Killa Kela is a well respected beatboxer, but you’ll be hard pushed to know there’s any beatboxing happening on Amplified. The album is a pop electro mess that highlights his weak voice rather than his genuine vocal talents.I guess it’s one of those skills: when you see him doing it live, it’s truly impressive. However, he’s so good at it, when you put it on CD, it sounds like, well, the musical things he’s trying to impersonate. It’s a bit like having a good face for radio.It’s no surprise Hadouken! And James Rushent (Does It Offend You, Yeah?) are involved here, as the whole album has that feel to it: but Amplified is mostly nu rave lite, screaming for chart success, and mostly falls flat on its arse.Opener 'Built Like An Amplifier' starts things off well, with Rushent bringing the same urgency to the track that he helped bring to bear on The Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die album. Similarly Hadouken! show Kela how’s it done on 'Get A Rise', but there’s little else to write home about.The tracks with French house producer Alan Braxe are probably the worst, but in truth everything else is weak. Even legendary Human League producer Martin Rushent struggles to polish the tracks he’s thrown, although 'Couple Of Wasters' is probably best of the rest.'Cards And Cheques' is truly awful, with the verses playing off of a laughably tame Uptown Top Ranking rhythm ”“ even more criminal, as rapper Bashy comes in half way through and adds a rare moment of quality after it’s already too late to save even the song, let alone the album.The appearance of Bashy really highlights how weak Kela’s vocal is: it’s like someone doing Eminem at karaoke. He really should stick to doing what he does best, but that might not pay the bills as well as having a stab at a big pop career.Killa Kela is an awesome talent. A brilliant beatboxer, a great stage presence, a classic interpreter of other people’s tunes and he’s been an imaginative, valuable collaborator for a host of massive artists. However, as a singer and nu rave artist, he absolutely blows. An awful album.Killa Kela on Myspace