In just over a month Birmingham will be kicking off the largest sporting event in the UK for a decade and there’s been plenty of exciting things to come out of the build up and event in itself but today we’re looking at the On Record Album which dropped the other day.
On Record is a multi-artist celebration of all things Birmingham from the artists that set the bar in our city including Dapz OTM, UB40, Friendly Fire and more. It’s a multi-genre album too but all the sounds can certainly be described as distinctly Brum, there’s reggae, rock, psychedelic and rap all with an experimental twist to them and all telling a story of Birmingham based on the artists own experiences of the city.
The eleven track album opens with Friendly Fire’s It’s A Brum Ting, a reggae track that covers every area in Birmingham it feels along with a nice little nod to the city’s biggest export in recent years, Peaky Blinders. Midlands Child follows suit with a little switch up of genre by Sanity and Black Voices raised in Erdington it’s a great little track.
We go back to a reggae/rock style for the third track on the album Willmore Road by Lekan Bablola and Kate Luxmoore before dipping into a bit of the psychedelic for a couple of tracks as we hit I Don’t Wanna Go Home by the Cherry Pickles and Elle Chante’s Dynasty. Both fantastic tracks that I’d honestly probably not have stumbled across before. You’re just under half way through by this point but the time certainly seems to have flown before you hit Hangin’ With Mr Hamilton from Xhosa Cole Quartet and Soweto Kinch, an exciting bit of Jazz that you didn’t know was missing in your life.
Born & Raised is one of the artists we write about a few times here at Lockthelocks and that is of course Dapz on the Mapz. It’s a gritty look at the city talking of the beggers at the lights, villa or Blues, Spaghetti junction, a shout out to Bedders chip shop even. I’d say it’s my favourite track on the album because of my music style of choice but I genuinely think the album has opened me up to more. My City by Bambi Bains comes next with a slower tempo track before we move onto Eel Song by We Are Muffy which is a bit like spoken word rock to begin with, you certainly wouldn’t be remiss to expect to hear it as a Peaky Blinders episode opens.
Midnight in Sparkhill by TJ Rehmi is the penultimate track on the album and is a far better experience than actually turning up to Sparkhill at Midnight. It’s a bit almost Irish folksy at first so follows Eel Song quite nicely but then moves into something that seems to have eski-boy undertones to it along with some exotic sounds reflecting all aspects of Sparkhill I’d say. Finally UB40 and Gilly G bring the album to a conclusion with Champion which is a great finish to the album.
I’d definitely describe it as an album that takes you on a journey, brought through by Birmingham Music Archives it’s a fantastic celebration of our city. I like to think I’ve got most music in Brum covered but the truth is there’s so much diversity, so much creativity, I could listen to a thousand artists and have barely dipped my toes in what’s made in Brum! I also didn’t think I’d get excited about the games overall but the closer we edge toward it the more I’m fully up for it!
lockthelocks 