REVIEW: True Vibenation – The Sunshower Phenomenon

This has been around a minute, we’re a touch late on it, but it was worth the wait. It’s a bold statement from the lads, the go-to funky horn section in Sydney, popping up all over town. This time it’s their turn, with a debut release on the consistently excellent Big Village imprint. It’s a tastefully diverse outing, a bold statement of intent, traversing Soul, Swing, Funk, Reggae, Dubstep, Afrobeat and more. Twins Verbaleyes and Native Wit perform the rhymes, with DJ Gabriel Clouston on the cut, True Vibenation have got some serious chops, and it shows. Standouts include ‘Work, Work, Work,’ with an Alphamama guest spot par excellence, ‘Winterlude,’ which does what it says on the packet, the Afrobeat inspired ‘No More,’ which sports a bangin’ chorus, another short and sweet number entitled ‘Bwomp,’ ‘Running,’ which sits astride a Dubstep flavoured beat, with some proper old school dubwise elements.

To pull out these individual tracks is a slight dis-service to the rest of the album, it’s all consistently excellent, and if anything, passes by too quickly, with a short overall runtime. No theme is explored to excess, and yet nothing feels underdone.
The lead single ‘Work, Work, Work,’ (above) had a recent video release, with a nod to the suits of Martin Place. It’s got a Swing based groove, akin to the likes of K-OS or Kormac, and is straight up catchy as hell, Alphamama‘s chorus vocal pulling the whole tune together nicely. She’s also been going from strength to strength, so it’s approriate that she appears here.
There’s a few of short numbers on the album, ‘Winterlude,’ and ‘Bwomp’ being the standouts. The former is a… well… wintery beat with some excellent sampling, all about rain. Tasty piano slivers, crooning and kids vocals sitting nicely over the groove. Love it. The latter is a bass heavy little ditty, which sounds like a jam session gone right. Tightness.

‘No More’ is probably my favourite tune on the album, with Zimbabwean singer Chris Gudu and Californian MC Rashaan Ahmad (Crown City Rockers) adding their vocal talents. It’s definitely one of the first Aussie Hiphop variations on Afrobeat, in keeping with their heritage. And it’s dynamite. Laden with cranking percussive grooves, some killer guitars, some smooth scratching and awesome vocals.

‘Running’ is bang on. It’s like a more dubwise sister song to the recent Thundamentals Dubstep infused banger ‘ThundaKats,’ which is no criticism, if anything their common approach to Dubstep with Raps have yielded better results than many who have tried. Their signature horns float above the riddum effortlessly, alongside skanking guitars and keys, with some nice mid range synth squeals atop a heavy bass. The rhymes complement the beat perfectly, nice doubletiming, and flows that create counter rhythms that bounce off the beat.

So all in all an accomplished debut from the brothers, and the brother from another mother. True Vibes in name, and in spirit, they’ve added yet another excellent contribution to the banner year for the next wave of Australian hiphop talent that has been 2011. Bring on more! Props go to Big Village, for churning out killer albums seemingly at will. Nice one.

You can catch them rockin the tunes at;
Dec 11 – Supporting Chali 2na at OAF, Dec 17 – Headlining a show with Sticky Fingers and Alotta Presha at Splashes (Wollongong) and Dec 23 – Headliniging Big Village Records Xmas party joined by Ellesquire, Tuka, Daily Meds, Rapaport and special guests, and look out for the official album launch early next year.