Tadesse's EP, ‘For The Love’ looks set to fly off the shelves or should I
say up countless internet charts! Layne is a very exciting artist who sings
with energy and conviction, deserving of the title, ‘groundbreaking.’
Having come from a war zone, Eritrea (East Africa,) Layne
has clearly benefitted from making a new life in Southern California. This
diverse journey has clearly given Layne a sound musical education that may not
have been available to him otherwise. Reggae
music is Layne’s original soul food however he is extremely talented and absorbed a range of popular musical styles throughout his journey, allowing their influence to
permeate his songs- clearly a musical sponge.
Layne is one of the few lesser-known artists I have come
across who really understands how to sell messages in a highly commercial way. As
executive producer of his EP, Layne is clearly in touch with his roots whilst
experimenting successfully using different types of musical fusions. All tracks
on. ‘For The Love,’ are recorded to such a professional standard they can
easily drop next to the likes of Wyclef, Sean Paul and other popular
contemporary artists. Interestingly, tracks
such as ‘Ghetto Corner’ and ‘For The Love’ (FT Keznamdi) are ‘fresh’ yet remain
sufficiently authentic to play beside the Reggae greats. These songs are both
musically and lyrically sound with Layne speaking of life’s constant struggles
and plights which are an essential part of not only Reggae but also Blues,
Negro Spirituals and more recently Hip Hop.
Speaking of Hip Hop, I found, ‘Take A Ride’ (Ft Jon Doe
& Kai Lovejoy) fascinating, working from an underlying Reggae beat with
very American overtones throughout; accentuated by a few bars of extremely good
rap. Somehow Layne projects a very raw,
hypnotic tone drawing you deep into the tune. My view: this track is clearly commercial
from the subject matter alone!
In summary, each of the five tracks are highly
individual and are all top quality
productions, with most containing serious messages- I’ll leave you to check out
‘Rain’ and ‘For the Love,’ whilst I finish with a comment about track #2. ‘Let
It Burn’ is very firey and I can see the likes of Shakira avidly winding those
hips-now you know exactly which rhythm we’re talking about and why you really
should check out this talented, diverse and highly creative artist.
Jaz McKenzie
Professional writer/word
magician! Contact me and we'll add a little spice to your image- includes Bio’s,
Press releases, Reviews, Website content, Blogs, Personal poetry and more:
itsbraap@live.co.uk
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