Torpedo Boyz – Cum On Feel The Boyz

Torpedo Boyz – Cum On Feel The Boyz / 2007 Rooftop / 11 Tracks / http://www.torpedo-boyz.com /

For the longest time that I had this disc in my possession, I could swear that the Torpedo Boyz were the Boomtang Boys, who (if all you can remember from 1999) had hits such as “Squeeze Toys” and “Pictures”. What the Torpedo Boyz come up with is similar in the sense that it is a type of dance music, but that is about where the similarities end. The first full track on “Cum On Feel The Boyz” is “Japaneeze Boyz”, a track that is very heavily predicated on the funk movement of the early seventies. The vocal progression is a little repetitive, but the strong instrumentation is catchy and the overall style fo the track is reminiscent of a classic – Soul Decision’s “Faded”.

The use of vocoders and a heavy dollop of bass-heavy funk during “The Disco Song” likens the Torpedo Boyz to Chromeo. “The Disco Song” is the stylistic cousin to “Needy Girl”, and while this is not an immediate hit in the same way as “Needy Girl” is, it still is strong in its own right. “I Can’t Make It On Time” moves the time frame of the track’s influences up a few years. This means that the track has a very late seventies or early eighties rap style to it. While the instrumentation has a hint of a newer style, everything sounds practically as it would way back during the earliest days of rap. “Curry Rice” starts out with a set of vocals that I can only imagine is in Japanese.

The different sound of the vocals during this track is a nice change from what is common on this album, and while the style comes bgack to a rap style that has been present during tearlier parts of the disc, the resulting track is strong. The blend of percussion and vocals brings me personally back to the work of Junkie XL’s re-tooling of Elvis’ “Little Less Conversation:. The Torpedo Boyz have an interesting interpretation of dance music, and while there may not be a major hit on this album, the quirky nature of the band virtually ensures that the album will be played again and again well into the later months of 2008. Give the disc a spin if you are a fan of music that challenges genre constraints, or is one that reinterprets earlier genres and updates them for the present day. Interesting, to say the least.

Top Tracks: I Can’t Make It On Time, The Next Station

Rating: 6.0/10