future, as it’s released during NZ Music Month.
For future recordings, I’d like to hear Chaos In The CBD challenge themselves and their listeners a bit more, and push their output into edgier and less conventional sounds – I think that’d be a good next step.
Jeff Neems
A DEEPER LIFE DUE FOR RELEASE ON MAY 9 VIA IN DUST WE TRUST PRE-ORDER HERE
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