Gojo' Music are a very unique and hugely satisfying collective. Taking musical influence from across the planet they seamlessly blend together reggae, blues, funk and soul into a soft fulfilling groove.
It sounds and almost feels natural, an organic rhythm that reaches out of the melody and connects with an innate beat within your body. It lays you down gently and soothes you into a hypnotic channel. The actual songs are long, all over four minutes and in many cases six to seven; all long enough to cut a decent rocking pulse. So deep and consistent is the groove that the songs tend to meld into one another and you are in danger of missing some very good cover songs imbedded within the "The Shantytown Tapes". All three are homage's to trailblazers of there respective sounds.
The first is 'Justice (To The People)' from the infamously strange and erratic Lee 'Scratch' Perry. 'Money Worries' by the Maytones is penultimate to the Clash track 'White Man (In Hammersmith Palais)'. These songs are delivered with a respectful yet playful touch leaving you in no doubt of the role these artist have played in the creation of Gojo' Music. What these songs do is allude to is a strong, defiant undercurrent that is present at the very roots of their musical fusion. Almost as a punctuation of this fact we hear a tribute to Bob Marley in the wails of Exodus on the beautiful 'Distant Friend'. However, Gojo' Music are far from a reggae cover act, among the homage's are four very good tracks written and preformed by the band. All running on the soft rock beat; they sit almost indistinguishable besides the classics that inspired them.
The album kicks into life with 'Big City Blue' a strong bluesy track that sets both a high standard for the album and your foot a'tappin. The two tracks placed in the difficult middle section of the album are 'Storm' and 'Time Out'. The first is an uplifting song of redemption and spirit that soars out from the speakers. The second sounds a little like the Eagles, a slow burning country nod to be played when the sun melts down into the horizon. Disgracefully, there isn't a large commercial audience out there for Gojo' Music, but believe me, it really is our loss.
