Grand Baton – Carnal Carnival

Grand Baton

Carnal Carnival

by Dave “That Metal Guy” Campbell at 03 September 2015, 8:03 AM

GRAND BATON is a Caribbean Beats/Dubstep/Bit-Crushed Guitars band based out of New York City and New Orleans, United States. They report that their sound is a mixture of Electronica, World and Rock music. The album contains right tracks.

The opening instrumental is chocked full of dubstep rhythms and a fuzzy electronic sound done in a sterile key. The first track with vocals is entitled “Caribbean Raider.” It has a foot tapping rhythm and vocals seem to be more of a background effect than anything. The main melody line is more of a discordant sound than anything, and the swirl of electronics pepper the landscape. Various percussion parts seem to have more of presence here. “Hands Up” is a slower paced track with some mystery provided by the vocal style. You can definitely hear more of a darkness in this song. The piano parts echo this sentiment, while providing more of a sense of melody than previous tracks. “L.O.V.E.L.F.O” has more of an upbeat rhythm but the electronics are still low and dark. “Tired of Myself” changes things up a bit, entering on a major chord and invoking more images of positivity, despite the title of the song. This song has a little bit more of a traditional structure. “Drop off your Bags” hits you full on with a soft but beautiful melody that is unlike many of the other songs on the album. This could be something you hear on the radio. “Pa Di Mwen” is a heavily synthesized song where the presence of the drums isn’t as pronounced. I hear more of a Caribbean influence here as well. Closing the album is the eight minute track called “Idemdito.” There are a lot of different sounds presented here as the track toggles between passages of melody and the sterile dubstep.

This style of music is new for me. I didn’t hear a lot Rock music in most tracks however; it was fairly light on that end of things. There were moments of strong melody but as a whole it lacked diversity in a style where diversity can be very exploratory.