It’s been quite a while since I last completed an album review, so I thought I would return to the scene by delivering my thoughts on a record that has also been a long time coming, Chiddy Bang‘s debut album release Breakfast.
When I caught up with them all the way back in May 2010 for an interview, they had their first iteration of their debut album all set for release later in the year. What we assume was due to label troubles with EMI/Parlophone, their album (now formerly known as Breakfast) was initially pushed back to Summer 2011, with subsequent push-backs in November 2011, and then another to finally push the date back to February 22 of 2012. If nothing else the release of Breakfast must come as a relief to Xaphoon Jones and Chidera who have been sitting on this material for a number of years now, but have the continual delays had an affect on the final product? It’s definitely hard to tell, which in my eyes is a good thing.
Putting this album together must have been hard for the duo purley because of the amount of time that has elapsed since they started working on the project. A lot of tracks would have been shipped in and out, but in my eyes a lot of their new work is definitely Chiddy Bang at their catchiest, which is ultimately what they are all about. Happening, Talking To Myself, and Handclaps & Guitars are testament to that, and of course once we add in the tracks that we are already accustomed to: Mind Your Manners, Baby Roulette, and Ray Charles, then Breakfast has the basis of a real solid album.
I was worried that the push-backs would have really affected Chiddy Bang’s chart performance, but it looks like their hype is peaking at the perfect moment. This is great news for me as I would really, really like them to put out another album in order to see what they could produce in a shorter space of time. Breakfast definitely went down well for me, let’s hope that lunch tastes even better.
Stand-Out Tracks: Chiddy Bang – “Talking To Myself”
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Chiddy Bang – “Happening”
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