The cover for Balkan Beat Box’s newest album, “Give,” features a subtle visual portmanteau of a megaphone and an assault rifle. It’s an image that takes a little while to sink in, but it ultimately fits the sound of the album very well.
“Give,” the band’s fourth major release, features 12 new tracks from the New York City-based group. Those 12 tracks translate to 46 minutes of varied yet cohesive sounds that show the full range of Balkan Beat Box.
It’s very hard to put Balkan Beat Box into a single genre classification. On “Give” alone, the band exhibits elements of world, dancehall, funk and even electronica music. If a label had to be put on its sound, hip-hop might be closest.
The tracks on “Give” tend to come off as rather simple, usually featuring drum beats and vocals prominently. Underlying this, however, is a complexity that slowly emerges. The listener picks up little touches in the drum beats, and other instruments are slowly added over the course of each song.
The drumbeats on “Give” are complex in themselves, though they don’t distract from the songs’ lyrics. Horns on most tracks manage to round out the sound and provide a little depth to otherwise bare-bones tracks. Guitars, keyboards and other instruments also add some diversity on some tracks.
Although there is no actual beatboxing on the album, the idea of someone beatboxing is a good representation of the band’s sound. The way that a person can take something ordinarily mundane and turn it into something musical and catchy is akin to what Balkan Beat Box does with its songs.
The vocals tend to be like a lot of rap or hip-hop songs, often featuring the singer rapping over beats. Back-up and guest vocals on certain tracks also add variety between tracks and help keep each song different while still familiar.
The final result of these different-yet-familiar song structures is an album with a good portion of catchy tracks that can get easily get stuck in the listener’s head.
Stand out songs include “Intro (Taste of Where I’m From),” a nice introduction song that establishes the sound of the album early on; “Money,” a song about the dangers of greed; and “Urge to be Violent,” in which the singer expresses his desire for peace among people.
“Urge to be Violent” is very representative of the lyrical tone of the album, which offers a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of hip-hop songs played on the radio in that it espouses peace and understanding over violence and greed. The megaphone and assault rifle combination on the cover of the album just goes to confer that Balkan Beat Box sees music and speech as tools equally as powerful as weapons.
While fans of more complicated music might not find much to enjoy here, those who can enjoy simplicity will be very pleasantly surprised by the songs and styles on “Give.”
Email Overstreet at moverstreet@media.ucla.edu