A Little Strong : A Little Review

by billermo, 08/19/2008

Jose El Rey recently gave me a slice of his debut (I'm guessing) album; A Little Strong, of which there are many things to say.

Heres a track to taste, album review and insights after the jump.

 


 

What you get with this album is El Rey's bustling handful of party bangers. A little bit mastered, more balanced assemblage of the tracks that make him a notoriously entertaining live act.

 

 

There is a solid of aesthetic of Pure Miami-ness, unachieved by any local musical act that I've seen currently. Resurrecting and molding to a tropical hispanic flavor the vibe of original old school hip-hop and straight up Miami bass & booty along with vintage 808 drum samples in  patterns a bit more up-beat than the ealry 90's electro-breaks counterpart of his sound. Visually Jose El Rey takes the subtle iconographies of our subtropical paradise with striking precision and twist of humor. The mustache, the royal colors, the shirtlessness, jewlery, spanglish, and the womanizing player style attitude together re-affirm the shameful yet hilariously overlooked archetypes of Miami. His look and sound come together in such a way comparable to the amounts of sugar needed to make cuban coffee taste great. But once that sugar is in there, you're good to go on an unstoppable rampage of caffeinated bliss. I bet Jose El Rey pisses cafe cubano.

There are a few differences between his album and his live act. Namely his voice, which on the tracks lacks the punch you get out of a proper PA system and live vocals, pushing his voice into the background giving the rest of the sound more room to breathe. I have always felt El Rey's sound is served best in an outdoor environment with ladies and bass. There is something emergent to one of El Rey's live performance that doesn't completely come across on the album. It may just be that you have to get your own can of Jupina, since there is no El Tigre to be hooking you up.
 
The charms of this album stem from the dedicated lo-fi quality of sound. The beats are pure 808 nostalgia as well as the lead synths of each track. All taken back to a slightly re-envisioned perspective of what Miami Bass is/was/should be.There are golden inbetween track intros, giving full body to the hardcore Miami player party lifestyle twist, that El Rey conveys. The golden point of the album is the cover of Stacy-Q's Two of Hearts, reassembled and Miami-fied with lead vocals by Cusi Amadora of Afrobeta. 

 
 

 

 

  

A nice plus to the album is the subtle presence of Otto Von Schirach, who did the mastering and (I am betting) some of the sound engineering. There are a few unmistakable seconds of Otto's sound manipulation. The first 4 seconds of Safety First being a great example. The sound is quite clean throughout, all the layers blend nicely and no one song really stands out over another one. The 34 minute LP can be heard from start to finish effortlessly, maybe ideally out of a boom box out on the beach somewhere... around noon. Yeah. These beats are perfect for sun-tans.
 
Jose El Rey has focused himself into a brilliantly ridiculous character of loose player morals, not without a youthful positivity and sense of humor that really brings entertainment to the table.His sound is about smiling more than anything else. That is rare in electronic music. His live performances have the entire crowd together in laughter and ass shaking, not to mention the tasty Miami style treats, Jupiña, pastelitos and other Miami produced canned beverages ubiquitous to his act. A little Strong is truly a treat, be it how short the 10 tracks are individually, each track treated with a tuned ear, giving you a cohesive body of work. A Little Strong is a snippet of beat driven pleasures, unexpected quirks and party banging Miami Bass.

 

The Album is available through Jose El Rey's site (every other link takes you to it).

Jose El Rey, Otto Von Schirach, El Tigre and Mr Featherduster Will be having a celebration of Jupiña style beverages Saturday, August 30th at PS14, where the first 100 lucky earlybirds get Otto's latest release as well as Jose El Rey's debut. The Party is called Club Jupiña Colada, which sources confirmed it is actually Jupiña with coconut Rum and lime, otherwise known as a Jupiña Libre!

 

 

Photos by Jason Arnold, Julio Najara, Sweets Becker and Young Machines


 

 

 

 

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Comments disabled Tags: Deep Thoughts, Music
There are 4 comments about this post:
comment #0, posted by Jose el Rey at 08/19/2008 11:13pm Reply
you will get my debut cd, as for the otto cd its a mixed bag of goodies waiting for you
comment #1, posted by Hypo3 at 08/22/2008 8:51pm Reply
Is ok. I can see it being mixed alot. Sounds great, just not all at the same time.
Let me buy you a drink
comment #2, posted by co-b at 08/31/2008 10:19pm Reply
oh my lawdy lawd, I saw him live before gravvytrain came on, HE WAS SO MARVELOUS & FUN and shirtless aha! I will by his cd. I wanna see some cheap looking t-shirts for sale or something.
pAArty mode

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