Various Artists

Featuring: Muslimgauze, Z'ev, Ramona Ponzini, Bill Horist

2007 release ** "After my recent trip to Asia, my interest in oriental music has definitely greatly increased and then this release fell into my lap... Serendipity or coincidence, I eagerly went through this double bill, listening to all the nuances and influences I could trace back to my trip or recognize the origin of... There is definitely a lot going on but sadly the recording quality didn't seem to have always been determining factor in the choice of material. The release is dubbed as a CD of eastern-influenced experimental music, which it is, but I was a little concerned with its authenticity when I realized that pretty much all of the artists seem to be Americans (that's not to say americans can't be influenced, but I think I would have preferred to hear asians playing experimental music with some of their traditional roots in it instead of the opposite). However, once I got past my little self-inflicted disappointment I read up on what this CD presented and it seems that Noah Mickens actually knows his stuff and really cares ("from love our desire springs") so I intently listened to everything. My favorite tracks are the two openers by Forgotten Fish Memory Orchestra and Soriah (great Nahuatl chants") as well as Baba Larriji, Sikhara, Bill Horist, Refrigerator Mothers, F-Space but the CDs are full of interesting moments and interesting instrumentation (Tibetan singing bowls, Indonesian Gamelan, Chinese dulcimers, Indian sitar, Thai throat singing and all sort of tribal drums). The sonic palette and geographic reach are pretty broad and include all of Asia (the usual suspects plus Southeast Asia, India etc) as well as the Middle East. The tracks by the artists are interspersed by field recordings from Burma and India. 2 CDs, 25 artists, 156 minutes of music by Amps for Christ, Muslimgauze, Z'ev + Ramona Ponzini, Larry Trasher, Forgotten Fish Memory Orchestra, Hop Frog's Drum Jster Devotional, Volcanosis, Pyramids on Mars, Auto Da Fe, Sikhara, Nequaquam Vacuum, Aditi Tahiti, Bill Horist, C.O.T.A., F-Space, Venerable Showers of Beauty Gamelan, Neung Phak, Regrigerator Morthers, Charles Powne, The Hop-Frog Kollectiv, Jerry Lloyd, Kamilsky, Metal Roughe, Moe! Staiano, Sardonik Grin, Catastrophic Mermaids on Parade & Soriah. Definitely recommended to anyone with musical yellow fever..."