Search - Various Artists :: Hed Kandi: Serve Chilled (3) (Dig)

2 Discs of Painfully One Dimensional Music

bordersj2 | Boston | 10/13/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"A few years ago I was very excited to hear that Hed Kandi was releasing Serve Chilled again. All I had were fond memories of the first one that featured some really cool, interesting music. But sadly when Hed Kandi brought the series back, it just hasn't been the same to me. Hed Kandi always prided itself on full-length songs that you probably hadn't heard much of before, giving new artists a chance (and I salute them for that) and the albums were always unmixed - unless specifically stated. All positives to me and that trend continues. And again you've got a double disc set. But, well... a lot of good that is when the songs just aren't that good.



Seriously, what is the deal with the redundant songs that don't go anywhere? Why are there so many of them? It's like one endless loop to another. Disc one starts out with a preview of this with Groove Armada's "Paris". The song remains on the same path, with only a few extra touches sprinkled into the song to keep it moving. And the remake to the classic "Drive" was shocking. That's followed up with a lot of shouting on "Crazy World" until you finally get something a little interesting with Natalia Clavier's "Azul". Unfortunately that's all there is worth listing there for disc one, other than a nice Blue States and Ralphy Myerz song. Disc 2 isn't much better. In fact, it isn't better, it's worse. There's nothing worth mentioning. 4Hero has a solid song but even then, it's far from being a top song on their album. I think what's even more of a head-scratcher is that some of these artists really do have far better tracks, but the two discs here are packed full of nothingness. There's nothing really 'bold' here.



Skip this one. In fact, I'll probably skip any of the Serve Chilled's that come out again, since that's 3 times I've been burned. This is woeful and boring. In the first three Serve Chilled's, you had some filler but you also had some terrific songs where musicianship, spirit and artistry was more on display. The acts in general were far better, with Fourth World, S-Tone Inc., Atjazz, Morcheeba and loads more. But the past 3 Serve Chilled's have featured songs that, again, don't go anywhere. They're all just an endless loop which is all terribly boring to say the least. As 'chillout' cd's have pretty much gotten to be extinct, this might be the 'sneeze' to wipe out any possibilities of a comeback.



A side note - definitely notice that this one is the domestic US release - that's why it's noticeably cheaper. The import version has a few extra tracks, the order's slightly different and it's an enhanced cd, which is admittedly neater than this one. But since a lot of the songs were so sub-par here to begin with, it'd be hard for me to tell someone to spend even more money on what I think's a bad album. Best bet's to try to download the one or two songs that are any good."