Mixtape review-Drunken Babble by Kalie Uchis
by Dan-O
It is possible I have fallen so hard for Kali Uchis music because of her diction. I think her diction is better than mine has ever been in the 3,849 years I’ve been on this planet (long story). In 2012 she released the mixtape collection Drunken Babble produced by her on a Macbook with the Garageband app. Her talents unravel well beyond her Jhene Aiko phone sex voice. She takes hip hop beats and makes them go at her pace (example: Chimichanga) or switches up and just spits bars (example: Mucho Gusto). The same voice who can stop the world with her pitch perfect slow soul vocals on songs like T.Y.W.I.G. & Table For Two has really sneaky strange things to say. On Mucho Gusto she says “my body’s polluted but it’s all I got” her first spoken words out of the chorus on You Just Wanna Stay is “I woke up feelin’ Kinda OCD/If you’re feelin’ touchy don’t get close to me.” Her perspective is old/new/cool/frantic and the styles she pursues make sense for that. She nails a reggae performance on Payday without affecting any cheap imitation of what we expect to hear. Kali knows to lead you through her music she has to find whatever she is doing within herself. So it works because it still sounds honest as much her as the jaunty low rider banger Sunset. Some of these songs are two minutes others are a full three each piece is a fragment sewn into the quilt another flavor from the mind of someone very rich in musical purpose with an instrument at hand (her voice) she has the utmost faith in. It will hold true against any musical backdrop so she might as well throw it as many places as it can go. I don’t need to wish her success, after listening to Drunken Babble I’m just excited to watch her success unfold.
