Dave's Radio Radio Review

At one of my old gigs, not so long ago I was sitting and small talking with a buddy at his desk, and the mail arrived. He opened a large manila envelope and out came the Radio Radio Belmundo Regal CD. Both of us were immediately drawn to the artwork. Those colours were so perfectly washed together over that gorgeous tall ship. We knew the music was going to be something remarkable - we imagined it sounded like Phoenix or Belle & Sebastian. Something that looks this well thought out has to sound equally as good right?

Then we put the album into his computer. We looked at each other puzzled and perplexed - "what the fuck is this?" he said. "There is no way the guys who designed this artwork make this music" I proclaimed. We skipped to the next track - still the same reaction. This went on for the entire tracklisting. We thought there was some kind of mistake with the manufacturing of the album - so we asked someone else in the office to put their copy on - same music. Same reactions.

That's Radio Radio, it's just so unexpected. They made a party hip hop album that addresses such issues as metro-sexuals, packing for vacations, and of course; girls - but they do it in Acadian. Acadian is a hybrid of English and French, and for all of it's historical importance to this nation just sounds ugly.

Radio Radio are a testament to the power and reach of hip hop and urban culture in general - how three Acadian kids were able to gain enough influence and exposure to an expression of black culture, then to adopt it and make it their own is a great example of how big urban culture has grown over the years. When I read that back out loud it sound like the tagline to bad movie - Yikes!

Radio Radio isn't for everyone - it sounds like something that fell off of Jersey Shore soundtrack and landed on this list. At times it's clever and witty, like a high school wise cracker, but at others it's trying to be something it's not and it shows. The imitation of American Hip Hop techniques wears thin about halfway through Belmundo Regal, for my tastes the production isn’t there to support the act for the whole album. But I also feel left out of something – I feel like I walked into the conversation late, or missed the set up to a joke – because everyone else seems to be getting it on some other level. If that’s you – enjoy it.