Jobie Reviews Music 158: Mama Anarchija (album) by Rakete Bangkok. Requested by F63.

Mama Anarchija is a 2021 folk rock* album by Rakete Bangkok. It is 17 tracks long, spanning 50 minutes and 48 seconds. The nearly hour long album is full of well executed folk rock covers of songs that originate from various different artists, from a cover of Bad Religion’s “21 Century (Digital Boy)” to a cover of Ramones’ “The KKK Took My Baby Away”. Good vocals and good instrumentation also encompass most of the tracks on the album, breathing new life into sometimes decades old songs.

The album consistently delivers track after tracks of folk rock goodness, with most tracks being enjoyable to listen to. The instrumentation turns originally punk rock focused tracks like “21 Century (Digital Boy)” into folk rock melodies, giving the listener a fresh take on the tracks in question.

The only particularly low quality tracks on the album are “Ignition!” and “Rakete!”, the former being the first track and the latter being the last track on the album. “Ignition!” is a rather pointless intro track which adds nothing to the album, serving only to announce that you are, in fact, listening to Rakete Bangkok. “Rakete!” follows in a similar fashion, building up a somewhat interesting instrumentation and abruptly ending with the two singers exclaiming “Rakete!”, which causes the track to go nowhere interesting.

Still, the other 15 tracks’ high quality outweigh the rather pointless two tracks that “Ignition!” and “Rakete!” are, the aforementioned good instrumentation and vocals more than making up for these two dull tracks.

My favorite tracks from this album are “Astro Zombies”, “21st Century Digital Boy”, “Baby Baby”, “Mama Anarchija”, and “Last Kiss”.

Overall, Mama Anarchija is a great, nearly hour-long showcase of folk rock with good instrumentation and vocals. The folk rock style employed on the album breathes fresh air into decades old tracks, providing a new take on the original songs. From songs like “Astro Zombies” to “The KKK Took My Baby Away”, there’s a wide variety of covers across the album’s 17 tracks, which only adds to the enjoyability of the album. Aside from “Ignition!” and “Rakete!”, the album really doesn’t have any low points, which makes this album a worthwhile listen.

*Genre not listed anywhere. Based on the sound of the album’s tracks, I concluded that the genre is likely folk rock due to the incorporation of rock elements that most of the 17 tracks contain.

Overall rating:

9/10

LINK TO ALBUM:

https://open.spotify.com/album/7Hx1wbqeqoCGRuQXNy4VzK