Album Review
The Dingees' Rebel Soul Sound System is an album with the weight of the planet on its shoulders. This is the most global-sounding album the band has ever released, and the most slowed down and filled with sound. It is also the most political work yet from this socially conscious band. The nine years since the Dingees' last album have only seen the state of the world grow worse. That is not to say Rebel Soul Sound System is a downer. It is just as fun as the band's previous releases. The album simply feels heavier.
Dissonance is a major part of that weight. The Dingees have never layered this many sounds on top of one another: guitars, bass, drums, percussion, horns played both conventionally and unconventionally, samples, keyboards, organ, electronics and multiple voices. With so much going on, the band loses some of its dirtier punk edge, though certainly not its attitude. The reggae influence grows, and hip-hop and drum-and-bass sounds find their way in. The result is a thick, internationally flavored stew of an album that moves steadily through musical streets as graffiti-covered as its sleeve.
The weight of time is here as well. The samples and horns give Rebel Soul Sound System a feeling that is both timeless and timely, as though it speaks for the oppressed throughout history.
Overall, Rebel Soul Sound System is not quite what one might expect from a Dingees release, but it is extremely satisfying. Like all of the band's work, it sounds like no one else. Who else writes a nine-minute song in whatever genre this is?
