LUSANDA FUTSHANE
“Psychedelic bass rap”: a concept that might mean absolutely nothing unless you have experienced P.H.Fat’s debut album Dinosaur Blood. Judging solely from the album title and cover, one might expect the album to stay true to its synth-heavy and acidic dubstep foundations. Unsurprisingly, it does, but not in the formulaic way that one would anticipate from the electronic music sub-genre. P.H.Fat has incorporated a generous amount of local flavour into the album, thus setting it apart from the rest of the other artists that simply mimic the international dubstep template.
The album kicks in with the emphatic title track that grabs your attention and sets an energetic tone. “Big Five”, the catchiest song on Dinosaur Blood, and its two remixes added to the album for good measure, are bound to gain mainstream popularity. Other enjoyable songs include “Freak”, “Space Thug” and “Jabu’s Dance Team”, all of which feature brave lyrics with edgy yet danceable beats. The mellow relief of “Cigarette Fingers” is a welcomed calm that leaves you wishing it went on for longer than a minute and a half. Unfortunately, some of the other tracks are not very memorable and slowly become a bit repetitive.
Owing to its fusion of hip-hop and dubstep elements, the album is not precisely definable, so perhaps the coinage of a new hyphenated music genre was, in fact, necessary. Regardless, there is no denying that this trio from Cape Town has contributed something striking to the scene of underground South African music.
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