Blending Algerian Raï and Gasba, Syrian Dabke, Turkish dance, and floor-shaking Chicago Acid moves, Acid Arab make music targeting hips with surgical precision.
Banco de Gaia
Seti I
Creme Egg
B2
Sixty Sixteen (For Karina)
Toby Marks, the musical alchemist behind Banco de Gaia, made his reputation by infusing Asian and Middle Eastern musical elements into his dub mixes, resulting in a compelling world music-electronica hybrid. For Igizeh, he.
more » has further blurred the constituent genres boundaries, softening the house beat just a bit and letting his disparate inspirations swirl into a dreamy, intoxicating sonic daydream. If that s the club s loss, it s certainly the listener s gain. Much of the album was recorded in Egypt (including segments produced inside the Great Pyramid at Giza and the Temple of Seti I at Thebes), but to his credit Marks cannily avoids many easy world music and ambient clichés; Jennifer Folkes s soulful vocals on Obsidian and Glove Puppet are not the least of the stylish balancing act between East and West presented herein. Jerry McCulley