Don Johnson Big Band - Midnight Movement (Initial Thoughts)

Instead of getting into Kade McCuen right away, I thought I'd catch on the albums I've been meaning to listen that have come out this year. Didn't end up listening to these on Thursday after all, 'cause Knox dropped a song unexpectedly, so I was breaking down those lyrics.

A recap of who these guys are and my relationship with their music: Don Johnson Big Band is not a 'big band', they're an alternative hiphop group, with an MC, Tommy Lindgren, and a jazz/rock band instead of a computer beat. Since their second album, they've been signed to Universal Music. The three founding members started the group in high school in the mid-90s, and came up with the group name on the spot when they needed one to book a rehearsal space. They were one of the most successful hiphop groups in Finland in the 2000s, but not as of late. They've gotten more and more experimental with their sound over the years, and the mainstream hiphop sound is also different than it was back then.

I first heard them when they released their biggest hit songs, when I was a child, and I liked those. I listened to library CDs in my teens, educating myself on music and discovering it in general. First I listened to all of their metal albums, then all of their rock and punk, and then from the other genres (excluding straight up classical music etc that I knew I wouldn't like) all the artists and bands I had already heard of, including two albums by Don Johnson Big Band. After that, Tommy was my favorite MC until Ren came along, right now I'd say it's a tie between multiple artists. But Ren and Tommy are two of my favorite MCs of all time, among others.

The first week after starting this blog, I listened to all the rest of their albums, except the first one that's not on Spotify. I have it loaned as a CD from the library but I don't really listen to CDs anymore... It's been sitting on my table for months.

Anyway, I'm getting into their newest album right now.

I've heard 5 songs from the album already, because I follow the group on Spotify.

24 Bars. Heard before. So dope! Is that beatboxing? Gosh I hope this is a single release, for their sake. They deserve more recognition.

Neutral OK. Sounds familiar, but seems like I haven't liked it on the first listen. It's ok. The featuring artist ain't my kinda rap, tho. I gave it a like but didn't put it on my Rap & Hiphop playlist.

Lights. Heard before, liked. Still like. She has a very pretty voice. His rapping is impressive as always.

Tú La Ves. "Oh shit, se on suomea!" :'D (Inside joke, sorry. It's an old movie, called The Joulukalenteri.) This is so funny! Latino rhythms, but most of the lyrics are in Finnish. I translated Strucci (their song that's in Finnish but sounds like English) for my other blog, Imma translate this as well! Hook was a bit too repetitive, otherwise it's a good song.

The Grid. Heard before. Old school hiphop vibes. This album is amazing! So many different styles!

Unbroken. Heard before. Oh yey, Emma Salokoski! She's a jazz singer they collab with often. Very simplified, minimalistic. I love it when they do that. Tommy can keep a flow so well even a cappella... <3

Dun. A jazzy beat. I like it so much when they do jazz, it's so different and alternative, I've never heard anyone do what they do. I like it, but I hope it's not a single (because it's too alt, so I don't think it'd work as a single, wouldn't draw in an audience). I don't think it is, Spotify would have put it on my Release Radar.

Midnight Movement. Catchy hook! This is groovy, goes so hard! The internal rhymes make me grin like an idiot, so much fun! 

Malaga Fever. Autotune! Ok. They've done it on the newer albums. I prefer the jazz over the electronic sound, but this is ok.

The Unknown. Acoustic piano, autotuned and non-autotuned vocals... And fast rapping! <3 Sold!

Empire State Body Building. Instrumental. I don't like the bass sound, hurts my ears...

Silver Spoon. A ballad. I'm generally speaking not a big fan of ballads, they seem cheesy and inauthentic to me. They're fine, I just rarely like them enough to put them on on my own. This one's... tolerable. 5/10, average.

The Internet. Heard before. Very alternative. The rhyming, omg! <3 <3 

Horses. The skill! So underrated!

Path / Polku / طريق. Well, I've certainly not heard anything like this before. I'm guessing that's Arabic or Hebrew? And it had autotune on it. And then Tommy's English doesn't, not as much at least (later it does - I'm typing while listening). Tuomas Toivonen seems to be a Finnish rapper, I didn't know him before this. In typical DJBB last song of album fashion, it's longer. This one's 7:38. I want to translate this as well (the Finnish parts), we'll see if I can find the lyrics somewhere, they're not on Spotify.

Overall, a great album! Very versatile.