By Deuce
It’s certainly not easy to do what Blunda’s done on his latest album, Brighter Days, which just hit the scene about a week or so ago. The man is consistently able to make what was once called ‘beat’ throughout this project.
That’s certainly acceptable, good to hear and, perhaps even expected of artists of a certain caliber.
Blunda’s point of distinction, however, is that he’s able to do so while reaching out into different directions—dare we call them expanses—in which the only common ground appears to be his expert, sonic craftsmanship on display.
Sounds too good to be true? Then just dig into the LP. On some tunes he sings. On some he doesn’t, and instead concentrates on a variety of leads. Some songs are slow. Others, way more upbeat. Some are just right for rhymes, if not ragamuffin style chatting. Others are perfect for zoning to, staring out the window, or perhaps even at the flicker of a lighter while your thoughts drift, your mind shifts, and the music pitches back and forth.
On nearly all these cuts, however, Blunda’s got a quality of production—down to the mixing and mastering—that makes all the difference in the world when it comes to sound recordings. Hot damn his snare is fat as hell on “Belong To Me”, with its overt pop aspirations and the cool vocal style of crooning the artist evinces. The effects are heavy on the synths, the track moves up and down in sequence, then the vocalist abruptly shifts at time to a heightened falsetto that once again showcases his proclivity to go in a gang of trajectories, as he pleases.
He achieves a rare state of perfection on “Tape Pad”, which could be imbued with live drums (or not). But he hits the cleanest reggae-ish sounding bass line, just as suave as can be, over a slow mob type beat that’s waiting for someone, somewhere, to come in busting off the dome.
“Beginning” kicks things off with the sound of falling rain, highly resonant synths, and about as much reverb as it’s possible to get on the snare which strikes at different pitches. When he lets loose the bass and high hats g’ head, fall into place with the head nod effect to this slow flow, which is just one of the styles on display on this album.
