Introduction
In this hyper-accelerated times, it's uncommon for an artist to take a lot of time to create a new work. Spiedkiks, however, is flying against the tide of the times in this regard. It has taken them three years to record Rooftop Hacky Sack. So, the question is has taking more time to work on this release had any impact on their creative process?
Rooftop Hacky Sack
Being the third full album-length release from Spiedkiks should mean that the German-based duo has had the time to mature their style. But the fact is they've been stylistically mature since Take Off Your Makeup. However with each release I've had some small nit-picky items on them. And, Rooftop Hacky Sack is no different.
Sometimes an idea that works on one track, doesn't work on another. The track Yo Babe features a computerized voices saying things like "Yo baby" and "I am hungry". The idea being that the people saying these lines are very robotic, and shallow sounding. The whole concept satirizes the dating scene, and makes a commentary on the shallow-ness of some people. It's actually a brilliant choice in how to get the point across on multiple levels.
However, the same thing cannot be said for the track Naked In School which uses a synthesized voice to deliver a dreamy, disjointed, dream narrative. But the thing is, it's supposed to be somewhere between dreamy and nightmarish. A robotic / computerized voice just doesn't work for this type of mood evocation. I am guessing the idea was to have some kind of voice that relayed a sense of separation from reality, but in this case it just doesn't work.
Now, that we have my single biggest failure on this release out of the way let's get on to talking about the rest of it.
One of the things I have complained about on past releases was the over use of a phrase, or some of the rhymes that I felt were weak. However, on this release there aren't any songs that stick out for bad lyrical choices. Even tracks like Dust Off The Record and Loop Brother hit it just right.
And, given that those are the first two tracks on Rooftop Hacky Sack, it's easy to get sucked into the release.
The one last thing that I did have a small issue with is that I didn't feel that this release broke any new ground. It's still the mix of of funk and hip-hop that Spiedkiks has been doing for several years. I don't think that they need to try to completely change their style (especially since it works so well), but I kind of want to hear something different to provide a new dimension to their music.
Conclusion
I've come to expect a lot of fun when listening to a Spiedkiks release. Rooftop Hacky Sack doesn't disappoint. It's one of those releases that goes over really well as a summer fun release: lots of funk and hip-hop breaks that make it a very dance-able album. I did have issues with Naked In School and what I felt was a lack of growth to their music, however it doesn't make the album any less fun.
