antiMusic.com: Keyser Soze

Keyser Soze - The Remedy

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Some music is nearly guaranteed to make you feel good, even on a chilly October day. Such is true of Keyser Soze's The Remedy, a skillfully played reggae album.

Keyser Soze is a Reno, Nevada band, but as everybody probably knows by now, you don't need to be from Jamaica to be authentic reggae these days. Heck, even a band partially made up of white boys, like UB40, made some great reggae stuff back in the day.

One factor that distinguishes Keyser Soze from many other reggae artists is a distinctly jazzy feel to some of their jams. Dig, if you will, the swinging guitar solo that highlights this album's title track and also the sax solo that stands out on the instrumental, "Dreidel Dub."

The singing also alternates between male and female lead vocalists. The best female singing takes place during "Catch Your Breath," which is also another one of the project's more jazzy tunes. Gruffer vocalizing is found on "Soul Ska," which is spiced with groovy organ and soulful horns. Another fine song is "Firehouse Sound," which sounds like it's going to be a dub instrumental before the vocal kicks in.

Sure, Keyser Soze may have had much more serious maladies in mind than just making listeners feel good when they titled their album The Remedy. However, it's pretty much good for what ails ya.