Balkan Beat Box – Shout It Out (Digital Monkey)

From the dance hall to dancehall, here Balkan Beat Box perhaps delve deeper into their reggae influences than recent offerings. Always a part of their bass-heavy sound, it’s far more overt than on previous efforts. Both in the vocals of Tomer Yosef and the rhythms, that’s where this album lies. Successfully? To a point.

Where it suffers a little is that it sounds a little watered down compared to more hardcore Jamaican takes. If one takes the time to really dive into the deepest recesses of dancehall, Shout It Out is left for dust. Is that a problem? Perhaps not: as an introduction to a genre or a gateway to that drug of choice, the record is just fine. And it does gleefully grasp influences from the Middle East and Mediterranean that give it a degree of individuality. A track like ‘I Trusted U‘ throws in any number of elements from acoustic guitar, sleek but powerful horns to rough beats and electronic squeaks. Underneath the distinct reggae meter of the vocal, that mix is pretty enchanting. More so than when matters are a touch conservative.

Balkan Beat Box formed in the hotbed of Brooklyn but equally call Israel home and plunder musical traditions from all points in between. It’s world music in the truest sense. Not of the Later…with Jools Holland variety but in the sense that it is utterly without borders. The brass sound from the Balkan states tossed through the mixer with West Indian dub with admirable commitment. In many ways, they’re the quintessential 21st-century band. The global marketplace being served by the global creators.

Certainly highly danceable and lively stuff across all 12 tracks. There’s an exotic feel when listened to through homegrown ears but it is nigh impossible not to wish things were pushed further. Harder, deeper, funkier, more…authentic. Whilst on paper they are a record executive’s wet dream, the sum is merely the parts, no more, no less. All a little art school and hip, with all the pluses and minuses that entails.

All that said, it is a jolly romp. Summery and lively, honking and hip-swinging. An urban melting pot pointing to a melange of cultures. Exactly what it says on the tin I suppose. No danger of the trades description act being invoked. Or health and safety being infringed. Which is perhaps its shortcoming. Fun but no danger or real edge.