polaroids of androids

Over the past few years Bliss N Eso (who confusingly consist of three members) have been existing in the shadows of Australia's premium hip-hop act - Hilltop Hoods. Thanks to 'the Hoods' taking a bit of a break and continual high radio rotation and love from Triple J the group now have their time in the sun.

Flying Colours, the trio's third record, opens with the required-by-law intro before leading into the 'get people pumped track' - Woodstock 2008. It's fast tempo and high energy isn't able to hide the weak rhymes that plague this entire release. As seems to be the case with a large portion of local hip-hop the production heavily outshines the vocals. The drum beats, cleverly injected samples and scratches on this record are brilliant. Unfortunately, however, for the most part, the lyrics seem to have been dumbed down and missing the cleverly inserted double-meanings and metaphors that have become a key attribute of the genre over the past 15 or so years.

Another key element that moves this record to 'da shit bin' is the large amount of recycled ideas and formulas. This record loses several points straight away for the piss-weak 'biting' of the Nas line I'm at the, gamblin spot, my hands on a knot, on the track Royal Flush, replacing the word 'knot' with 'cock' and immaturely killing the flow of the original line. To someone like me who lived and breathed hip-hop for a large chunk of the mid-90's these moments where the group sneak past showing their obvious references and move dangerously close to plagiarism is what destroys the overall enjoyment of the album.

This album isn't without it's pleasurable moments. The lead single, Bullet and a Target, recorded with a 20-piece Zulu choir, is maybe the best 'get up, stand up' Australian hip-hop song that The Herd never recorded. Eye Of The Storm which samples Angus and Julia Stone (a first?) contains some of the stronger verses on the album and features several moments of clashing genres and ideas that work really well. The repeated theme of what sounds like samples from early Australian television shows that are sprinkled across several tracks adds a nice flow to the record. Also, the opening stanza of The Sea Is Rising has some very strong wordplay from Bliss, delivered with true conviction and emotion, which, unfortunately, isn't heard across a larger portion of the record.

What makes other hip-hop groups successful is that they mainly focus on what they know. This strict belief of 'keeping it real' (I know that sounded kinda 'white') has always been a key part of the foundation of rap music and, unfortunately, Bliss N Eso present almost no insight into their life or their surrounds. Besides the accents and the way they have spelt the word 'colour', there is very little connection between the group and their country of origin.

Out of the 17 tracks on this marathon 67-minute effort there is roughly three or four enjoyable snippets. I have very little doubt the guys have some talent but the continual switch in focus, poor execution and blatant ripping off of ideas masks this. Australian hip-hop is a lot better than what this record shows.