Inspired by the appraising comments I went and listened to the album, but apparently such a quick testing didn’t give a good impression of the band since the record stayed in the store. The album is, as far as I know, the best selling self-released album in Finland ever with approximately ten thousand sold copies. I should check it out again now that I’ve been playing the second album on repeat for a couple of weeks.

Breaking Daylight takes an explosive start with One MC, One Delay that has already become a hit. It was quite a slap in the face to hear this song for the first time. The track is simply perfect. There isn’t a single shortcoming to be found. The only tiny weak point is that after several (really many) listenings the song loses some of its magic. That’s why the following chill-out tracks (Penguin and Royalty) really do their bit in tying the beginning of the album together.

Don Johnson Big Band’s music is a superb mixture of almost all things possible. Hip hop is on the surface because of the rapping, but the backgrounds have been created in so many ways that it can’t be labelled under a single genre. Everyone can invent their own name for this "subgenre" that takes elements from jazz, dub, house and hip hop for example. I myself would pick Giant Robot in the same category because of its spirit.

Of the record itself, the first thing to notice is vocalist Tommy Lindgren’s brilliant rapping. In comparison, many American motor mouths will be left wondering what hit them. And since this is coupled with the absolute sense of style when it comes to creating moods, I can’t find anything wrong with this album. Moreover, in Jah Jah Blow Job the lyrics include a political message, and no one is left wondering what DJBB thinks about the United States’ foreign policy. This is absolutely one of the best albums of the year which will shoot to the top in the yearly polls.

Rating:

TERO KALLIO