(Interscope)
Snapping beats. A Timberlake appearance. Hand claps. Yonder Mountain String Band?? Not what one was expecting to hear, but on Bubba Sparxxx's latest album, , the allusions to life on the farm are liberally spread.
Not knowing what to expect from Sparxxx, the listener is treated to the first half of the album with bouncing beats by Timbaland, layered with violins, horns, slide guitar and a Yonder Mountain sample (\Comin' Round""). Timbaland gives Bubba everything he has, and a lot of the album keeps listeners bobbing their heads as Sparxxx touches on the usual topics-life has been tough, he cannot be held down, the South is where it is at-and so on.
This is not to say that Bubba does not have talent, because he certainly does.??""Nowhere,"" although a token song about the hardships, shows Bubba at his best, mixing anecdotes about a rough youth over a Timbaland beat with yearning female vocals. ""Like it or Not,"" produced by Organized Noise, is spun funky by some OutKast-influenced horns. On the standout title track, Bubba laments about the ups and downs of the hip-hop industry while guitars fuel the beat.
About two seconds after ""Deliverance"" ends, the album takes a turn for the worse with ""Hootnanny"", featuring-you guessed it-Justin Timberlake himself bragging the hook ""I could go number one 10 times / Pretty girls they like my rhymes."" Sure, maybe it is a personal vendetta, but JTs cameo really seems unnecessary. It is unfortunate too, because in the midst of Timberlake's whispering, Sparxxx delivers a strong verse about leaving the game and going back to the farm where he feels at home.
As a complete work of art, comes off as many other hip-hop albums do these days, with a few solid songs to go on a mix tape, some ricocheting beats and about 25 minutes of filler-quality material. Sparxxx's drawl complements his flowing lyrics nicely and he definitely belongs on the scene, as long as he can find some new themes to drawl on.
(RCA)
What is new on the horizon? It could be Vertical Horizon's new album, . The four-piece band combines soft, mellow tunes with a hard-rock edge. The new single, ""I'm Still Here"" seems to capture the emotional turmoil of life and relationships and sets the mood for the entire album. This turmoil mixes the band's musical genre as it blend pop-rock with hard-rock sounds. One can only have mixed emotions about the type of music Vertical Horizon is trying to create.
Originally starting as an East Coast acoustic duo, the band evolved from its roots, plugged in their guitars and developed a new, hard-rock sound. The acoustic style, however, remains evident in and allows the listener to feel more at ease with the sounds Vertical Horizon are attempting. ""Underwater"" offers a different, experimental technique that pleases the ear and allows the album to take a different direction from their usual pattern of a mellow introduction followed by an intense chorus and then back to a mellow verse. ""Inside,"" follows the redundant pattern, but gives the listener the different sounds of an orchestra, keyboards, interesting guitar solo and distinctive rhythms.
The band members provide pleasing harmonies and interesting guitar work, but it seems as though they are creating a hodge-podge of melodies. Perhaps their musical ambiguity is a direct result of their emotional turmoil because the band needs to find its true identity and come into its own.
On most of the tracks blend together and sound surprisingly similar to each other. Not only do the melodies of the songs resonate similarly, but the words and messages behind the songs reverberate in the listeners head. Songs such as ""Forever,"" ""Goodbye Again,"" ""Won't Go Away"" and ""When You Cry"" all embody the same tormented emotions of life and relationships. Vertical Horizon needs to let go of their musical ambiguities and discover their true style.
