Although just now making an impact in North America, Quarashi are a group who have been around for quite some time in their native Iceland, having already released two well received underground full-length albums. As such, "Jinx" is for the most part a collaboration of reworked versions of material from the aforementioned efforts, complete with a few new tracks included to spice things up. Predominantly hip-hop based, comparing the band to the Beastie Boys is unavoidable as both groups do share distinct similarities. But where the Beastie Boys have now gone off into space beats and intergalactic rhymes, Quarashi instead sound more like their "Paul's Boutique" days, cutting out obscure sample after sample from abyss like crates and eschewing them with distorted guitars and funky head bobbing beats.

Fronted by three rappers, words are passed back and forth in typical b-boy fashion except the stylings are a bit more oriented to rock song structures, hitting with hooky choruses and ever slick rhyme laden verses. There's also some smooth croons placed in here and there and despite the bands foreign heritage they surprisingly speak English quite fluently with little to no accent detectable, making the vocal aspect of this album convincingly authentic. Production on the album is quite impressive as ingenious sampling, programming, bass drops, crunchy guitars, funky bass lines and much, much more paint a colorful soundscape for the group to freely flow upon. A heavy taste of old funk records is often what is sampled up and then molded into booming hip hop jams that bring about a vibe that draws more from the early 90's experimental fun loving period of rap, rather than today's bling bling hard as nails attitudes.

Diverse and creative are two words that fittingly describe the bands style as they traverse a wide range of territory touching upon metal crunch, pulsing industrial, funky hip hop and at times even a bit of pop to get their point across. But it is the composition and the beat production of band mastermind Sölvi Blondal which truly elevates their music above the rest of the pack. His thick grooves and often colorful sampling prove him to be a highly skilled individual and perhaps the main reason why the bands music works out so well. On the downside, in contrast to their earlier efforts the latest versions of the songs included here tend to sound a bit more polished and commercially oriented, sacrificing the raw feel that made them feel edgier and more street sounding in their previous incarnations. The Beastie Boys comparison is also something that will surely follow the group as there are few artists who have genre jumped with a rap based vehicle like this before. But in Quarashi's favor they do it extremely well and sound more as though they took inspiration from the ever distinguished trio, rather than have tried to blatantly copy. Yes "Jinx" may have the typical whiteboy hip hop feel and will probably rub some people the wrong way, but its a fun and imaginative listen that will easily turn a few heads and perhaps reignite interest from older listeners of a genre that's for the most part been stagnant and commercially ravaged for far too long ago.