Tuesday, March 10, 2009

When in Doubt, Beatbox

Beatboxing in hip hop is as frequent as harmonizing in folk duos. But when you throw it into a different genre, it adds a new layer of dynamic complexity that really makes a song "wow." 

Bjork turned to the Godfather of Noyze and former member of The Roots, Rahzel, for her Medulla album. Amid a collection of a cappella ballads, Rahzel's contribution adheres to the rawness of Medulla, while providing a unique and unwavering distinction that seems to ground the work as a whole. 

More recently, I've been listening the British duo, Nizlopi, quite a bit. Comprised of Luke Concannon on vocals and guitar and John Parker on bass, guitar and beatbox, these guys turn to beatboxing as their percussion instrument of choice and seamlessly blend their love of hip hop into heartfelt love songs. 

So if you have a great song, and drums just aren't doing it for you, consider adding a beatbox to the mix. It might be just the thing your song needs to take off. 




No comments:

Post a Comment