Album review

Jamaica

No Problem

Paris 

09/09/2010 - 

Keep that holiday feeling with a dose of Jamaica’s electro-pop. The Parisian twosome have just brought out their first album No Problem, co-produced by Xavier de Rosnay (Justice). Tracks such as I think I like you are just the ticket to brighten up September this year.

When a group calls itself Megadeth or Run DMC, you have a good idea of its style before you even take a listen. The name Jamaica conjures up an image of dreadlocks emerging from a thick cloud of smoke, but there are no reggae riddims in this band’s music. No Problem is bursting with fun pop sounds and its rhythms are just right for dancing.

Antoine Hilaire and Florent Lyonnet are continuing on the road initiated by Alex Gopher in 2007. On this first album, the duet once known as Poney Poney unite the fresh sound of pop with the science of the sampler. Tracks like Short & Entertaining provide a marvellous marriage of Phoenix’s tunefulness and Daft Punk’s energy.

Produced by Xavier de Rosnay (Justice) and recorded by Peter Franco, No Problem is largely inspired by the French Touch. Its sound is sleek, effects are in profusion and the chorus lines on tracks like I think I like U2 are unstoppable. In The Outsider, there’s even what sounds like a homage to Starlight by The Supermen Lovers.
As if unwilling to be pigeonholed, the two Parisians also do some serious guitar work with titles like Jericho and the excellent By the numbers, built up from massive riffs. The disk ends right at the end of When do you wanna stop working with a soaring six-string sound reminiscent of heavy metal. Jamaica’s first album is as fresh as fashion. So much so that you can’t help wondering if it won’t go pass its sell-by date pretty fast. We can worry about that in October, for now let’s just dance. 

Jamaica No Problem (Cooperative Music) 2010

Ludovic  Basque

Translation : Anne-Marie  Harper