Rusko, the man who originally spiked the dubstep fruit punch bowl with fun, is back again with his second full length album, Songs. His first album, O.M.G! was a piece of work start to finish, introducing us to classics like “Woo Boost” and “Hold On,” during a period in which dubstep was being transformed from a purely headbanging affair to something that involved the whole body. That album was honestly tough to follow up. But in a sea of insanity with every other person throwing any combination of distorted w0bs and thunder together, I trusted cap’n Rusko to remind us what is great about bass music. And he pulled through again.
He sets it off with an intro that explains a little theory on how and why music should evolve. “Original come from the heart – whatever’s in your heart. You say you want to create a different sound, you create that different sound. Who is anyone to say there’s any boundaries? … Takin’ it from that school, and building it up to a different dimension.” True words. That jumps straight into the anthem that’s already been lighting up dance floors and faces, “Somebody to Love.” That track is 24k gold. “Skanker” is the first of 5 reggae influenced songs (“Love No More,” “Be Free,” “Roll Da Beats” and “Mek More Green”) that bring the sound back to its dub roots and simultaneously brings the album to the next level IMO. It just works too perfectly together. There’s a couple headbangers (“Opium,” “M357”), and a couple high energy tracks (“Pressure,” “Whistle Crew”) to round it out. If you had the attention span, I would go into detail on every track. But it’s time to just listen. Thrown together, it’s a complete, awesome album. This is meant to be enjoyed by some body of water, sippin’ on a beer with a slice of citrus and shmokin’ on a ground up gram of the finest.
Catch him in SD @ 4th & B on 5/31 (Tickets), and LA @ The Palladium 6/1 (Tickets).
