Tribal Theory – Cali Love
Track Listing:
1.) Simple City
2.) Fallen From You
3.) Good Riddenz feat. Bo Napolean & Beach Boy
4.) Mr. 2Nite
5.) Alright
6.) Cali Love
7.) Switch It Up feat. Beach Boy & Moi (Tomorrows Bad Seeds)
8.) Pull Up In The Dark
9.) Cool Kinda Women
10.) All On Me
11.) Broken Man
12.) Cali Love (skit)
The Pier Album Rating:
Release Date: July 12th, 2013
Website: Tribal Theory Website
Group Background:
San Diego natives, Tribal Theory release their second studio album entitled Cali Love getting features from the likes Bo Napolean, Beach Boy, and Tomorrows Bad Seeds’ Moises ‘Moi’ Juarez. Since the release of their last studio album Hell of a Night, the band have gone on to tour up and down the West Coast, and even out to the islands of Hawaii and Guam. Starting as just a three piece of AJ Blount, Nico Duenas, and Rich Duenas, Tribal Theory has since gone on to add four members and have performed with artists such as Barrington Levy, Collie Buddz, Katchafire and Natural Vibrations.
Album Review:
After giving Cali Love a few listens, I haven’t quite found how to categorize it. With sounds of r&b, soul and reggae, this album puts ukuleles next to keyboards on top of smooth bass lines and vocals shared by AJ, Ku and Nico. The mix is…interesting, to say the least and at times Tribal Theory catches my ear, but some of the music just doesn’t seem to belong.
Cali Love starts up smooth and mellow with some of the albums highlights on the first three songs, “Simple City”, “Fallen For You” and my personal favorite “Good Riddenz” feat. Bo Napolean and Beach Boy. The ukulele and guitar take a strong involvement in “Simple City” and are complimented by some friendly keyboards that play out for a soothing listen. “Fallen For You” follows up as a nice reggae/r&b track with some losing-my-mind-because-of-love-based-lyrics and strong instrumental work.
“Good Riddenz” gets features from the likes of Bo Napolean and Beach Boy. Probably my favorite track on the album with a blend of deep bass lines, a little key work and guitar that comes to life. I like this one because it shows Tribal Theory’s ability to mix soulful melodies and lyrics into a reggae-fied version of r&b, something that does not impress me throughout the rest of the album.
The middle album doesn’t play anything to memorable besides the song “Switch It Up” which I really don’t understand why it’s on this album in the first place. I commend the fellas for going outside the comfort zone on this one and grabbing Beach Boy and Moi (Moises Juarez, lead singer of Tomorrows Bad Seeds) to help, but honestly I think this should have been left off the album.
The album finishes up and leaves me thinking a lot about how to label what I just heard, and realize that I have to give props to Tribal Theory on their creativity. I wasn’t a fan of most of the songs, but the ones that did make an impression, stood out and left you thinking ‘who are these guys?’ 12 songs in its entirety, but only 4 or 5 that I enjoyed listening to.
Written & Reviewed By: Andrew McClatchy
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