To listen to Jai Alai you’ve got to be a pretty bad motherfucker (according to the press release), so don’t mess with me because I listened to it more than once and what I say goes. Reinventing the long lost EP format, things kick of with a distant explosion, before some angular riffs welcome in Ralph Darden’s vocals.

Unfortunately he’s not a bad motherfucker like his fans surely are. Musically the Jai Alai are a talented collective, the Dub-Reggae-Punk they peddle has never been my cup of tea but they make a fair go at putting together some slick arangements, bound together by one of the better drummers you’ll hear. They are let down though by Dardens reed thin voice and some college boy lyrics. The title track opens with “sex is war and your (their spelling not mine) my adversary – how tumultuos and scary the scenario can be.” Nice use of “tumultuos!” Or in Thuderstatement they profess “everyones addicted to something – everyones a victim of something.”

Darden goes under the moniker DJ Major Taylor in his spare time and perhaps he influences the redeeming side to this EP. There are two instrumental Dubs (to be honest the very thought disturbed me) to complete the quintet of tracks on show here and they demonstrate that the Jai Alai can prosper without vocals. Squelchy guttaral bass is prominent throughout and the drummer is given the freedom to break the shackles of the verse chorus regime. This gives rise to some wicked tunes that would rattle the headphones of your iPod and leave you feeling like the Jai Alai Savant had just pronounced you the baddest motherfucker on the planet.
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Links
The Jai Alai Savant [official site] [myspace]