D-KEL AND LOS BANDIDOS – DEMO REVIEW

D-Kel and Los Bandidos – Racket/Cold Island 
D-Kel and Los Bandidos

Release Date: Out Now

Sometimes you throw the dice and it lands on six and a half. South London collective D-Kel and Los Bandidos are a solid six with that extra half on the side which makes them a really interesting and exciting prospect. The first of these two tracks opens with the 100mph rapping of frontman D-Kel as ‘Racket’ burns in to life but then the rock’n’roll guitars and punchy drums kick in and this whole thing gets spun on it’s head. ‘Racket’ exists in the space between Rage Against the Machine, the Streets, Mike Skinners jams with Muse, Prophets of Rage and Stormzy but all with a Sarf Lahndan accent and a flat cap. The band dress like mods AND rockers, sound like a West Coast Rap-Rock band and have a punk ethos which is a pretty neat package.

The second track is the bilingual assault of ‘Cold Island’ which starts with the heavy guitars this time which are more like Royal Blood before the perky, indie-pop chorus drops and then the drums crash in hard. Honestly, there’s a lot going on here and it’s almost too much but I love the ideas, the energy, the boldness and the authenticity of four lads bringing their influences together and mashing up the styles. The future of music? Quite possibly.


Live Dates:

25th October – Dublin Castle, London
30th November – R-Fest Winter 2019 @ Retro, Manchester

Watch the Video for 'Racket':