COLLECTION

WICKLOW RECORDS: DEEP ROOTS & FUTURE GROOVES VOLUME 1

  1/  Bog a 'Lochain - MaryJane Lamond           (Lamond)                      3.20
  2/  Kazan Toren - Yat-Kha                      (Yat-Kha)                     6.32
  3/  Laulutytto - Varttina                      (Varttina)                    3.33
  4/  Angus Dei - Laurel MacDonald               (MacDonald)                   5.14
  5/  Reel - Ashley MacIsaac                     (MacIsaac)                    1.51
  6/  Black Lotus - Bill Laswell/Sacred System   (Laswell)                     10.15
  7/  E Horo - MaryJane Lamond                   (Lamond)                      5.25
  8/  Kaldak Khamar - Yat-Kha                    (Yat-Kha)                     2.43
  9/  Lukey - Great Big Sea w/ the Chieftans     (Great Big Sea)               3.23
      (Radio Mix)
  10/ Wing & A Prayer - Laurel MacDonald         (MacDonald)                   6.27
      (Laswell Remix)
  11/ Vihmax - Varttina                          (Varttina)                    3.32
  12/ X-Ibit-I - Bill Laswell/Sacred System      (Laswell,Haynes)              7.45

          Tracks 6 and 12 recorded and mixed at Orange Music, West Orange, New Jersey
          Tracks 6 and 12 produced by Bill Laswell
          Engineering: Robert Musso
          Additional production and mix translation on track 10 by Bill Laswell
          Executive Producer: Paddy Maloney
(6,12) Gulam Mohamed Khan: harmonium, voice; Susan Deyhim: voice; Dave Liebman & Byard Lancaster: soprano saxophone; Graham Haynes: coronet; Craig Harris: trombone; Clive Bell: khene, shakuhachi; Nicky Skopelitis: 6 and 12 string guitars; Bernie Worrell: organ, electric piano; Bill Laswell: bass, keyboard, percussion; Jah Wobble: bass; Zakir Hussain: tabla, voice; Bill Buchen: tabals, ektar, log drum, percussion; Hamid Drake: drums, frame drum; Aiyb Dieng: chatan, bells.

          1998 - Wicklow Records (USA), RCDJ-63367-2 (CD)

REVIEWS :

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.

Vijay Choksi (courtesy of the Ethno Techno website)