"Love Game"
Candes
(CMG)
Lyricist and rap vocalist Richard Anthony is the key player in this polished change-of-pace extended-play release by Candes Meijide Gentry. Until now she’s been known as a singer of pop standards and show tunes. Who thought she could slip into modern electronic dance music? With Anthony writing the lyrics and Magned07 as her producer, she’s doing it here and doing it well.
The title song is bright and bouncy pop, but there are shadings to it that suggest the perspective of a wary but still-optimistic adult rather than a giddy "tween."
"I believe I believe you can believe in love," she sings with the wistfulness of someone who’s learned that believing isn’t always enough.
Candes and Anthony crank up the rhythm tracks and explore darker topics thereafter. "Lost My Love" is an angry farewell to a man who "just let me slip away" and "took my love for granted." Magned07 surrounds Candes’ multitracked vocals with catchy mainstream electro-rock music tracks that would fit into dance clubs and pop radio formats anywhere. Listen to them in the order they’re placed on the CD and they tell a story as well.
"Love Game" is a limited-edition release. For more information go to candescd.com.
"Kingdom Come"/"Do Ya"
Po & the 4Fathers
(Bam Boom)
Boom Gaspar is known in Hawaii as a member of the original Mackey Feary Band and for his work with other bands, and for his commitment to playing a Hammond B3 organ with 45-inch Leslie speakers — a big, bulky, old-school instrument that’s much more difficult to move from gig to gig than modern electric keyboards.
On the national music scene he’s known for his work with Pearl Jam: He tours and records with the group and has a songwriting credit with them.
This newly released 7-inch vinyl record brings those two sides of his career together in impressive style.
The group is local — Gaspar (organ), Roman Corpuz (guitar, vocals), Kawai Hoe (vocals, ukulele, guitar), Kalei Young (drums, bass, vocals) and Kiliona Young (vocals, guitar). The sound is a blend of soul, rock, blues, funk and reggae in which Gaspar’s B3 plays a prominent part.
The message is nationalist: "I’m never gonna walk the roads my father walked/Cause the loi got burned in the melting pot," composer Kiliona Young writes in "Kingdom Come." He goes on to comment on a "government ruling from across the sea" and the 50 percent blood quantum policy that is used to divide Native Hawaiians into two separate and unequal groups. It’s a timely lyric set to a powerful rhythmic arrangement.
The B side, "Do Ya," written by Hoe, challenges the listener to heed the call for change and remember why change is necessary. "They’re growing houses where my father used to play … with them guns and money/They set my people running/Smiling like it’s funny," the group sings while Gaspar’s B3 percolates through the instrumental arrangement.
Gaspar’s Pearl Jam colleagues add heft and reach to the project. Eddie Vedder sings on "Kingdom Come," Stone Gossard plays lead guitar on "Do Ya" and the project is being distributed by Pearl Jam’s self-owned Monkeywrench Records.
"Kingdom Come" and "Do Ya" are available as downloads at www.pearljam.com. (Go to "Goods" and then click on "Boom.")
"Kingdom Come"
"Do Ya"
