Album Review: Dikembe - Broad Shoulders

Album Rating: B+

A conversation with a friend about bandwagon genres brought up an interesting point: the Twinkle Daddies movement feels like the next jumping-off point for the same following of fans that latched onto last year's pop-punk trend. For a genre with a name that sounds like an off-brand version of Twinkies, the bands that have taken up the moniker are surprisingly abrasive. This year's Twinkle Daddies are the stepsons of early 2000's emo revivalists. American Football and Cap'n Jazz would listen to their jangly guitars and chaotic vocals with pride.

Artist Of The Day: Dikembe

The boys in Dikembe have been friends with MuzikDizcovery for quite some time, allowing us to conduct one of their first ever interviews, as well as donating a track to our fantastic free sampler Dizcovering Muzik: Volume Two. So when their long awaited new album Broad Shoulders was finally put up for preorder, I had to bite immediately. The album is a fantastic continuation of the gruff emo sound that the band began to showcase in Chicago Bowls, and it shows Dikembe varying up their style ever so slightly. This still young band has a very bright future ahead of them, and the release of Broad Shoulders should only expand their very devoted fanbase. You can preorder the album on vinyl on their Tiny Engines page, and every order comes with an immediate download of Broad Shoulders. I also suggest ordering the package deal with Wavelets' most recent record Athaletics. Wavelets features the vocalist and bassist of Dikembe, and was one of the best "twinkly" emo records of 2011. It's a must have if you enjoy Dikembe.

Interview With Dikembe

For the first few months of their existence, Dikembe was pretty much a mystery. Other than four free tracks on a Bandcamp page, there was no information at all about the band. The EP titled Chicago Bowls started to get a little bit of hype, showing up on several forums as people began comparing Dikembe to bands like Balance And Composure and Tigers Jaw. The members of Dikembe took several questions from us at Muzik Dizcovery, regarding background information on the band, the band's apparent obsession with weed and basketball, and what the band has in store for the future, as well as more which you can read below.

Dikembe

Anyone who loves me knows that I'm a huge sports fan. So when I found this band Dikembe, it pleased me to see that the band seemed to be real basketball fans. I mean, with a band named after Dikembe Mutombo (which made it very difficult to find any information about the band) and an EP title named Chicago Bowls (Bulls) and song names "Scottie Spliffen", "Luc Bongley", "Michael Jordank", and "Tony Kukush", it becomes rather obvious. The weed puns intertwined with the basketball references only drew me in even more to hear what this band had in store. And in fact, they're excellent, reminding me of Tigers Jaw, Balance and Composure, or a lighter Title Fight. If you're a fan of anyone of these bands, or are just a sports fanatic like both me and the band, you can stream and download the album for free on the band's Bandcamp page here.