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Ok, we all know Kela, we've all seen Kela and know his shit, we know he can perform it live and can run a show. He's the dogs bollocks. The problem of course comes when you're buying beatbox on vinyl. You can't see him perform, you can't marvel at the number of seemingly concurrent noises he can generate. Indeed there's no guarantee (but we hope) that he's even doing it in one take and not just a producer overlaying beats and noises. SO this release has to stand up on it's own, as a hiphop record. Kinda obviously then it's not great. It's well produced - the beats on the tital track come across crisp and tight but it's something anyone could mimic with a casio drum machine. The rolling bassline and recognizable Kela feminine vocal style (must be easier to beatbox in a higher pitch vocal or something) make it nice, but it just lacks something with the amount of hiphop around. Scratches from Plus One and good enough vocals by Akrobatik can't really make me like this one. 'lets bomb the ignorant with the heavy artillery' 2nd track 'Step Then' comes with Kela beat, bass, samples and scratches with some real keys and steps it up to a mellow jungle tempo. This is really nice and can hold it's own alongside other Moving Shadow type jazz-drumnbass material, all the more amazing cos it's one bloke's voice. The final few 'body parts' skits consist of the separate components used in the Heavy Artillery track, presumably for some swift fingered DJs to mess around with. It's hard to come to an overall conclusion. They've obviously gone for a 'make it so you can hear the spit' feel to the tracks, which make you appreciate them for the fact that Kela's made them, instrument-less, but this deteriorates the listenability cos they come across a bit too ruff and weak, particularly the main track. He's got another 2 EPs coming so lets see what develops. And make sure you catch him live at every opportunity.
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Kela Heavy Artillery
12"