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. ~ Antti J. Ravelin
