Akira The Don – The Life Equation Review
Akira The Don is an interesting character, the cartoonist, rapper, producer, blogger and videographer has a lot going for him but unfortunately his second album ‘The Life Equation’ is lacking a cutting edge.
rating: 2.5
Akira The Don is an interesting character, the cartoonist, rapper, producer, blogger and videographer has a lot going for him but unfortunately his second album The Life Equation is lacking a cutting edge. The first single We Wont Be Broke Forever Baby features Super Furry Animals Gruff Rhys and is the bets example of what an Akira The Don song is all about. There is a mixture of rapping, indie guitars and hip hop beats which on paper sounds brilliant but Akira just doesnt seem to be able to combine all three to create something amazing. Many of the tracks from the ten songs that make up the album never seem to take that extra step that is needed to take the song to the next level, with Babydoll and Video Highway being the biggest culprits. The album isnt that bad, but there doesnt seem to be a flow going through it; it feels like there are ten songs randomly put together. They all are decent songs in their own right but its very easily to get distracted while listening to this album and a really good album should keep you interested from start to finish and the listener should be able to feel why the tracks are in that order. Inspiration wise, there are hints of a wide variety of bands on The Life Aquatic. Fans of Kid British will enjoy the poppy hooks of All The Right Things, early Example fans will love Nothing Last Forever featuring Speech Debelle, which is easily the best song on the album, and there are also hints of Transplants on the heavier, quicker tracks. The production on the album is brilliant, almost too brilliant. Stephen Hague (New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Blur) makes the album as clean as possible and at times that clean sound makes the tracks lose their character and rawness which quite possible couldve raised the level of a few of the songs such as We Are Not Alone and Big. This is a good effort and a solid album but there is nothing that suggests it will trouble your CD player for very long, as the album can get quite tiring and repetitive after a while. Akira The Don - The Life Equation is available from March 5th.FacebookWebsite