I have to admit I was looking forward to this hitting my doormat. Why? Because of the involvement of one of the members from one of my fave bands Fishbone. That person being Rocky George. Not sure of the name? Ex lead guitarist of Suicidal Tendencies, ex Cro-Mags, played in a short lived punk side project with Jeff Hanneman and Dave Lombardo called Pap Smear, and been playing with Fishbone since 2003.

Gordon Raphael, best known for his work with The Strokes allegedly took one listen to this album by New Orleans star on the rise Ikil Oriion and insisted on producing his soon to be released second album, but before I get ahead of myself let's not forget that Don Letts (Big Audio Dynamite) and Ivan Neville (a member of Keith Richards X-pensive Winos project) are amongst numerous other collaborations involved in what I have here, Ikil's debut album 'Paranoise Void'.  

So throw all the influences these guys bring to the mix into a blender and you can't fail to have a bit of a stunner on your hands, can you? Well in all honesty no, and 'Paranoise Void' has gone straight to the top of my album of the year list as a result.

What a fucking rock 'n' roll/punk/funk/ska sound we have here. In fact it's just like all the best bits of Fishbone, all that's missing is Angelo! The guitar work throughout is superb, and there's a more rap vibe to the vocals but it definitely hits the mark and I can certainly pick up a bit of a Bad Brains style vibe at times.

I challenge anyone to listen to 'Stup!D Retarded' and not be bouncing from room to room before the ska style intro to 'Babylon Fall' sends you skanking out the front door, and one of the tastiest riffs I've heard in a long time kicks in to introduce, 'She Roxxx'. This is before you get one of the sleaziest, dirtiest guitar sounds to introduce 'Ms. Fortune Teller', and I cant help thinking that Prince must be kicking himself that he didn't write this baby.

What an introduction to Ikil Oriion. What's more 'Paranoise Void' just knocked The Hip Priests off the top of my album of the year list.

http://www.ikiloriionofficial.com/