Dada Life – The Rules Of Dada (Album Review)

Posted by Middy on October 19, 2012

Following their debut album “Just Do The Dada” back in 2009, Olle Corneer and Stefan Engblom, better known to the world through their outrageous musical personality, Dada Life, return with their sophomore full album release “The Rules Of Dada”. When you click play on any Dada Life release, you have to be in the right mind set to be ready to absorb what you are about to be hit with. Subtle complexities are not the name of the game with Dada Life. It is about smashing you in the mouth with as big and an energetic a sound as one can make. Nothing more, nothing less. The rules of dada require it so. It may not be fair to give them a separate set of rules, but the bananas and champagne men have forged their own path in such a way that they have earned them.

The album starts predictably just as any Dada Life set with “Kick Out The Epic Motherf*cker”. You all know the track and its power as a singalong track in the live venue. It works as the perfect jump off track for the album, though I could see it getting skipped down the road as it becomes one of the more played out tracks of 2012. The album also sees 3 more previously released tracks in “Feed The Dada” (granted it was a recently released single), “Rolling Stone T-Shirt” and “Happy Violence”, which made the cut despite being released middle of last year.

Dada Life has said that they want to keep their sound moving forward at all times and always want to shock themselves and others with what they create. The album sees some of that with “Boing Clash Boom” experimenting with element hardstyle that throw you off completely from the standard Dada Life start to the track. One of my favorites on the album, “Bass Don’t Cry” is possibly the most unique on the album with tight, fast moving almost trancey bass line that is a departure from the rest of the album. Tracks like “Arrive Beautiful Leave Ugly”, “Everything Is Free” and “Don’t Stop” leave much to be desired as they do not give much extra to the standard Dada Life sound we have grown to love. The down tempo “Don’t Stop” seems out of place as the last track of the album and might be better served as a breather in the middle. “So Young So High” is on its way to be their next big single, while “You Will Do What We Will Do” provides a melodic side to their sound, while still keeping the heavy sausage fattener bass that makes them Dada Life.

Overall the album is what you should expect from Dada Life. Dada Life has created a niche sound and for the most part they stick to this sound. They experiment outside of this in tracks “Boing Clash Boom” and “Bass Don’t Cry”, but for the most part they stick to the formula that is best loudly served on massive speakers, over bottles of champagne and with a bushel of bananas for the next morning.

Tags: Dada Life, The Rules Of Dada