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Music reviews
Chill out/ambient reviews
The Etnica guys are out with a new Balearic lounge compilation from their chilled cafe at Ibiza Island. This is the third chapter of Macao Café, with the same cover art as always, but with another colour. Max Lanfranconi (Etnica) has compiled it as usual.
Macao Café Vol. 3 (Etnicanet Records) 2003 (ET-011)
1. Solid World – Castro’s Kitchen
2. Abukus – By The River
3. Etnica – Tell Me Why (Dub Mix)
4. Federico Baltimore – Dream
5. Etnica – Funky Bong
6. The Giantist’s – As You Please
7. Doris Decker Guest House – Dadab!
8. The Cusp – Moine Flip
9. Soft Machine Vs. Sidish – Longe
10. Etnica – I Miss You
11. Green Grass – Running Water
12. John Doe – To Hell With You
As we are getting used to from these compilations, this is not psychedelic chill out, but more of the easy listening kind you find in most trendy cafes these days. First out is a new track by Solid World (Gregers Krarup) who also had a track on the second Macao Café compilation. This is pretty beautiful, with some nice flute, guitar and relaxing rhythms. Not psychedelic at all, but nice easy listening. Track 2 is by an artist called Abukus (Russel Davies) from London. He gives us some groovy, relaxing beats and some female vocals. Could have been a bit more varied, but ok. Track 3 is a new chilled track by Etnica themselves (Max Lanfranconi and Maurizio Begotti). Totally relaxed beats and an easy melody. Again pleasant easy listening, but not psychedelic. Track 4 is by a guy who releases his second Deedrah album these days. Frederic Holyszewski, here under the more Balearic name Federico Baltimore. He is also based on Ibiza. This track has a very latino vibe, with guitar and some funky rhythms.
Track 5 is another one by Etnica. Here they have made a more jazzy hip hop style. Funky piano mixed with hip hop rhythms and some flute. Track 6 is by The Giantist’s, which is another project by Solid World (Gregers Krarup). This has some China influences mixed with jazzy vibes. Track 7 is pretty weird. Here they have done a lot sampling, and made a jazzy, happy track, with whistling, saxophone and much more. Track 8 by The Cusp sounds more like blues or something. Not among my favourites here. Track 9 is made by some people in Brazil. This is actually my favourite track on this compilation. Dubby chill with a pleasant jazzy vibe. Nice one. Track 10 is another Etnica track. Here they have gone latino again. Too latino in my ears. Track 11 is by a guy called Green Grass (Lenny Krarup). This is pretty nice and floating going in an easy listening way. The last track by John Doe (Benjamin H. Buchbinder) is not very impressive in my ears. Some jazzy vibes again with several voice samples.
As usual we get a compilation full of Balearic lounge music, but not any psychedelic chill if you expect that. Some nice easy listening music, but nothing extraordinary with this release.
PK (shivapks@hotmail.com)
