Ain't No Love

When Toronto/Montreal rap trio WrabeanZ's Saidah Bowen, Roly Broere and Elias McBean grew bored with traditional boom-bap rap, they found inspiration with musician/producer Liam Clarke (aka Love Thy Brother), who provided the two rappers and one singer with a selection of club beats incorporating everything from his usual electro and dubstep to house and disco. The result is new group Ain't No Love. And bringing in Liam Clarke was the right decision; their six-song self-titled debut is a success on the beat front. "Shine," "Crucified" and "Renegade" are epic dance tunes designed to highlight Bowen's singing, while "Love Me Lots," "Step Hard RMX" and "Crash & Burn" are aggressive, funky jams heavier on raps. The latter two tracks sound a little too similar for such a short CD, but "Step Hard RMX" is a definite highlight and the warbly country bridge and g-funk breakdown in "Crash & Burn" are awesome, so it's hard to find fault. Broere and McBean incorporate into their lyrics a greater degree of intelligence than normal for this style of music, but their talents as rappers get lost with all the postproduction, featuring a heavy emphasis on glitchy effects that stutter the vocals and disrupt the natural flow of the MCs. It also most likely doesn't translate well to the live show. Next time, let the rappers rap. Still, Ain't No Love demonstrate plenty of potential with their debut, and it would be prudent to expect some club and radio play starting right here.