Radio Radio had not offered a record in French since Ej Feel Zoo, an album with electro-dance flavors launched in 2014, two years after the most experimental Harbour Grace. None of these discs, however, had the impact of Belmundo Regal, which allowed the Acadian duo to see their name among the finalists for the Polaris Prize, awarded to the best Canadian album of the year. Radio Radio therefore needed new fuel, the vapors from 2010 having practically evaporated.
With À la carte, Gabriel Louis Bernard Malenfant and Jacques Alphonse Doucet return to draw on the “old school” side of hip-hop, they even assume to the point of singing it in the dapper Uptown. On So dope, the duo goes a little further by shying away from new trends that are too often ephemeral: “That was what we told you, that was what you believed”, rapped Malenfant.
For the cynics and the lucid Are you ready – “I have never told anyone that I was a saint” – or Seal with a balloon – «you think that I have an accent, you think that you do not have any? “-, we also smile when listening to some offbeat pearls in Over the Top – “I like that like the cheezy balls of the films in the eighties, Sylvester Stallone with the 18 wheelers” – or certain very caustic passages of Bitcoin Blow Up – “On my money-clip, I showed up my cash, after the evening was over, I lost all my cash, ah! “.
The texts of Jacobus and Gabriel would not, however, reach their target without the rhythmic setting carefully concocted by Jeff Marco Martinez Lebron – the brilliant beatmaker better known as Realmind and notably a close associate of Loud. Also, we would be remiss if we overlook the essential contribution of François-Simon Déziel, Valaire and Qualité Motel; it is indeed the funky bass of France Basilic which dictates the groove of the album, enough to hoist À la carte in the top 3 from Radio Radio’s discography.
Hip-hop
À la carte
Radio Radio
Independent