Dockta Valkus – Skybase (Neferiu Records)
Hmh, from Professor Kliq to Dockta Valkus, less of a brave leap into the abyss and more of a sideways shuffle. Dockta Valkus is another one not quite fitting into a clear slot, or rather he is but he’s not sure how he’s doing it. Skybase as an album offers two halves, good instrumental tracks which are a pleasure to listen to and which boast enough little tweaks and surprises to satisfy your average listener; and then the other tracks, the ones where there are words. Vocals are provided by Mighty Mega and I’m hesitant to say that he’s necessarily bad at it when he does it, but then again it can’t be said that he’s good either, in fact it’s rather hard to tell either way.There’s a fairly unusual vocal style in there which fits the futuristic feel of the album pretty well on a certain don’t-listen-too-closely level. Unfortunately it’s also slightly annoying and, as if the lyrics were thrown on as an afterthought, don’t quite fit where they are. The fast-paced, shrill delivery hits you hard on the tracks where it appears and really does jar you, it’s unexpected and ill-fitted. It’s an annoying aspect of what is overall a rather good and well produced instrumental album and fortunately the vast majority of the 29 track long piece is mercifully devoid of Mighty Mega’s lyrical stylings, the lyrics of which aren’t all that bad when you actually listen, but suffering through the delivery in an attempt to listen is a struggle indeed.
Dockta Valkus doesn’t do much here to push the boundaries forward but taken as a laid back instrumental display of what a good producer can do it’s hard to find fault. There are enough nice little tweaks on here to justify a listen and whilst it’s gentle interest that’s invoked as opposed to obsession it’s still worthwhile. Although having come through the album it’s easy to wonder just what could have been produced here with a better MC flowing through more of the tracks, but that wasn’t to be I suppose and what there is ain’t at all bad.