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Ghislain Poirier
Breakupdown
Chocolate Industries
2005
B-
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The album does snag in a few places—namely in nearly all the tracks that include a rapper or vocalist of some sort. “Cold As Hell,” features Beans whose rhymes are never interesting enough on their own to match Ghis’ superior rhythmic backing. The song actually borders on unlistenable (and slightly embarrassing for our “featuring” artist). It disrupts what would have been a great flow from opener “Hamado” through to “Refuse to Lose.” “Riviere de dimants” is also a blemish, with the accompanying rap sounding like…well, let’s just say there is a reason why Francophone white boys shouldn’t rhyme on their own record. The best example of vocal accompaniment to Poirier’s beats comes with “Mic Diplomat,” where DJ Collage waxes poetically reggae over Ghis’ chopped dancehall beat.
This is an album that should not disappoint the Poirier faithful, but it falters as a cohesive album. The glimmers of brilliance that it does offer, however, solidify Ghislain’s name and reputation as an exciting young talent. His lengthy list of remixing credits should tell you that already, but Breakupdown shows that he does not fail on his own either. If only we could cure him of the desire to feature other artists on his own albums.
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Reviewed by: Matt Sheardown Reviewed on: 2006-03-07 Comments (0) |
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