System Breakdown – Loud Apartment (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Spend any time listening to the lyrics of any song you choose on this latest album by NYC funk fusionaries Loud Apartment and you will realise that they have something to say. Listen to the whole album and you realise that they have a lot to say and across a wide variety of social subjects. And important things too. 70’s punk based a whole movement around the fact that they were vaguely bored. 90’s punk created a soundtrack for a generation who didn’t want to tidy their bedroom. Imagine what would happen if people got behind much needed rabble-rousers and social revolutionaries as these guys.

Funk, soul, reggae and all such genres have always had a conscience, have always been the perfect advocates for change, and here amongst the loose funk grooves, jazz infused improvisations, the soul sass and the reggae rhythms there is a whole manifesto aimed at those who look on in horror as the TV news channels stream us endless footage of social injustice, police brutality, political division, racism on the rise…not that it ever went away…. the growing division between the haves and have nots, the widening gap between us and them.

Enough is Enough gets to the heart of the band’s outlook on this album and on life in general…it is time for a change and it is down to the people on the street to instigate it… a marvellous manifesto put to deft reggae tones and soulful licks. Restless blends hip-hop with funk and beats with brass, The Thrill is Good rides some pop-soul grooves running between underground cool and mainstream potential and Dub Enough digs down into some dark dub delicacies.

Remember when music was a voice for change? Remember when people seemed willing to advocate constructive disruption rather than just toe the line drawn by political elites? Remember when you could do that and still peddle fantastically emotive and immersive music? Loud Apartment certainly does!