Customer Reviews

One and One Is One

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Bottom Line: From the heart of the London club scene comes this funky happy world fusion dance album. Great stuff, sure to please.

Your music collection is not complete until you add the greatest group to come out of Bangladesh. Joi are the brothers Farook and Haroon Shamsher, natives of Bangladesh and subsequently of England. Although their claim to be "the original Asian breakbeat fusionists" is overstated (Bally Sagoo and Ananda Shankar precede them), they are undeniably original in their interpretation of Asian fusion music.

"One and One is One" is a mid-tempo electronic album, influenced by the work of Ananda Shankar, British trip-hop, and classical Indian-Bangladeshi music. This is not hard-driving club music, but it is still danceable if you are so inclined. All of it is easy to listen to and get into. "Fingers" starts the CD off with a stirring female trance vocal laid over driving percussion spiced with Bengali flute. On the harder side "Massive," "March On" and "Heartbeat" are above average, but still conventional European techno, although "Massive" slips mid-way into an impressive Eastern rift.

"Mission," "Oh My People" and "India" offer funked up breakbeats reminiscent of Talvin Singh and Thievery Corporation's more world-tinged work. The album also offers a softer side with tracks like "ESY-SHJ" and "Everybody Say Yeah," the type of songs where you break and head for a refill at the bar but still keeps your interest up for more to come.

The highlight of the album though is "Asian Vibes." Downright infectious, this feel-good power pop anthem is pure joy - happy, dancey, and a sure crowd pleaser, thanks mainly to the vocals of Susheela Raman.

On the downside, Joi is too repetitious at times, finding a great hook but hanging onto it too long. This is a problem chronic in today's electronic dance music. There are also occasional lapses where the group's inexperience shows up in muddy transitions. Still, "One and One is One" is head and shoulders above the vast majority of techno music.

I have never bought a techno music album. I always thought that techno music was souless. But One and One is One is techno music with soul. I loved its combination of synthesized sounds with that of the human voice and the organic sounds of flute, sitar and other traditional eastern instruments. This fusion of the technological and the traditional, the synthetic and the organic, make this album interesting and exciting to listen to. And man, can you dance to it! I highly recommend it.

I used to go to the Dogstar when they used to play every Wednesday and fell in love with them. Then RealWord came. I also saw them live a couple of times and they're great. So I bought the CD and love it, apart from some songs which mean nothing to me. Unfortunately Haroon died a couple of weeks ago. Will his brother carry on? Hope so... anyway... buy this record and dream listening to Fingers

One or two of the tracks on this album lose their way a bit but songs like "Fingers" and "Asian Vibes" more than make up for it. I love the breakbeats and the uplifting female vocals and the eastern style samples. A record that really grows on you and one of the more accessible albums to come from the UK asian dance scene.

Joi's debut album is one of the greatest 'feel good' albums I own. Full of life and body, and wonderfully blended Eastern and Western sounds. One of those albums that just gets better with every listen, every song a classic in its own right.

I was just handed a copy of this CD - it is fabulous and you should buy it now. A hard edge with asian flavor. A real breath of fresh air. Cannot stop playing track 3: Asian Vibe. WOW!

For me this cd was a sweet melancholic trip, its tunes groovin and very very tranceful, especially ESY-SHJ, every beat hits you and every chord enchants you... when i heard it i was mezmorized, all tracks are great, you just cannnot have enough of them, this is one of those cds that create a churning kind of feeling in your guts ( the good kind). This album is a must for all who enjoy Indian Fusion (talvin singh,bill laswell, badmarsh+shri etc)Inshallah there will be another album by joi, by his younger bro..

One of the first "exotic" electronica CDs I bought, and it hooked me big-time. It didn't leave my CD player for weeks after I bought it. Easy to listen to, this CD carries all the beat you'd expect with good techno, infused with Asian vocals and intramentation. After buying this one I got Talvin Singh's "OK," and that one is also good. I just heard that the older brother of this duo just had a heart attack and passed away, which is incredibly depressing. I hope the younger brother carries on with this great music and comes out with another CD in the future. If not, this one is a must buy for certain.

Joi is music born in the East where Budda danced in serenity and joy. The sound of this Cd will melt your heart with beats of 'tabula' love. You close your eyes, you stand on the street, every second you live to pray for this kind of music coming. Joi strengthens your mind by its passion in the true Asian Underground style.

It's definitely one of the most interesting CDs I have ever bought. I am not much of a Bengal/Indian-Asian style music lover, but when I heard some tracks at my friends house, it was love at first sight. It's not your ordinary collection of Asian music. Rather it's a collection of SouthEastern Asian Pacific grassland palm-tree tropics and a chaotic jewlery of diverse marketplaces in the heart of a rapidly moving village. It's music that definitly gives you that smirk the first time you hear it, and it definitly gives you that feeling like you are actually in the center of the journey.