Salam Haleikoum by Naab
Where Naab seems to lacks in the classical depth and knowledge of south asian and arabic music there he makes up for it in pure-if somewhat too clean - drum n base beats. The cd is a mix of south asian/arabic charm with the drive of a cool drum n base line. This of course as you might realize, puts it right in the midst of that now stereotypical genre "Asian Underground." So now lets see if his work stands up against the previous greats such as State Of Bengal and Talvin Singh.
Tracks / Reviews:
- Le Souk: A mellow track in the beginning with a hard hitting ending - that makes for a great piece to start the album off with. There are some voice samples that constantly cause a person listening to this (with headphones) to look around and make sure its not actual person speaking behind them.
- Khemisset: This although small but awesome track starts off with a kicking drum n base line but leaves you wanting more at the end - being its only 2 minutes 11 seconds long.
- Oumkeltoum: Another track with a drum n base line - but this one utilizes some (arabic?) vocals and instrumentation. Along the lines of TJ Rehmi remixes of Natacha Atlas or Transglobal Underground's drum n base work. Definitely worth a listen.
- Fondu: A mellow house track - very groove worthy - but compared to the other tracks on this album its is a bit lengthy. Personally, I wish he had decided to lengthen the other tracks rather than this one.
- Back by Dope Demand: This composition works on top of the beginning beat of track number four. If one was to listen to the beginning of track 4 and 5 - they both sound the same. But, where track 4 is groove worthy - track 5 is dance worthy with great use of violins, strings and keyboards to accent the already cool beat.
- L'immortalité: Track with (arabic?) vocals that have been played backwards, forwards and lowered. Leads right into track seven.
- Amour and Amitie: A head boppin' good drum n base line - with a jazzy keyboard melody to boot. The arabic vocals are a perfect mesh of chants and lyrics - unlike other artists who tend to ignore the beat and leave it same throughout the whole song because of the changing lyrics - Naab does a good job changing things up just a bit and keeping it interesting.
- Tamghra Nouchen: Arabic drums and sounds combined with a mellow base line - that kicks up to a great drum n base line at two minutes. Definitly had me up and ravin' like a fool the first time I heard it. A bit into the song, at 4 minutes the drum n base line changes up again. A great track until the end when Naab tries to use horns also - he honestly shouldn't have bothered.
- Imazighen: Another great drum n base track, with arabic sounds filled in perfectly. You think BloomRecords will care if I played all the cd all the way through on the radio. :)
- Salam Haleikoum: Another good mello one - but for some reason my cd players - computer, discman and stereo all think the track is 8 minutes 43 seconds even though the cd cover says it is only 6 minutes 11 second...hmm wierd...
Well there you have it, our second french act to produce an album that fits the bill to be part of the "Asian Massive" scene. The first of course being Recycler But, that one is a bit different than this. On a final note, Naab's cd also contains videos, pictures and flash animation - designed almost as confusingly as his site! Keeps crashing here....tell me below what you think.
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