Yesterday my favorite Canadian blogger posted about a pretty hot German-based band with a lead singer who shares a couple similarities with you-know-who but, in my humble opinion, may in fact be better. The band is Jahcoozi:
This hype Berlin-based trio is made up of MC and singer Sasha Perera (London), bassman Oren Gerlitz (Tel Aviv) and Robot Koch (Berlin) on laptop and drums. From their My Space page: “Blip hop, ragga-tech, RnB punk, click pop illectronica? Pop? A Shakespeare’s Sister – Neptunes collabo?!!” Definitely a band of roughians to watch out for. ‘Half[Pure] Breed Mongrel’ comes as a surprise to me because I didn’t know what to expect on first listen, my only previous experience being Sacha Perera’s appearance on the Modeselektor album (on ‘Silikon’). This new platter has some crazy fire on it that can clearly translate into big things on a live stage. While the beats are supremely dancefloor-friendly the ‘tude is not for the pop-hearted. It reeks satire from the first track (‘Black Barbie’) which makes the album a blast to listen to. ‘Asian Bride Magazine’ is deffo a personal fav (how could it not be?) and had me grinning from ear to ear: “Thank you, L’Oréal, now there’s products for us/Daily use gonna help us to pretend that we’re high caste/ Bleach our skin, lighten our moustache.”Perera is Londoner of Sri Lankan origin and yes she does do the whole raggamuffin bit with her voice but the comparison to M.I.A. ends there. Unlike Mizz Maya (‘Sunshowers’ chorus anyone?), this lady can really sing. Though the Modeselektor track made it hard to avoid drawing similarities, with this album it becomes clear that Perera is in a league of her own when it comes to her wonderfully husky vocal capability. More like the other major ‘M’ in my life, Missy, in sound. Jahcoozi has made a great debut both in the full-length world and in my hungry ears (I know it came out last year, smartass). [Link]
Like Neha, my favorite track on Pure Breed Mongrel was also Asian Bride Magazine. I am sure many of our female readers will dig the lyrics as well. I also liked the song The Bouncer Who Turned Good for its name alone (in my head I just substituted “blogger” for “bouncer”). The best way to describe Sasha’s voice is to imagine if Tricky and M.I.A. had a lovechild. You can listen to most of Jahcoozi’s Pure Breed Mongrel album by clicking on the songs in the left-hand column here.
More than MIA she resembles Sabrina Setlur another singer from Germany, who sings mostly Hip Hop. You can find more about her here…http://www.3-p.de/index_sabrina.html. At one time she was rumoured to be dating Borris Becker.
My favourite Canadian bloggher too! 🙂
While we are on German based South Asian origin singers..here’s another guy Xavier Naidoo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Naidoo. He has an awesome deep singing voice and is quite popular in Germany and Austria.
oh for fuck’s sake…wasn’t that a sample? i am so sick of everyone hoisting that horrible, flawed example as a way to diss my girl. having said that, i dig neha too, i just lurve her 0.0000001% less right this second. 😉
Hell to the No would I ever diss your lady! She was #1 on my 05 countdown and would’ve been in 04 too. But…but…but…there are bound to be comparisons because she is as awesome as she is and these have led to some light being shed on a certain ability that is (to my ears) more pleasing when exhibited by others…sigh, who am I kidding, I’ll just take that 0.0000001% hole in my heart and deal with it in song…The sunshowers that fall on my troubles…:-)
More plip-beep-plop cattle bell electronica ‘funk’ that’s, like, soooo representative of, like, our interacial reality man.
Nothing special.
I don’t mean to be hatin on her. But at first glance, she looked the transvestite hooker I picked up on La Cienega Boulevard last summer.
snicker
awesomeeeee sample on myspace
I’m a huge SM groupie or SM-aholic(I read daily and click refresh about every 15 minutes okay every 5 minutes – I probably need professional help). Anyway, check out this Jahcoozi review from my hometown alt weekly http://www.citypaper.com/music/recordreview.asp?id=9700 With a comparison to Dorothy Parker, Sasha Perera is either the MIA for intellects or drunks??
dating boris becker? it was a national scandal as he was still married.
my poor firefox choked on that &#$%@? final link. i will not take this as an omen, even though i viscerally hate things which kill my dear little browser. so yeah, i still haven’t heard this group BUT i’m back to lurving the neha a full cent percent. 😉
ich spricht keine deutsch, but i know what that handle means and i appreciate and approve of it heartily. 😀
For one parading as the other!
That’s a great review. I hate it when someone else seems to say it better!
Does anyone know a good place to get lyrics for their songs? I googled but didn’t come up with anything…
yay. thanks for posting this.
mee, the lyrics for Asian Bride Magazine and 3 others are on the Myspace website.
you mean… Pure Breed Mongrel?
just got the whole thing off of itunes for $10. its solid.
Thanks Soumya. Fixed.
I think I like MIA’s production more, but this stuff isn’t bad. I like how the lyrics aren’t as nonsense… but then who listens to lyrics in dance music?
Thanks for the heads up neha/sm. Their website’s a trip too – click
Hm, the sound by itself reminds me more of Peaches than MIA.
I think I want a higher bitrate version of “Asia Bride Magazine”; the lyrics do sound promising — revolt against parents and the arranged marriage industry — but I can’t make out what she’s saying at some points.
love the lyrics.
i lurve that canadian blogher too. have you checked out her cool bloggin’ clothes? 🙂
those are seriously cool chaddies
sweet! thanks runyolarun!
i was trying to remark on the coolness of chuddies with a blog on them, not the chuddies inandothemselves (i need an editor)
“Unlike Mizz Maya (‘SunshowersÂ’ chorus anyone?), this lady can really sing”
Mizz Maya doesnt sing the Sunshowers chorus.
Gotta agree with that transvestit hooker vibe. MIA is so feminine. Sasha looks mayne-ly, mayne.
Just checked them out on myspace. Seems like they have more promotions than they actually do music. The Berlin press machine is working overt-time for these kids. Seems like fashion to me. Beats also sound like more run-of-the-mill Ableton Live loops with super cliche drums and squelches. Decent bass production though, but not great. don’t really get the hype. Nice name though.
I think “Joolz” said it best:
“More plip-beep-plop cattle bell electronica ‘funk’ that’s, like, soooo representative of, like, our interacial reality man. Nothing special.”
I second that.
I lived in Berlin for a number of years (quite a while back). And I always wondered why it is that the “internationals”, i.e. ex-pat artist types get all the press attention and indigenous Berlin movements like Turkish hip-hop crews get none. Perhaps ’cause they don’t want it.
Myspace whores.