Lori Recommendation Rating: 4 stars

KDrew, born Kevin Drew, is a singer, songwriter, producer, and performer. Starting November 1st 2011, he is “releasing a series of seven consecutive EP’s entitled “Free” (Volumes 1-7) which showcase his musical style and range as a producer, songwriter and performer.” *taken from KDrew’s website HERE.*

An EP is short for Extended Play. It’s a set of musical recordings that is more than a single, but too short to be considered a full length album. They are gaining more popularity as artists can release music more frequently instead of waiting for enough material for a full length album.

KDrew’s “Free Volume 1″ is a 4 track EP that moves and shakes with high energy pop tunes. Perfect for those that like upbeat, pop driven music. You can’t sit still listening to this EP! And better yet, it’s FREE! Look for the information to grab your copy at the end of this post.

Since there are only 4 songs, I will take each song and review them individually.

Track 1 – Body and Soul

Things I liked about this track:

  • Has good build and makes you want to get up and dance.
  • Immediate catchy vocal line.
  • His voice and style reminds me of Michael Jackson.
  • Great use of EQ for effect.
  • I like that the beats aren’t solid throughout; there are enough changes to keep the listener engaged and anticipating the next section.
  • The instrumentation is very catchy and perfect for the dance pop style.
  • Perfect use of delay and panning on the voice.

Things I didn’t like about this track:

  • Uses the word that starts with a “P” and rhymes with “Hisses”. I don’t know why, but that word is highly offensive to me. Makes me cringe every time anyone says it.
  • The bridge of the song doesn’t match the rest of the song, not even slightly. It feels like two songs.

Track 2 – That Girl

Things I liked about track #2:

  • It keeps the high energy flowing from the first track.
  • Uses the beats and instrumentation just as well as the first track.
  • The bridge uses Dubstep, a form of electronic dance music that is reaching a high popularity right now. This is my absolute favorite part of the song!
  • After the Dubstep section, everything quiets down, but the underlining high energy and beat is still there, driving it, making the listener anticipate the buildup. That is not easy to do!

Things I didn’t like about track #2:

  • The verse melody is quite repetitive in the vocals and the chorus melody mostly stays on one note, so the vocal line gets tiresome to listen to after a few listens.

Track 3 – Can We Just Talk

Things I liked about track #3:

  • A slower track to give the listeners a breather from the high energy of the first two tracks on the EP.
  • Normally I don’t like more R&B sounding music, but this track has a nice line between R&B and Pop.
  • Has nice build ups and breathers within the track itself.
  • Nice piano line.
  • Catchy melody line.
  • The second pre-chorus. It’s a nice change.
  • The lead in to the chorus

Things I didn’t like about this track:

  • The intro. It was too R&B for me. It picks up better the second half of the first verse.
  • Hard to listen to on repeat. There’s a lot repeated sections that tend to blend into each other.

Track 4 “I Want You Back”

Things I liked about track #4:

  • An upbeat track, bringing the EP to an end.
  • Again very catchy melodies and terrific harmonies.
  • The arrangement of the song is terrific.

Things I didn’t like about track #4:

  • The 2nd verse has an underlining Dubstep instrumentation. While KDrew is obviously very good at Dubstep, I felt that this application was a stretch and didn’t fit the song.

Overall, I was impressed with this EP.  The tracklisting is perfect with each song in the best placement. He is very good at writing catchy melodies and utilizes that. KDrew knows how to keep the listeners engaged with the use of drums, adding and subtracting instruments at different parts of the songs. I felt like I was having to nitpick to find things to critique. My main critique is that there is a bit too much repetition in the songs, especially in the vocal lines, making it a bit tiresome to listen to after a little while.

I can’t wait for the other six EP’s to be released! You can grab this EP for another three days on KDrew’s website HERE. And yes, it really is F-R-E-E! Totally worth it! Look for a new EP at the beginning of every month for the next six months!

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