New Sacred Cow

About two years ago the music store I was working at received a copy of Kenna's debut album, New Sacred Cow. Flipping over the CD, we saw the words " Fred Durst" printed prominantly below the song titles. Gasp, drop that CD quick. Needless to say, any eagerness for new music any of us had quickly fell flat. One contrived night one of my co-workers climbed our walls of judgment and decided to give Kenna a chance, Durst aside. Eventually, a stellar video for the song "Hell Bent" surfaced on M2, and word got around that neither the Neptunes nor Durst himself could stand in the way of a good song. Eagerly, a few of us began listening to New Sacred Cow regularly and quite enjoying it 

Eventually we realized that the album wasn't coming out, Durst's label had lost interest in the retro new wave act and shelved it. Kenna was eventually freed from his contract and re-signed a modest deal with Columbia Records to release New Sacred Cow.

Over three years ago, long before the Earth became planet Neptunes, Kenna recorded with his school chum Chad (Chase) Hugo of well ... Neptunes mega-fame. Kenna and Hugo both cite U2 and The Cars as their major influences at the time of recording. I'm not buying it. My guess is that a few Culture Clubs snuck onto Neptune before being torn down for the Timberlake sector.

Surprisingly, the musical backdrops on New Sacred Cow are very interesting and unique. Kenna and Hugo combine the sound of 80s new wave with modern dance music beats and song structures not entirely unlike that of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing album. The album does include a few ballads that are hardly worthy of mention, but for the most part New Sacred Cow is packed full of songs that could get almost anyone moving. The powerfulness of the album's production might be the initial standout attribute, but with repeated listens it is Kenna's vocal stylings that warrant attention.

With potential hits such as "Freetime," "Man Fading," "New Sacred Cow" and "I'm Gone," Kenna could potentially have a breakthrough on his hands. New Sacred Cow is an album that music geeks and pop culture neophytes alike can come together to enjoy and dance to. I'm assuming Fred Durst is too dumb to dance. It's not an issue of whether Cow sells or not; the album's content eclipses anything Durst has ever done and, in all likelihood, will ever do.    7/10

Written by G. William Locke