Rod Anton - Ubatuba (Soul Nurse Records/Differ-Ant)

The album's cover design is once again the work of Christophe Gilbert (in the past already responsible for Rod's 'Reasonin'' as well) and is a tribute to the Tupinamba tribe, the original inhabitants of the area surrounding Ubatuba. What also caught our eye on the sleeve of 'Ubatuba' is the fact Rod's regular backing band The Ligerians aren't mentioned this time. Not all of the band members were involved in the recording process and Anton also wanted to avoid there being any confusion with Joe Pilgrim & The Ligerians 'Intuitions' from last year. That being said, Ligerians-guitarist Gabriel Bouillon did compose and produce all of the songs on 'Ubatuba'. Where the guest list of 'Ubatuba' is concerned, of course mentor Cedric Myton is once again present, but apart from him, Anton also invited young talents from three different continents: Oceania is represented by New Caledonian singer Marcus Gad, who signed for the Midnite-like 'Divine Splendor', from Europe there's Portuguese Xibata, flanking Rod in the more than aptly titled 'Amigo Verdadeiro' (the pair are also good friends in real life), and finally from Latin America there's Brazilian newcomer Junior Dread who joined Anton for 'Be Wise', also our favorite combination on 'Ubatuba'. As the tracklist only counts 8 (excellent) new tracks, not including a nice melodica version of Divine Splendor' by Art-X and two somewhat unnecessary remixes of 'Mama Earth' and Eternal Bliss' by Babs Operator and Ondubground, we consider 'Ubatuba' to be more of an EP than a fully-fledged album.