14th single for the band of the idiosyncratic Peter Fox…
[Video][Website]
[6.00]
Brad Shoup: Peter Fox may not be the best over-40 rapper, but he may be the rapper over 40 with the best taste in hooks. This one’s a sarod/Scott Storch combo, and I love Fox playing to/with the beat; I’m not a fan of Eased’s pungent take on celebrity gossip. But that bhangra bounce is the real hero.
[8]
Kat Stevens: Not five days ago I was reminiscing in the pub with Mr T. Ewing of this parish, about Seeed’s performance at Glastonbury in… er… whatever year it was that Seeed played on the Jazz World stage. Or was it the Avalon Stage? As you may have gathered, firm memories were thin on the ground (was it the same year as the Calimoxto Incident? Or were we thinking of the Morrissey Incident?), but it was agreed that the large amount of muddy bogling to German dancehall was one of the festival highlights of the last decade. I am returning to Glastonbury next summer after a long absence — on the basis of “Augenbling” I genuinely hope Seeed are, too.
[9]
Iain Mew: Best use of the pleasing sound of the syllable “bling” since Dal*Shabet. Would listen to a version that was just the springy chorus repeating for three minutes.
[6]
Anthony Easton: I can never really figure out why the idea of German reggae should be absurd (and this is quite good reggae regardless of who is producing it) but “Augenbling” still strikes me as kind of jokey. Maybe I’m not as open minded as I thought I was.
[4]
Will Adams: The hook is a yes. The arrhythmic English verse is a no. The obstinate electro-dancehall is a meh. Call it a tie?
[5]
Jonathan Bogart: Questions of whether Germans are allowed to use bhangra, dancehall, and hip-hop aside (what, global migration patterns stop at the Rhine?), this doesn’t tell us anything 2001 hadn’t already. Maybe not even 1991.
[4]