This is a strange, if
slightly endearing animal.
According to the
Release Sheet, Robert Soko is the inventor of the BalkanBeats genre. What is it?
Well, as far as I can establish, it’s the remixing of Balkan dancetracks
of the moment.
Taking traditional
traditional Bosnian and gypsy sounds, he tries to mix them with disco, techno
and even dub. Does it work? Not always,
but, for the majority of the album it’s very interesting, and, to be fair, I
couldn’t ‘not’ play it all.
Take Sing Sing Cocek
by Slavic Soul Party. I wouldn’t call
them soul, more fast jazz if anything.
It’s actually pretty clever – a pretty speedy affair, loads of brass
instruments all over the place over an upbeat Latin American beat.
There’s a track on
here called Sex, Drugs, Berlinskibeat – how could you resist. Some ‘oompah, oompah’s’ in the
background. An accordion. A trumpet.
It sounds interesting, and, it is.
It does however border on throw away pop, there’s nothing wrong with
this per se, the music industry is full of it and if there’s a
market............
On first listen I
hated the version of I Like To Move It.
On second listen, I hadn’t changed my mind. I just think it’s a little disposable. If dancing to daft songs at your Aunt and
Uncle’s Ruby Wedding Anniversary is your thing then you’ll probably love
it. Several shots of vodka may also help
to ake Los Colorados a little more bearable.
Balkan Bettie by Tommy Dollar is just plain silly.
The album closes with
Georgian Lessons 1-6 where trumpet, harmonica, guitar, voice, etc.. are
introduced one by one. I found this both
interesting and a little throwaway. The
idea behind the remix is a good one, and, for the majority of the album, I
think that’s the key. Robert has taken
some very ordinary songs and tried to make them a little more interesting. To be fair, you can’t knock what he has
done. The original songs he has remixed
aren’t particularly spectacular, but, he seems to have really given them the
Soko treatment, and, attempted to update them for the Western market.
Four On The Flo is
pretty good. Dubbed out guitars and
voices. A funky little thing with some
saxophone and trumpet thrown in. A bit
of scratching and sampling. It’s very
listenable.
Similarly, Kad Ja
Podjoh Na Benbasu is a relaxing little reggae number, and, probably one of the
best tracks on the album. It’s also by Robert Soko himself. As a standalone track it also works, in fact,
I’d actually quite like to listen to an album of his original material.
If you’re into dancing and in your town centre
club at 2am on a Sunday morning, then you might like this album. Your 3 year old daughter may also find it
fun.
What I’m trying to say is that it
will have an audience. I just don’t
think I’m one of them.
Published on Louder Than War 10/10/12 -
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