Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Sometimes I forget that things aren't always as they seem. When I first started listening to Dream State, the new album by Mestizo, I was not very impressed. My first impression was that it was a lot of hype and no substance. I assumed that the title of the album referred to the state of California (it only sort of does). Under this assumption I thought that this was a feeble attempt. And the intro was what really threw me off. You see, the album begins with a supposedly deep conversation about what California is "like". According to Mestizo, California is like a girl who's high on heroin but doesn't even know it... even if you show her the marks on her arms. I figured that this statement might have been sort of an interesting metaphor if I knew what he was referring to. But being from California, I didn't really agree with him so I felt like he was just trying to sound tough. Furthermore, the fact that the songs about California seem to praise it, I didn't understand how this metaphor applies (unless being high on heroin is supposed to be positive). And altogether, no matter how many shout outs there are to CA, I didn't feel like Mestizo really explored his own theme.

On my second listen I realized that the words Dream State have a double meaning. Not only is Mestizo now living back in California, he is producing songs that sound as if you are in a dream. And this theme totally comes across. As for the sound, there is some innovative yet classic sounding stuff coming out of this album. And the solid beats and imaginative sampling really sucked me in after all.

I'll get the bad news out of the way. Some of the tracks turned out on this CD are a bit awkward. They go too far sometimes trying to make it a psychedelic experience: adding a cackle sound here and a skipped beat there. These things can throw you off.  Also, the shout outs to California never get fleshed out into anything substantial. The double meaning of the theme could have been milked a little more by describing his experience in CA.

One such problematic attempt is Suzie Q. This song is an awkwardly fast, and hard to follow track that describes his crush on a girl. Mestizo is flowing impressively fast here, but it's hard to get into because it's more like a ramble than actual music. And the high school crush he is describing doesn't seem to go with the pace of the song. But Mestizo is all about trying new things, which I appreciate even if it doesn't necessarily sound good to my ears.

So onto the good news: The second track is the album's introduction to the music of Mestizo. He raps about his influences, mostly places and some people. (The California theme may have been done partly because the label, Galapagos4, is Chicago based and Mestizo just moved coasts.) This first actual song is backed by a funky organ melody which is an appealing introduction because it gives the track an epic feel, leaving the listener wanting more. The organ makes up for the cliché conversational first track. In fact, most of this album had melodies that were interesting: somehow classic yet new at the same time.

There were quite a few highlights... Rosie was an impressive track. It covered some strong content. In this track Mestizo is trying to comfort a friend who has had something bad happen to her. The best part of this song was the chorus, a sampling of a melody sung by a weathered old man who sings "you just stay here with me for a while..." in the consoling and trusted voice of an old timer. This song among a few others showed me that Mestizo and his crew really know how to put together their samples, beats and rhymes. Lots of the sampling is really soulful, old school sounding R & B that's super smooth. They play around with the rhythms which really makes the tracks enjoyable.

I really liked the sound for the most part. The music really spoke for itself. And the album is carefully put together. Mestizo is a solid rapper with a crew that really compliments his style. This album was catchy and new with a great nostalgic ring to it. In the end I was pleased to find that this is his third album.  I'm sure I'll enjoying hearing the other two as well.