Chimp Beams

Menina

Concent Productions

originally published December 6, 2006

What happens when three Japanese kids from the right side of Brooklyn, with a predilection for Massive Attack and My Bloody Valentine, get together? Chimp Beams, that's what. This highly praised second album offers up groovy, cannabis-laced electronic dub for the mainstream to groove to. Menina proves that form follows function, in that the the album's instrumentation is predicated on its intended purpose: getting people to mellow the fuck out.

Using breakbeats, drums, flutes, melodica, vibraphones, psychedelic samples and guitars, and mixing combinations of jazz, rock, trip-hop, soul and ethnic music from who can tell where, Menina sets sail on a trance-filled space adventure. That being said, Chimp Beams is not what you want to hear in a noisy club, despite its obvious dance-club appeal. The complex arrangements and melodic beats warrant an up-close-and-personal experience.

Second track "Brooklyn Dub" alone is a masterpiece, but honestly, every track on here could function as a hit single. It's no small wonder why the band's EP sold out so quickly. Three songs on Menina, including the title track, are actually new mixes made especially for the U.S. release, so if you can track down the Japanese release, it's a necessity as well.

Charley Lee