Originally hailing from France, Jean-Emmanuel Krieger – Baikonour to the rest of us – has made a delightful album of wayward music that, as the title playfully hints at, travels a world of soundscapes and influences. Happily reeling off references and names that would challenge even the most committed of muso’s – Brazilian psych rockers Os Mutantes through to Manuel Gottsching and Alice Coltrane via Boards Of Canada and Television – this comes across as his ode to those artists who follow their own ideas and avoid the tried and tested commercial route. Breezy dreamlike melodies conjure up 1970’s sci-fi on”Rusk Plasmique”; “Hoku To Shin Ken” gets into the skin of Can, where they produced by Ravi Shankar; “2/3/74” is the sort of hammond-fuelled wigout that many bands lost their minds to. Inbetween all this there are more modern electronic musings and hip-hop styled beats to remind you that this is, in fact, still 2005. An amazingly addictive listen for a debut album. If you need to categorise it, file under essential.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: DARREN WALL
