Monday, December 12, 2011

Two Reviews of A Loud Heart's A Loud Heart

Time again then for a double review. Haven't heard of it? Well, simply put me and my friend Jessika picks a record to review. We listen to the music and write our reviews independently of each other in order to get two opinions about the same album. 

Michael's review: 

A Loud Heart is the collaboration between the emcee and poet Guante and singer/songwriter Claire Taubenhaus. Right at once it's obvious that we're dealing with a very talented emcee in Guante. Confident on the mic, relevant lyrics and a nice flow. He reminds me quite a lot of Kristoff Krane, but not in a copycat way. He definitely have own thing going, and I like it. I have to say thay I really like the voice of Claire too. Strong, clear and and the same time warm. The five track EP deals with very personal and strong subjects with love as its foundation. I personally keep coming back to Ember, a track about the struggle against alcohol abuse. It's lyrics is very straight on and honest, and I like it. There is however something about all this that don't quite work for me. Like I said I really like listening to both artists, and I will make sure to keep my eyes open for them in the future. They do not however work well together if you ask me. It's difficult to say exactly what it is, but it clashes too much to be good in my ears. I like the idea behind it, but probably this was a project that looked better on paper than in reality. It might also be nice live, but on record it falls kind of flat. With that being said, I'm very happy that there are people out there who dares to try something a bit different, and it was really nice to hear a record without a single beat on it.

Jessika's review:  
 
The very first thing that strikes me when I start my listening is the fact that these two people really know what they are doing. A Loud Heart's Claire Taubenhaus voice is very good. She has a refreshingly clean voice and it is so nice to hear a girl sing without any wailing or making other strange noises in an attempt to be different. In my opinion there is a lack of simplicity nowadays.  
Guante made me happy when I realized that I could actually hear what he was on about. What surprises me when I´m introduced to hip hop is that it is rare that you hear clearly what they have to  say, which surprises me because I thought that what they had to say, was as important as the music or even more. Being a Swede and English not being my native tongue, might have something to do with it. Anyway, thanks Guante for thinking about us less fortunate. 
Ok, back to the serious business. I like these two talents as I said, but I´m not so sure about them two working together. I think the reason why I don´t like it so much is that they are way too sweet in this constellation and that makes it boring after a while. On a whole they seem like a cute couple singing about love and life struggles in general. We have heard this before haven´t we?? Without ever have heard them before I think I`d prefer listening to them on their own. So, too much sweetness is the reason why I only give them a 2, 5 out of 5.    

Michael's rating: 2.5/5
Jessika's rating: 2.5/5


A Loud Heart -- The Illusion of Movement from Unique Techniques on Vimeo.



No comments: