13TH TRIBE
Thirteenth Tribe (Orchard)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

---

The 13th Tribe is mostly Joe Sears, a man who is all too happy to mix the harsh electronic tones of the modern era with a vocal style that sometimes sounds like it's skipping off a satellite and bouncing back from the MTV 80s. It works for a while, but it wears thin pretty quick, largely because little happens in many of the songs. A tempo is established, a melody follows, a lyric is attached to it and it's hammered and hammered until you begin to crave contact with the next button.

More thought was put into all facets of "Sunset," and because it has the one extra element that all repetitive music needs to be successful - trance inducing atmosphere - it's a winner. The question is: have most people tuned out before this track gets a chance? The following tune, "Style Of Life" isn't nearly as good as "Sunset" but is miles above the earlier songs and has its own certain mind game quotient going for it, and "Time Of Day" takes the album back into a more straight forward territory but this time brings along changes and hooks. This is a song you'd put on a party tape and be praised for knowing awesome shit that everybody gets into. You know you want it.

There's more of the bad but mostly more of the good on the rest of The Thirteenth Tribe, a CD that nearly became a coaster in the middle of track number four. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, or I wouldn't have "Sunset" stuck in my head and a 100 minute TDK with "Time Of Day" stuck in my pocket. Party on.

© 2002 - DJ Johnson