Posted on 09/16/2005

 

Eiko Peck, the bassist for hip-hop-funk-soul-jazz band Boomclique, is ready to show and prove his many talents that fall outside the low-end realm. With his debut album, Not By Words Alone, dropped under the moniker Elcodeck (a combination of mispronunciations of Peck’s real name), Peck not only plays bass, but he is also on the keys and most importantly on the m-i-c. The musical backdrop (as performed by the Boomclique band) is scored primarily by Peck and delivers an excellent hip-hop driven combination of the previously mentioned genres. Peck’s vocals, unfortunately, don’t always live up to the Boomclique’s instrumentals, resulting in moments that may have listeners wishing Elcodeck named his album Not By Words…At All.

The musical performances on this album are quite good. Drum tracks sound particularly good—there are times when you will genuinely think you are listening to programming. The horn arrangements are catchy, jazzy, and powerful on several tracks, particularly on “Devil Loves It”. “Don’t Get Me Started” features excellent trumpet solos over choking drums and guitars. The title song, “Not By Words Alone”, is a guitar driven track that will most definitely get your head moving. The bluesy “Tale of Two” is also musically successful, implementing acoustic guitars and beautiful cellos on a track that would easily fit on an Everlast album.

While musically Not By Words Alone is upbeat and exciting, the vocals, the album’s weakness, are uninspired and at times arbitrarily performed by Peck, who half-sings-half-raps his way through the album's 12 songs. He does so without nearly enough emotion and he often sounds either flat or sharp trying to hit notes that he just barely misses. His monotone delivery is somewhat off-putting; one might even question his enthusiasm for the project (which I’m sure is astronomical). His lyrics run the gamut from appropriate to weak. On “One Question”, for instance, Peck does quite well lyrically, matching his choppy phrasing to the song’s rhythm perfectly. As a vocalist, Elcodeck is better when he stays away from rapping, as his rhymes are…pretty wack.

Eiko Peck, a.k.a. Elcodeck is a talented dude; the music on this album is a clear indication that the man can write entertaining stuff. I think that with some lyrical and vocal improvement we can expect good things from Elcodeck in the future.