Labjacd have an awkward and misleading name. It looks like a violent end to a scrabble game, but it’s pronounced ‘Lab-Jacked’, and while that may give the impression of studio boffins toiling away, carefully splicing layers of samples, it’s far from the truth. Despite the name Labjacd are not particularly at home in ‘the lab’. As a live nine-piece band they have garnered a strong reputation as a live act, but that live impact has been diluted on this studio recording.

Labjacd have independently released Vote With Your Feet with some financial support from the well intentioned John Butler and his JB Seed program. It’s at times an energetic party album, fusing skip hop and Chilean influences like a band auditioning to be the support act on Ozomatli’s next Australian tour. They sound best when blazing away with their full brass section and rapid fire Spanish style guitar playing and rapping. The songs are clearly written to be performed, offering endless opportunities for extended solos and breaks. Recorded, they sound strangely thin and lacking in spark.

The mix of influences that these talented musos attack may sound thrilling live and draw in the punters, but too often tired rhymes and cringe worthy posturing drag down the energy of the record. The most obvious problem is the bluntly thuggish delivery of a line such as /when I’m with you I feel rich/it’s because I love you, bitch/. It may be intended as parody, however weak, but it simply sounds like the performance of an emcee who has read rap lyrics but never actually heard them performed. There’s not even the vaguest hint of humour in the voice, no possible way to imagine that ‘bitch’ is been used as a jokingly macho endearment. Here ‘bitch’ is the cheap costume of a hip-hop poser; to be ‘casually’ used when wearing your grandmothers fur coat at your next underage ‘Pimps and Playas’ themed party.

The cruisey party vibes are suddenly destroyed by the wanna-be frat boy, who has presumably spent the rest of the album sitting in the corner quietly crushing bourbon cans on his forehead. It’s a brief moment on the album, but it’s a stunningly off putting slur. You won’t spend much time with this album blasting through your stereo or headphone speakers. But swing by and vote for Labjacd with your feet, they’ve developed a great reputation as live act in full flight. Hopefully they’ll be able to capture that energy and passion on their next record.