Keeps you guessin'
David J. Ohanlon | Lilyfield, NSW Australia | 10/01/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Dapp Theory is a Band brought together by Andy Milne who I'd never heard of. I actually bought this album in a "Bargain Bin" on the strength of guest appearances by Bruce Cockburn & Gregoire Maret even though the opener "Trickle Down" happens to be one of my LEAST favourite Cockburn songs (musically, that is). For the record, Bruce appears on only 3 tracks, the other two being Everywhere Dance, one of his many beautiful ballads & Bad Air (which is more in the nature of "Trickle Down" & thus didn't really do it for me). On this latter track MC Kokayi (who features on 5 tracks in all) also appears &, not being a huge fan of rappers, didn't really add to the disc's overall appeal with the BIG exception of Bermuda Triangle which is a truly great jazz/rock/rap/funk amalgam which really works well as Kokayi is dragged out of the rapper's usual monotone delivery into (dare I say it?) singing & even scatting. Okay, so the entire disc shows generally excellent musicianship (with the possible exception of Rich Brown on bass - eg. his lack of colour & variety on tracks 7 & 8 was quite offputting) with Milne & Maret particularly impressive (listen to Con Alma for proof positive). Best ensemble track is Neoparadeigma but overall I found this disc somewhat lacking in coherence & ultimately running out of fresh ideas."