Cassette Review // Dragon Rapide "MUMBO JUMBO"

 

https://dragonrapide.bandcamp.com/album/mumbo-jumbo

The sound of Dragon Rapide is quite interesting because it can be described as rock and also pop but not at the same time.   There is a certain sound associated with "pop rock" and I'm not sure Dragon Rapide fits into that (or any) mold.   The songs can feel catchy and upbeat, but they're still far from being pop in the sense of something like Glass Animals-- something you'd hear on the radio.

There is a bit of psychedelic qualities within these songs and they also can be heavily distorted.  They get faster, such as on "Ghost", and they can be borderline surf.  Notes can come out delicately while chords come crashing out through heavy distortion.  At times I am reminded of Blur and Folk Implosion, but at the same time I can hear bands coming through such as Spacehog and Tripping Daisy.

While there is an aspect of this cassette which makes me think about the bands who fall into that garage genre- especially the ones who rely heavily on pop and bring out that Buddy Holly sound of rock n roll, it's just not the same.  As high as this can go up to that level of pop, it can drop right back into a sea of distortion- which bands in that Buddy Holly genre were not particularly known for doing.  

So to hear Dragon Rapide in two different sounds- somewhere between Tora Tora Torrence and The Lemonheads- just makes this cassette feel special.  Neither side of this sound- the pop melody nor the gritty distortion- suffers so that the other can exist and the way that they do blend together so effortlessly is perhaps the greatest accomplishment on this cassette of rock music that really stands out.