First Of Dragon Ash
After I’d had a chance to hear Dragon ash thanks to the collaboration with ACO, I thought I’d peep some of the other tracks they did. I discovered that their usual material was less rap and more pop. I can see them being popular with teenagers who are into their ‘soft’ rock. Let me share a few first impressions of the group.
Most of what dragon ash does strikes me as being ‘soft rock’, as opposed to rap music. ‘I Love Hop-Hop‘, for example, moves with some nice guitar riffs, rather than a rap tune. The chorus emphatically declares a love for Hip-Hop and it’s all very catchy. As I say, it’s music I could see rebellious teens listening to at the back of class (between lessons at a school like the one I worked at, but maybe even during English lessons at some schools I’ve heard stories about). This is no bad thing, as rap does have a tradition of groups occupying the guitar reliant side of the genre and Dragon Ash does it in a very smooth, melodic way that has me nodding along.
After ‘Grateful Days‘, their stand out track has to be ‘Revive‘. The guitar riff is on the reggae side of things, which breathes life into the track, while the beat is subtle, allowing the vocals to take front stage as the syllables bounce off it gently. The hook then returns us to rock, with the drums piping up and cymbals coming out for a stroll. I’m not sure if I’m reading too much into the track, but the main verses seem like a way to relax, with the hook being used as the ‘revival’. Just from the sounds, it does work as a ‘pick up’ track, so without understanding the lyrics, I’d go with that.
I’m just giving a taster of the group for now, as I didn’t really listen to them so much in the ‘old days’. That was perhaps because I was discovering a lot of artists at that time and found others that I became somewhat obsessed with and it pushed the likes of Dragon Ash to the side. I think I may return to them in the future and give some more in depth thoughts, but I’ll also have to research a bit more into their history to do them justice. For now, I’ll leave you with a few tracks I think you should listen to as they’re the best of the small (about two albums and a few tracks on the side) that I listened to:
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