Music Review: Dirty Loops

David Foster’s music director, Matt Dela Pola, told me about this new band David had discovered (He’s also the Executive Producer on the CD), Dirty Loops. I immediately went to listen, okay, watch and listen… on YouTube since everything Foster is up my alley. Well, these guys are not another Michael Bublé, or Josh Groban. Dirty Loops‘ debut album, Loopified, is on my iPod non-stop. The Swedish trio are most famous for their online covers of Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep“. I just got the trio’s own 12-song album, in a word – BRILLIANT!

The style is hard to pin down. The tracks list, when imported to my iTunes, says “Indie Rock”. The reality is, this is true fusion. Pop meets rock, meets funk, meets jazz fusion, meets incredible technique… you get my drift. I am hard pressed to articulate what the style should be labeled as.

Tight would be one way of describing their music. As a brass player, I am amazed at the phrasing Jonah plays on the keyboards. It’s not just the intervals, but the drop offs that sound so much like a brass section. You’ll know what I mean when you listen to “The Way She Walks” and “Roller Coaster”, it’s almost eerie.

“Hit Me”, does just that, the tune is a driving, funky groove with a quasi-boy band vibe. “Sexy Girls”, though the weakest song on the disc, lyrically, adds to the same formula- a little techno for good measure. “Sayonara Love” mixes R &B with virtuoso slap-bass that is just plain fun.

“Wake Me Up” is a more traditional pop sound until the band start changing the changes. The chord structure gets an almost Fusion Jazz treatment as the melody get lifted differently as the baseline takes creative license. “Die For You” starts out with heavenly vocals lulling the listener into a false sense of peace, the tune turns into a pounding stereo stressing test. If you have a convertible, this is a great top-down tune.

Just when you think you have this band pigeonholed, they hit you with “It Hurts” and poignant ballad about the pain felt when love ends. The melody could be on an Andrea Bocelli album, although these guys find a way to modernize this sound and make you want more. “Crash and Burn Delight” takes the listener on a similar journey of angst. Vocally, there’s a lot there, these guys are legit, and they surprise you with tone and subtlety.

“Take on the World” has an almost soundtrack feel and “Roller Coaster” an arrangement of the Justin Bieber song features synth brass, slap bass and astounding solos from all three members of the band. Making Bieber listenable speaks to their creativity for sure!

“Accidentally in Love” could have been a Stevie Wonder song with its mix of gospel and Motown.

Where there the band is on the cusp of overplaying in the flat-out sections, they are deft at leaving space when needed. With Dirty Loops, each player is a virtuoso in their own right. Together they have created something that is really special.

I’m looking forward to seeing and listening to the band play in Seattle this November. If the energy is even close to what’s on the CD, I’ll be spent by the end of their show. If you want a “high-energy”, “get you going” disc, this will blow you away!