Tibet
Producer-musicians Jimmy Waldo and D. Kendall Jones traveled to Kathmandu to record the raw sample material for this trip-hop collage of Nepali singing, street chat, and instrumental performances. Recalling similar experiments like those of Deep Forest, Loop Guru, Transglobal Underground, and others, Waterbone's mosaic is pieced together over surging dance beats, albeit with more breath than straight house or techno grooves, and processed through shiny reverbs and cloudburst echoes. The cool "Eastern Girl" fits Tibetan bells into a Tangerine Dream-style rhythm pattern, while "Tantra" undulates to Nepali monk group chants, Euro-pop synthesizer melodies, and the charming voice of Lobsang, a Kathmandu girl, whose quarter-tone inflections soar over Waterbone's relentless house beat. Ethno-techno with a tuneful flair.--James Rotondi