Djinji Brown - Sirround Sound

Djinji Brown's Sirround Sound is one part world-beat and one part hip-hop. From the opening track, "Mojuba (Afro-Beat for Ellegua)", you begin to feel that Brown has done something remarkable; he's made world-music album that's raw in the production and devoid of the tedium found in past releases in the genre. Brown doesn't cram several styles into one track, but instead preserves the intrinsic style of each culture and musical genre he's sampled. By keeping the arrangements minimal and leaving out the excess found in others like its kind, Sirround Sound can be something for open-minded hip-hop heads and eclectic drum-n-bass fans. The beginning of the set opens with classic African vocals and percussion, which then gives way Brown's own additions of feathery keyboard and shuffling beats. As the second track spins, a Latino woman recalls a story from her past as the track fades into a Latin-styled groove, complete with horn samples and myriad percussion. One can only expect things to get more varied from here. However, after another more Caribbean-influenced track, Brown takes a turn towards drum-n-bass and hip-hop. Throughout the middle of the set, Brown begins to use a more customary sampling style, with clips ranging from Burgess Meredith to The Fugees in the mix. It all comes to a head on tracks "Red Lights and Congnac... and Table Talk" and "Lifesavas", which both drop the world-beat pretense and instead flaunt an unadulterated hip-hop style. The same varied styles continue throughout the duration of the album; one track will exhibit more hip-hop tendencies, while the next re-adopts the previously established world-beat styles. The jury is still out as to whether Brown's wide-ranging approach to this album is more helpful or more hurtful. In some aspects, Djinji Brown definitely has managed to create something original with Sirround Sound. The raw production and the mish-mash of styles work well to take world-beat music to new heights. However, it's the intermittent hip-hop that seems to hurt this album. Being that it's not as strong as the other tracks, it detracts from the mood he sets up in the more exotic tendencies of the album. The bottom line: leave off the pedestrian hip-hop and you would find the beginnings of one groundbreaking album. [www.sevenheads.com]