• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Show List
    • A-F
      • The Basement
      • Call Her Paddy
      • Dead Air
      • Francophone Friday’s
      • Friday Night Movies
    • G-P
      • The Great Canadian Songbook
      • Hawks Huddle
      • In Conversation with Radio Laurier
      • In The Margins
      • Lessons Learned
      • Let’s Talk Local
      • The No Show
      • Off the Clock
      • Pearls of Wisdom
    • Q-Z
      • Radio Laurier’s News at Nine
      • Supporting Act
      • Trading Fours
      • Tropicanada
      • Tuned In with Radio Laurier
      • Ultrabros
      • You Don’t Look Autistic
  • Get Involved
    • General Volunteers
    • Management Hiring
  • Advertising
    • Contact
    • Rates
  • Contact
    • Music Submissions
  • More
    • Archived Shows
      • AND1
      • Crimecast
      • The Owen Variety Show
      • Hawkey Talk
      • News
      • The Happy Hour Report
      • By The Lyric
      • Pedal to the Metal 2000
      • F*ck The Patriarchy
      • Press Start To Begin
      • Pass the Aux
      • Hawk Eyes
      • The Bravo Sierra Hour
      • Menschemaking
      • From Venus
      • The Crunch
      • Swipe Right
      • The Scholar’s Podcast
      • SpectruMusic
      • The Back 40
      • The Rap-Up
      • School of Rock
      • Underground Underdogs
    • Broadcast Written Archives
      • Album and Concert Reviews
    • David Suzuki Interview
    • Band Interviews
    • Lindsay Shepherd Interview 2017
    • Students Union Election Coverage
      • Students’ Union Election Coverage 2021
      • Students Union Election Coverage 2019
      • Students Union Election Coverage 2018
    • WLUSP Election Coverage
      • WLUSP Election Coverage 2018
  • Shop
    • Radio Laurier Hoodie
Radio Laurier

Radio Laurier

WLU's Campus & Community Radio Station

  • Listen Live
  • Listen on Spotify
  • Programming Schedule
  • Interviews
  • Social Media

Five Alarm Funk ‘Abandon Earth’ Review

July 26, 2014 by Cal Koat

Review by Cal Koat, worldbeatcanada.com

Not coming soon to a theatre near you! Five Alarm Funk create the soundtrack to a summer blockbuster you’ll only ever see in your mind. But, thanks to the boundless imagination of the ten-piece juggernaut and some monster audio production, this sci-fi apocalyptic joy ride can be asMichael Bay big as you want. The premise for Abandon Earth? A giant robot breaks out of the earth’s crust causing global cataclysms in hi def fidelity. “We wanted to make the music tell a story, to create images in people’s heads.”, explains singer/drummer/frontman Tayo Branston. “Once the whole concept of the album was formed we saw the different parts that we had to write music for.” Yes, you heard right; in an era of digital streaming, singles downloads and all but anonymous music, Five Alarm Funk have created a ‘concept album’! Something special would seem be in order, after all, it is their signature release being the fifth. And, only a band as tantric-tight and fibrillating with pent-up energy could capture in a recording those different soundtrack parts Brantson mentions. There are high-octane chase sequences fueled by the battery of percussionists (the band has four that pummel and bob as a single organism, if you’ve had the luck to see them live), real 60s-style spy thriller stuff. Abandon Earth is planet-wide in its destructive force, so the band seamlessly weaves in and out of Afrobeat, Latin funk and even shots of Balkan brass as the mayhem spreads around Mother Earth. Giant robots imply heft and metal, so don’t think for a minute Abandon Earth is some folkloric romp around exotic locales. The guitars are massive on this recording (engineered at the Farm Studios in Vancouver, hallowed ground that once contained the legendary Little Mountain Sound), and produced by master knob-twiddler Ben Kaplan who makes magic here by conjuring the sonic equivalent of nuclear-strength explosions. It’s hard for the ear to figure out what instruments and/or effects punctuate these blasts but they are truly awe-inspiring. Credit also has to be given to Noah Stacey for the artwork. Through all five albums, Five Alarm Funk have given us cover graphics that are funny, ironic and instantly t-shirt ready, but Abandon Earth’s ice cream earth melting over a sugar cone is the best yet. I take a large, boys.

Filed Under: Album Reviews, worldbeatcanada Tagged With: Abandon Earth, Five Alarm Funk

Primary Sidebar

Recent Podcast Episodes

  • The Great Canadian Songbook – Ep. 9 February 26, 2021
  • Francophone Friday’s – Ep. 4 February 26, 2021
  • Hawks Huddle – Ep. 14 February 25, 2021

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in