Sound Bites

  SAMANTHA MUMBA "Gotta Tell You"

Samantha Mumba “Gotta Tell You” Interscope
Records Ah, Ireland! The country that brought us Oscar
Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Van Morrison and U2 has produced another
export: the precocious Samantha Mumba. There is only one minor
difference between the members of the first group and Ms. Mumba:
they’re good and she’s not. Though she aspires to the
not-so-lofty ideals of Britney Spears, this poppish R&B singer
can’t even climb to her American counterpart’s level.
This may seem like a harsh critique, but after listening to her
dreadfully bland tunes, it’s actually fairly kind. Though
Mumba has a decent voice, it’s wasted on 12 boring tracks.
Alternating between a rough approximation of Spears’s light
singing and the gravelly, yet still appealing inflection of
TLC’s T-Boz, Mumba can’t carry any of the forgettable
numbers anywhere interesting. The title track is first up on the
hit-list of bad songs. Weak synthesizers propel the tune sluggishly
forward as Mumba ruminates flatly about unrequited love.
“Don’t want to love you if you don’t love
me,” she whines, trying to sound adult and confident.
Unfortunately, she just sounds like a 17-year-old trying to grow up
too fast. Then again, she is a 17-year-old trying to grow up too
fast, so it’s not entirely her fault that lyrics like
“Baby I want to get it on/ and baby you’re the one for
me” inspire laughter rather than sensual appreciation. This
none-too-promising beginning doesn’t really pick up at all
with the follow-up, “Body II Body.” Maybe this is all
the result of cultural understanding ““ perhaps “Body to
body/ funky to funky/ we know how to rock your party”
actually rhymes and sounds cool in Ireland. Perhaps not. Whatever
the case, she sounds pretty ridiculous. As an album, “Gotta
Tell You” isn’t completely horrible.
“Lately” is nice enough, borrowing from the early
sounds of Mariah Carey, minus Mariah’s vocal talent. Here,
Mumba finally abandons the poorly-crafted R&B that plagues the
majority of the album and goes for a more straight ahead soul
sound. While it’s a much better vehicle for her voice,
“Lately” is about three minutes longer than it ought to
be. At least she’s got a good idea, one she’d be wise
to cultivate. The next track, “What’s It Gonna
Be” isn’t too shabby either. Its smooth horns and tinny
guitar offer a refreshing blast to the semi-past, showing a clear
influence from TLC’s “Waterfalls.” The influence
extends just a little too far, however, making the tune sound more
like a cheap re-hash rather than a new exploration. It’s nice
that Mumba’s tipping her hat to her idols, but it would be
better if she used them as inspiration rather than a near copy.
Like many young artists, Mumba suffers from a lack of polish.
Though in time she could grow to be a decent entertainer,
she’s just not there yet. She deserves credit for taking an
active role in her craft by co-writing half the songs, but she
still has a ways to go. If she spent a little more time working on
her own sound and a little less imitating lite R&B cheese,
she’d work her way into the “cool Irish things”
category. Until then, however, she’s going to be ranked along
with boiled cabbage and evil leprechauns.

Brent Hopkins Rating: 3

The Wallflowers “Breach” Interscope
Records Following their 1996 Grammy-winning album
“Bringing Down the Horse,” the Wallflowers contribute
yet another melodic and lyrical studio album, “Breach.”
“Breach,” released on Oct. 10, is a 10-song set of
ballads exploring love and real life situations. Produced by
Wallflowers manager Andrew Slater and songwriter Michael Penn,
“Breach” begins with a positively energetic yet
somewhat sullen drum beat in the song “Letters From the
Wasteland,” which comments on the many demands of a touring
musician. “Hand Me Down” uses blues melodies and guitar
riffs in explaining Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan’s
continuous struggle dealing with the expectations of following in
his father Bob Dylan’s, footsteps. The album continues with
tracks that have a softer side, such as “Mourning
Train” and “Up From Under.” “Murder
101″ balances out the mellow vibe with its up-beat sound and
lyrics that talk of an unexpected break-up in a relationship.
“Breach” ends with a special “hidden”
lullaby, “Babybird” that sings about the love of
parents for their children. For lovers that are out to explore the
many stages of emotion, “Breach” gives a balance of
exciting and sad songs.

Tamar Boyadjian Rating: 7

Laika “Good Looking Blues” Too Pure
A sleek brew of Garbage, Madonna circa “Ray of Light”
and a funky Miles Davis almost sounds intriguing, and would
probably be downright good if pulled off in a sophisticated manner.
Although its exotic medley of instrumentation creates a confection
in its own category, “Good Looking Blues,”
Laika’s third release to date, mostly ends up sounding like a
mud pie. A multilayered concoction of horns, reeds, turntables and
synthesizers, “Good Looking Blues” might be interesting
if a few things were different. First, whether she purposely
strives for it or not, lead singer/songwriter Margaret Fiedler ends
up sounding exactly like Madonna, except with less passion and
asinine lyrics. Take for example the spoken word track “Bad
Times,” the lyrics of which are about a fictional e-mail
virus. An e-mail virus! For Jehovah’s sake, has the list of
possible topics to cover in popular music lyrics been that
exhausted? Fortunately, most of the other lyrics don’t get
that much worse, and just sound as if Fiedler had taken writing
lessons from the Dixie Chicks. The record could almost pass as an
ambient, modern jazz album if the vocals were left out of the mix,
each song remaining subtle, intricate and riding one or two chords
the whole way through. The difference between Laika and Miles
Davis, however, is that Miles Davis never managed to put his
audience into REM sleep. Many of the tracks, like the downcast
“Moccasin” and the drifting “Lie Low,” have
an almost Muzak sereneness too them. If their feel were a bit more
upbeat, it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine oneself taking an
elevator up to the top floor of a lite-FM station headquarters. But
hey, some people might not think that’s that bad of a
thing.

Cyrus McNally Rating: 3