2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hit and miss, but some great hits, January 25, 2008
This review is from: Palace Lounge Presents Cafe D'Afrique (Audio CD)
You're a much more attentive music consumer than me if you have ever heard of even one of the artists featured on Café D'Afrique. This is a collection put together to showcase a collection of artists emerging out of South Africa. As with almost any collection consisting of exclusively new artists, there are some misses. But overall this is a very nice primer record to a region that many of us aren't familiar with musically.
The album kicks off with the uptempo "Hip Hip Chin Chin" of Club des Belugas. This is the kind of big band inspired dance music that makes you wonder why zoot suits have never made a comeback. The songs big horn blasts and insistent rhythm demand constant motion.
At least some of this album shows that South Africa's artistic community is still playing catch-up. Portishead should be flattered by the tribute which Goldfish's "Dream" gives to their original style and Dino Moran's "Vuna" is an incredibly dated sounding dance record.
As the pace slows over the second half of the album, the real standout joints emerge. The record ends with three of its strongest tunes with two slow and soulful tunes (D'Sound "Give It All Back" and Iridium Project "Into the Sky") and a straight-ahead jazz joint (Breakfast Included "Burnt Toast").
While there is some filler, there are also several artists presented on Café D'Afrique that will be welcome additions to your musical lexicon. Ellora Ghosh, KJ Stone, D'Sound, and Iridium Project are four that I personally will be checking into much deeper.
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