No Rest Album Review

There is so much good NZ music out there lately that it is easy to be subjective when listening to it, because it is all different and yet so good. I am always so excited to listen to something new and fresh, and am open minded to diversity. I would never say that I am singly a purist for any genre because that would be so limiting. I have an eclectic taste in music which is essential in music reviewing.

In saying this though, when there is so much great music out there, when I get an EP or CD to review that is not quite there, I will always try to find something good in it.  

The new debut C.D by Kapabal called No Rest, is one of those CD’s for me right now, I have listened to it many times trying to get a feel for it. I guess from a purist Rap perspective I would say that it is raw and true to the roots of old school rap and hip hop. From a music connoisseurs perspective, I would say it lacks flow which makes it hard to listen to. A lot of the lyrics seem forced and while Kapabal has a lot of noble things to say about the earthquakes in Christchurch, bad relationships, and being from the hood, putting it all into 16 tracks, with what seems like no real track selection, meant that by the middle I had lost all rhythm for the music.

The good points are that the beats are solid, the harmonies when used are beautiful, like in ‘Calling With Emotion’ featuring the sweet vocals of Me2ua, which should have come earlier than Track 12. This one song threw me in a good way and is definitely the one track you must listen to.  The other track worthy of some time is ‘Rude and Abrasive’ which just is a sarcastic mock of T.V personalities. Kapabal is from a musical background, the great-grandson of pioneering New Zealand Jazz musician Dick Richards, music is in his blood so I’m sure that with some refining there is a lot more good music to be created.