Early to rise

I dig for CD's like beatsmiths dig for samples. I search long & hard in every nook & cranny of all my favourite (& newly discovered) underground stores hoping to unearth some yet to be shined upon talent. However, while doing this I sometimes come across some gems. Kero One's Early Believers is one of those gems. The release date I have is 4th of April, so why I found a copy still in its packaging on 17th of April is anyones guess. Especially seeing as it's original recipient didn't even have the foresight to listen to the quality that exudes from every paw of this (soon to be) release. Originality is the key to this albums success. Kero has taken cues from an assortment of genres & bent them to the will of his melodious take on Hip Hop. The 1st thing that struck me about this sophomore effort from KO is that everything about it is uplifting. The whole thing bounces along oblivious to anything other than great music. Lots of right pianos & electro horns, lots of funky bass guitars & happy go lucky keys & lots of sing songy hooks, Normally if there is alot of the latter I would be writing about how that has taken away from the album. But so lush are the funky backdrops created by Kero that it would almost be a disservice to the overall vibe if those vocals were removed. Ben Westbeech & Tuomo each provide 2 of the aforementioned hooks, with Ohmega Watts the only guest MC to be found. At 12 tracks deep (including a lovely sambafied skit) the lightly sprinkled guests are definitely the best policy for an album such as this. I can't help getting the feeling of escapism & while listening to this I always seem to be daydreaming of summer drives with the top down. Summertime is made for music such as this. Lovely stuff.

p e a c e

Kero One - I Never Thought That We