I recently saw the band Kayko play in the Beaches Jazz fest. Their sound was young energetic and fun to dance to. They seemed to grab the attention of young and old alike. With a bouncy keyboardist and high flying horns, you couldn’t help to get into their infectious grooves.

With that said, I was given a copy of their first 3 song EP, “Practice”. I brought it home and put in on to relive some of their music. I was a little stunned, wondering if this was the same band I recently heard. The sound came off a little stale and too controlled. They seemed to have lost their ambitious live sound for what should have been a more polished version of themselves.

The first song, “Who’s loving you”, came off sounding like a muddled version of Daft Punk’s, “Get Lucky”. The second song,”All I need”, could have been one of many different Sade signature songs. By the time you get to the third song, “Talked it out”, you can any number of early disco songs with a slightly Madonna groove.

Believe it or not, I am not slamming this band. Like I said, their live shows have you burning up the dance floor, but it doesn’t translate well to this EP. I think there is a reason they are calling their first outing, “Practice”.