Deep Roots & Future Grooves Vol. 1
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[rca] |
review from vijay choksi |
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It was quite a surprise finding this compilation in The Nature Store, but after my ears heard its cry, there was a good reason for it to be there. Its title fits its content: Deep Roots + Future Grooves-and that 'Deep' is damn deep too.
This album is a break from mainstream electronica - more world music... and this time they mean it.
Jumping from Central America to Europe to Africa and Asia, this album has a good diverse selection of roots: Juan-Carlos Formell's Cuban ballads, Varttina's high-pitched Finnish folk-pop (amazing), Gaellic chanting by Mary Jane Lamond, Alpha Yaya Diallo's African folk... and have you ever heard of 'throat singing' from northern Mongolia?
The spice gets hotter with electronica-laced remixes and compositions. Bass maestro Bill Laswell appears with "Black Lotus" and Yat-Kha's throat-singing is swirled by the Transglobal Underground. Japanese remixer and dj, Fantastic Plastic Machine, does a funky refix of one of the Finnish folk songs. And Laurel MacDonald's soft-spoken nursery rhyme is fused with soft-yet-powerful lounge-jazz. And the Celtic stuff is turned into Celtronics.
It is an equal blend of roots and future, and I must say it is one of the best world music albums I own because of its authentic world flavour -and the electronica enhances it. A warning: this disc is more on the mellow, chill side... so fast-paced, mind-blowing, bassy beats and rhythms are not what it is trying to show.
It gets you in other ways.
I say grab some Mai-Tai, some Tortilla chips with salsa and just listen.
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