My Mad Music Corner: Back Drop Bomb

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Back Drop Bomb - Breakdawn

After the incohesive disappointment that was Nipsong, it's hard to imagine if Back Drop Bomb could've gotten their old magic back without nabbing a new saxophonist. When I originally gave this a spin (I grabbed this, Nipsong and Venometeoric at the same time) immediately after finishing Nipsong, it was a nervous and difficult sit. After some time with this album, however, I've incredibly warmed to it. It manages to be both eclectic in its musical influences and cohesive in its presentation at the same time-- Nipsong's failing was having the former without a direction to accomplish the latter. I'm still not entirely sure if BDB even had a certain direction in mind while recording this album, but the end result turned out really well whether they did or not.

The album still has its weak points with ridiculously sudden switchups in a few songs-- "In Order To Find The New Sense" is pretty guilty of it, and "graySONGzone", while a bit more streamlined, picks up this issue towards the end-- it isn't to the extent that Nipsong has them. The vast electronic backdrop that scours this whole album is much welcomed, and provides a nice cushion for when BDB start drifting into almost-too-experimental territory for a bit. The mixing is also very heavy on both the bass guitar and kick drum for a lot of the album, which I always appreciate.

All I can really say now is pick this album up and give it a couple spins, and it might come around for you as well. From what I gathered from domestic reviews of this album, Japanese listeners really liked that BDB was finally writing songs that had Japanese lyrics. I do appreciate it as well, but I honestly don't mind either way, and I dunno if other Western listeners will find that a point of praise or contention about the album... although it would be stupid to get mad over an album from Japan having Japanese lyrics, if you ask me.