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Review:
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Back in the early 90's i, like every other overeducated
schmoe in this country, was fascinated by Enigma's new age gregorian
chanting dance hit, Sadeness. And later i enjoyed Sweet
Lullaby from Deep Forest, which was a very similar new agey
dance song, only the samples were from some sort of Pygmy tribal
gathering. I am sure that you remember these hits: smooth keyboard
samples from the electronic new age scene, combined with odd
"world music" samples and light club beats.
I thought that this stuff had come, enjoyed its moment in the
sun, and then faded away. Well, Engima still release an album
every so often. (Their second, The Cross of Changes
was pretty good, but they went downhill after that.) And Deep
Forest still exist (although i got bored with them during their
second album). For the most part, though, i thought that this
type of music was gone. And then i heard Entheogenic.
Entheogenic, apparently, do not know that this sort of music
has faded from popular consciousness. They have produced an
album of smooth electronic keyboards with a vaguely new age
feel, combined with world music samples and light beats.
In fact, there is a track on this album that i consider to
be a real standout in this genre. It's called Liquid Universe,
and it follows the normal pattern for this type of music: it
has world vocals (singing in, i think, Arabic), combined with
genre-standard childrens voices, and pipes (those pan flute
things i think). The real difference is the beat that this is
all layered over: it's a funky breakbeat that reminds me of,
well, something... (Roni Size? Something from the mid-90's.
Something i enjoyed a lot then. In fact, i have spent much time
pouring back through my records searching for what this reminds
me of. I have yet to hit it, but have re-listened to some fine
old discs.) At any rate, the beats are more frenetic than normal
in this type of music, and it really helps the track standout.
It is quite finely done.
The rest of the disc is pleasant music that falls clearly within
the new age world dance music genre. It is electronic music
that is non-threatening and vaguely relaxing. If you insist
on following the latest glitch hits, then this is not for you.
If, however, you hang out in new age bookstores sipping tea,
then this is probably something you will really want to track
down. |
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