Mean Poppa Lean – Live on 12 legs

Stream – ‘9-0-2-1-Ho!’

Live on Twelve Legs is a live EP by Mean Poppa Lean and that’s why the environment and the aura of this album refers me to joy and amusement. Mean Poppa Lean explores and jams with different types of music, such as delicious funk, glam, jazz and even psychedelic 70’s boogie and funk.

There are occasions during the songs that you’re transported to the disco dance floor but then there is a dividing line, a breaking point to separate Mean Poppa Lean from the 70’s funky town, and that’s the vocals. The vocals are peevish, pertinacious, not as suffering or a baby tantrum but similar to a scream of joy, begging the people to be at ease, not to worry, to sing along and dance of course. Well performed vocals with the high pitch necessary for funky music.

So let’s talk about the first song, ‘Burn it out’. I’ve never listened to something similar, pretty good combination. You can listen to it and discover the genres I mentioned but there is also a pinch of ska. The song sounds great, cheerful, as if the band was hyperactive. Indeed they are, we’ll realise about it as we continue enjoying and listening.

The second song (‘Regretamine’) is also a danceable funk style song, but what caught my attention was the guitar high- pitched riffs like little solos saying “hey, come here, have fun”.

The third song, my favorite, is ‘9-0-2-1-Ho!’. This begins with the brass and I’d say the brass’ intention is to present something tragic, but not the kind of tragic to make you sit and cry. Even if the intention presents a tragic story, the main purpose is to continue life and fun as if you still might get worried, but you have better things to do.

Then we arrive to the song ‘Sheryl Crow’. Referring to the music, it is a more energetic and rhythmic beat. The guitar is in fast pace and the drums you could say they are similar to jazz basic drums (but faster). With this mixture of rhythms you feel the angst that Sheryl Crow herself is not paying attention to and that makes you feel bad. However, as it’s a live performance, the song is interrupted and the vocalist began to interact with the public and the band, so the atmosphere became more and more enjoyable again and you feel happy even if Sheryl Crow is not giving a sh…

So you continue on this funky party and the fifth and sixth tracks are ‘Lidya said’ and ‘Break Ya’Hip’. They both are explosive songs, rhythmic and enjoyable but ‘Break Ya’Hip’ is like a hip-hop style of funk. I don’t know if this really exists but it sounds like that to me, a mix of hip hop pacing while singing with the funky rhythm.

The last song feels like three songs in one. ‘Fax Machine’ is for me a bit of nonsense but it’s very amusing and side splitting. The song is stopped and the guitarist and vocalist discuss  about a call from “a friend” and the band starts playing Michael Jackson’s ‘Black & White’, then once again the music changes and we can listen to James Brown’s ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine‘, the party continues until the band plays again ‘Fax Machine’.

So, to conclude this week, again I review an album that is complete danceable, enjoyable, delightful and completely satisfying if you want to ‘don’t worry, be happy’.

Words : LalaUsagi

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