In Stereo

by Antti J. Ravelin Timing couldn't have been better for Bomfunk. The late '90s were good times for both Finnish electronic and hip-hop music, and when Bomfunk combines them both, the success is surely on their side. Even that In Stereo gained loads of popularity and it stayed long at the Finnish album chart, it cannot be the best shot from this innovative duo. In Stereo contains many songs with a vast amount of potential, but as a whole it kind of fails. There are many tracks that could be easily considered as fillings. The first half of In Stereo is mostly just what you can expect from Bomfunk, but listening to the rest of the album, it seems that they've totally run of ideas. Also, producer Jaakko Salovaara's effect is too obvious on some tracks; "1,2,3,4," "Stir Up the Bass," and "Rock, Rocking tha Spot" resemble way too much of JS16's monotone house music. That is not, naturally, such a bad thing, but JS16's music lacks diversity and differs too much of Bomfunk's fusion. As a result, In Stereo both succeeds and fails. It's out of question that Bomfunk's effect on Finnish dance music wouldn't be considerable; hit songs such as "B-Boys & Flygirls" and "Freestyler" prove that Bomfunk MC's will have a glorious future, if they just keep on working on their own thing.