Island Mele

By John Berger

"Anaphylaxis"

Redd Dirt
independent self-release

FOR a while now that The Big Island has become the epicenter of mainstream rock in the 50th State, or at least the place where local rock bands are recording. Redd Dirt is the latest to step forward with an album of powerful original music (the press material reveal that the title, "a word so uncommon it causes a stir of thought and imagination," is the term for an adverse reaction to a foreign substance). "Anaphylaxis" has been percolating through the Big Island rock scene since last year but only recently reached Oahu. It reaffirms that fact that Hawaii's mainstream rock bands are the equal of their mainland counterparts.

The quartet presents a balanced collection of aggressive buzzsaw mosh music and brooding power ballads that put the ever-relevant topic of social alienation in sharp focus. "S.E.N.T." begins and ends with a crisp reggae-style guitar riff, a change of style that works well.

Redd Dirt is also the latest Big Island rock band to move to the mainland in search of bigger career opportunities. A new album, "Shades Of A Sphere," should be out this year.

www.reddirt.com

Mpeg Audio Clips: Feel It Six Analogies S.E.N.T. Quicktime | RealPlayer | MPEG-3 info

"Hobo House Of Hits Vol. 1"

Various artists
Hobo House On The Hill

With the opening of his Hobo House on the Hill record label and recording studio in 1997, Roni "H-Diggler" Yurong returned to the local record industry and picked up where he'd left off as a member of national recording act TNG (a k a The New Generation) a few years before. This anthology is his look back at the first five years of his label, containing something from almost every album since released.

The H-Diggler's roots in the light pop sound of TNG can be heard in the songs by Faceless and Brownskin, the boy bands he formed as Hobo House projects with an assist from Nito Larioza (another TNG alumnus). That sound can also be heard in the single track by Maestro, a third TNG veteran. His rendition of "Jorin's Lullaby" remains enigmatic and hauntingly beautiful.

My overall impression of the label, however, is that Hobo House has been a Jawaiian assembly line. Six of the first seven tracks, and 9 out of the 17 total, use reggae rhythms with varying degrees of success. The sometimes by-the-numbers work of the Hobo House production team -- H-Diggler, his brother Lawrence and Ronnie Esteban -- is exemplified by the songs featuring "Princess Ilona" Irvine and Namahana. (H-Diggler and Esteban do the songs' synthesized arrangements.)

The best work out of Hobo House to date has been O-Shen's "Rascal In Paradise" and Chief Ragga's self-titled third solo album. While this retrospective shows that Hobo House can create the occasional polished pop song in Brownskin's "Until You Come Home," this is pretty generic stuff tailor-made for "island radio" play and, judging by an unreleased track by Crystal Mateo and Kawehi Tom, local pop as thin as the Laurie Salvatera album that H-Diggler's old mentor, Matt Young, produced in 1996.

Count on the Hobo House guys to already be working on material for "Vol. 2."

www.hobohouseonthehill.com

Mpeg Audio Clips: Irie I Like The Wayt We Do It Jorin's Lullaby Quicktime | RealPlayer | MPEG-3 info

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See Record Reviews for some past reviews.
See Aloha Worldwide for locals living away.

John Berger, who has covered the local
entertainment scene since 1972, writes reviews of recordings
produced by Hawaii artists. See the Star-Bulletin's Today
section on Fridays for the latest reviews.