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"Dial-7" hail from Orange County
California, and have successfully melded a number of varying
influences and directions between it’s members into the
heavy, homeboy, G-punk attitude that is delivered on their Warner
Bros. debut, "Never Enough Time."
The standout talents, and first impression,
is the dual delivery of vocalist’s Shauny B and Mike Lord.
Expertly playing off each other’s vocal lines in best rap
style, as well as hitting the dual harmonies, it’s this
energy that will attract the first listener. Mike Lord is the
style, Shauny B is the muscle. Dynamics. In the vocals, in the
music and in the structures - this is "Dial-7’s"
niche that should propel them on to bigger things. Shauny B has
the grit of a kid straight off the streets of South Central (having
logged in extensive time in the gangsta rap scene). Mike Lord
is the D’Angelo smooth tip that rounds out the edges. The
end result is a sort of up-vibed rap-core soul tip that strays
often from the mold.
The stoney Sunday afternoon tainted "S.J.L."
shows the band's ability to get sly and smooth with the opening
line "I’m in that mood/ To kick off my shoes/ Sit back,
relax and smoke a fat joint/ Here’s a new point from the
groovie, galactic gumshoe dude."
"Dial-7" then rips into the heavy
guitar crunch in the opening of the pimp-daddy sounding "MacFly."
Guitars walk around, in and out of varying styles, including
some ska skips (like in the geographically and biographically
penned "133"), hard metal crunches, single note progressions
and chorded out riffs - whatever the mood of the song dictates,
guitarist Chris Robosan can supply it. Original riffs like the
snakey intro to "Faster" and "All I Want"
show his ability to craft different, and dynamically interesting,
guitar moods.
"Dial-7" employs a Spanish flavor
on the verses of "Siete," to showcase more of their
willingness to explore other avenues of sound, before they fall
back into their more trademarked rapped out core sound. "One
To Grow On" has almost a reggae tint. Actually, it seems
"Dial-7" borrow from a lot of clear starting points,
and, although this hybrid approach is fast becoming a genre within
it’s own, "Dial-7" manage to offer enough dynamic
and talent through the entire disk to warrant their own sound.
With time, it could even morph into a completely different animal.
At present though, "Dial-7" almost
overuse their ska/soul/reggae starting point, but they're so
good at mixing up a song structure, it comes off more original
than it really is.
There seems to be a higher spirituality
associated with the band's association with the no. 7. In the
lyric sheets, every once in awhile...’7777777’ - Seven
7’s just kinda of appear within the lyrics (except for one
song "Siete" - only 6 ‘7’s are printed -
error? or sneaky message?), with the cryptical "Money +
Fame · 7777777" appearing after all the lyrics. Something
to email the band about.
To compare, "Dial-7" comes off
as a Sublime/Downset/Marley/RageAgainstTheMachine mixture, with
two extremely talented brothers from the street fronting the
group. "Dial-7" the band are good at changing their
approaches to fit the songs, and give ample room for the combo
vocals. Personally, I like it better when they rage (like the
crazy intense verses of "Faster"). Lyrically, I like
it better when they just play some happy little soul/ska/reggae
riff and let Lord and Shauny B do their thing. So, for the listener,
one gets a bit of everything mixed in. Thats not to say the songs
are scattered sounding. There is a most definite "Dial-7"
sound to each of the offerings, with the band tending to mix
all these aforementioned elements into one song.
The rock/rap/ska hybrid is nothing new
(and getting a bit annoying if you ask me), but "Dial-7"
is the exception in my musical catalog, oOffering more than enough
deviations on this standard theme to keep the listener interested.
Lyrically, both in content and execution, "Dial-7"
rise far above their peers. Combine the talent with their work
ethic (they used to throw their own shows when they couldnt get
club owners to book them), and maybe a little push from Warner
Bros., "Dial-7" should be preaching their brand of
soul/core (hey, I just made that one up) across radio stations
everywhere in the near future. They tour all over, and I can
tell you from experience the live show blows the disk away. Dial
it in (Seven Times). |
