ALBUM REVIEW: Just-a-Band’s Sorry For The Delay

A week is enough to come up with my thoughts on Just-A-Band’s new album, Sorry For The Delay. This album is a little different from the other ones, especially the first one. There’s a lot more singing on SFTD. In fact, only one song has zero vocals.

Here ‘s what I thought about all the 15 tracks.

1. Life Of The Party
It starts off with with some smooth drums, crazy whistle which gives way to even smoother piano chords by Joe Were. When Blinky says “Mambo bado” that might as well be a promise. This is a more upbeat opening compared to 82’s Save My Soul. This was my favourite new track when it was performed at the launch and when you listen to the album, you realize that kweli “mambo bado.” And boy do they bring out the elephants in the next tracks. Also features Diana Nduba.

2. Dunia Ina Mambo
Just like 82, the second song on the album was not produced by the band. Actually, both have been produced by the same person, Decimal’s Musyoka. Can’t help but think how awesome it would have been to discover these songs without having any prior knowledge about them. Those first chords would sure have been a pleasant surprise. Blinky Bill and Stan bring some new age funk to a classic that most might remember from a different medium, TV. The track was used as the theme song for hit ’90s show, Tahamaki. And it is not sampling, it is a total re-do of The Mighty Cavaliers track.

3. Thank You/Rebel & A Cause
This is the kind of song that makes you want you to find all your exes and dedicate the song to them. Somehow bitter without being spiteful, it still manages to maintain that sweet vibe evident throughout the album. You might have a bile-free breakup but doesn’t mean we’re all happy. “I wanna thank you for the pain/I wanna thank you all the same.” Again, just as they did on Probably For Lovers, Blinky and Jim trade verses brilliantly over J.J. Ojiambo’s guitar.

4. Probably For Lovers
What praises haven’t been stacked on this track already? One of the sweetest songs in recent memory, maybe even in Kenyan history. This and Thank You shows just how good Jim and Blinky’s styles merge well. And the debate rages on, what is said in the last part of the chorus? “Hatutapigana na kuumizana pole/again/forever(?)” Probably the best produced track on the album. Isaac Muguna’s guitar is heavenly on this track. Listen to it here.

5. Till We Try
There’ soemthing about this track. It shows a certain level of maturity in the band. Trendsetters, doing something that seems no one has yet. Not only locally, maybe internationally. This is the bravest song they have ever attempted in my opinion. And when those horns come on… This song features Nigerian vocalist, Kaline. I have a feeling that one day, we will say this is best song the band has ever made. It reminds me of Extra, the kind of song that not only appeals to casual listeners but a real music experts. The kind of song that gets Kanye to notice you.

6. Doot Doot
I wrongly diagnosed this song as an 8-bit track earlier. It’s the cutest song on the album. Sounds like the kind of song that gets picked for an IKEA commercial or any family-oriented product. This and Thank You are an indication that the band might have had too much material to choose from. Both seem like two tracks merged into one.

7. Family Ties
Again, Blinky and Jim’s vocals on the same track. The track’s upbeatness reminds of some of Gnarls Barkley’s songs on St. Elsewhere.This is the closest one to 8-bit. The chorus has three guys but it doesn’t seem crowded, and one of the guys sounds like Navio.

8. Another Chance
A very melancholic start gives way to the horns and soft drums. Fans of Jim Chuchu’s work have probably heard this song before in an ad. This one sounds like a score in a drug-fueled bit in a film.

9. Matatizo
This is my favourite track on the album. Maybe it was expected. The mellow tracks have always been my favourites on JAB albums (If I Could on S2R and Stay on 82). This is a Blinky Bill cover of one of Issa Juma’s Matatizo Nimeyazoea. It’s always good to see an artiste ace a cover but I feel terrible saying that this might be the better version. The simplest, most tragic tracks are the best (something like Johnny Cash’s Hurt). And nothing is as crushing as unassumed misfortune and resignation to fate. The guitar that bursts out in the middle of the song leads to an epic ending with piano chords and a pipes. I think the song mostly works because it shows how much Blinky likes the track, right from when I first saw him perform it at the World Music Day celebrations this year. As it was explained on that day, it was an impromptu performance which he did as he bought time after the computers crashed. Then he only needed a guitar, a harmonica and his voice but the electronic bits added in the album lend it a new level of awesomeness.

10. Get Down
This was the track that made the crowd wild in the rain-filled launch party. The title suggests it and it’s true this is the biggest party banger ever. A lot of Just-A-Band songs sound great as party songs but this is the first one that I see feasibly being played in clubs. This one is heavy on that “ripping fart” instrument they use in dubstep tracks a lot.

11. Bush Baby Disco
The bit at the beginning still confuses me. It sounds like it might have been taken from a film. Just-A-Band fans will have heard one of the bits used on this one before on OkayAfrica’s Africa In Your Earbuds series. Previous JAB albums have heard one Luo song on each, this time it’s Kamba and it’s on this track.

12. Looking For Home
SFTD is so good there can be two places for two favorite tracks. This is just beautiful music. Technically, it’s the best engineered and mixed track. It also has the best use of vocals and its spirit just shines through. I don’t think it’s meant to be a sad song but somehow it just makes you catch feelings. This is the track I would love to see performed live or covered by other artistes. It’s not as slow as other Jim tracks but it seems like a new direction he is taking with his vocals. And the quick progression sonar sounds are brilliant, especially at the end.

13. Twende Kazi (Apocalypse Mix)
JAB revisits an old hit from their first album with reworked lyrics in a completely different genre. This time it adds Jim’s vocals.

14. S-W-E-E-T
My favorite JAB song of all time is actually BoogieDeBweet. This is the closest one to it on this album and I’m pretty sure it will grow on me with time. It has already started showing signs. Just trying to figure out a dance move for it.

15. A While
This is the track closest to Looking For Home and has that psychedelic sound mixed with some Kanye-like autotune and sonar beeps. This one also seems like it’s on its way to being my favourite track. I’m assuming the song’s story invloves an astronaut manning a space station and maybe something goes wrong. And that is how the album ends.

It is definitely the album of the year and the band’s best yet. I rarely see artistes, especially experimental ones actually improve with time and JAB have managed to do that.