It's a pretty rare band that can produce music equally suited to close listening, or dancing, or blissed-out, trancey contemplation. This Afro-Israeli ensemble accomplishes just such an unlikely feat with its debut album, which brilliantly combines elements of traditional West African music, dubwise reggae, funk, and techno. Rarely does a tune fit snugly into any one identifiable musical genre -- "LeLe" sounds kind of like a tribal chant with a reggae bassline; "Latest" combines slightly ethereal, multi-tracked voices with a house beat and kalimba obbligato; and "Roots Detective" takes a heavy funk groove and weds it to faint choral backing vocals and North African-sounding ululations. The individual tracks do start to blur together somewhat by the end of the album, but not in a bad way; if the mood is pretty consistent, it's a pretty consistently good mood. High points include the very pretty (and incongruously funky) "Lullaby" and the equally pretty but very reggae-fied "Agbae." Particularly recommended to fans of
African Head Charge. ~ Rick Anderson