If you're looking for an album that'll tickle your groovebuds, I have a treat for you. If you want your groovebuds very much left alone (there's no shame in that), quickly avert your eyes before you're taken to a place where your groovebuds just aren't safe. Don't say I didn't warn you, because once Hiatus Kaiyote's Tawk Tomahawk takes off, you'll be riding on a rainbow to Pleasure Town.
Hiatus Kaiyote's Tawk Tomahawk is a jazz infused album that feels good from beginning to end. Lead singer Nai Palm rides on top of every chord change like some kind of Soul Warrior riding her Beat Steed into a hallucinogenic desert battle. You can hear the pain of that majestic brawl in her voice when she sings, but you get the feeling that she's winning. "If the splendor ruptures I'm gone take it as it comes," she boasts in "Malika", a soul powered version of the operatic "Flower Duet." Elements of hip-hop are all over the place in her style of soul vocals and Ms. Palm slays with the lyricism and flow that you'd expect from a top notch rapper.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Hiatus Kaiyote sounds like they've been hanging out in the desert all their lives. It's easy to get lost in the jazz influenced beats and harmonies, even during a casual listen, but for as many places as it takes you, Tawk Tomahawk is actually a pretty short album. Coming in at a little over a half hour, it is a crazy good album, managing to fit tons of great ideas into a brief span of time. The brevity of the album might actually be my only complaint. It's Hiatus Kaiyote's debut, and one of my favorites of the last couple of years. For real. Check it out.
-Kane
Lace Skull is brilliant. I can't get it out of my head since you showed it to me. The rhythmic change that starts and drives the second verse is.. fantastic. I'm out of meaningful adjectives. It's just a good song.
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