Genre: Lounge Year: 2003 Country: USA Official Site: Euro Lounge Details: Tracks & Audio Label: Putumayo World Music
A dozen years ago world music compilations were still new and at times, dodgy. Music was varied, yes, but quality was unreliable. Putomayo and Luaka Bop emerged as leaders and innovators and over time you could count on both for new sonic flavors (a well-worn copy of the One World compilation is still treasured). Now the meaning of world music is wrought with heady interpretation and there are tons of labels to choose from. Putomayo has consistently offered diverse music based on quality and its success lies in a formula that works off the strengths of various recordings that create a unique mood. The latest compilations, Euro Lounge and Global Soul, take on what the world has to offer.
The synthy-French-pop feel of "Voulez-vous" by Arling & Cameron will undoubtedly be familiar to anyone in who's heard the Acura television commercial. It sounds better without the car. Mastretta's spooky "El Ultimo Habitante del Planeta" strongly smells of Colombian band Aterciopelados while the Italo-Brazilian band Bossa Nostra winks at Astrud Gilberto on "Jackie", a nice little homage to 1960's Rio de Janeiro.
Mercifully, Putomayo has not released a "Turbo Folk" compilation, the awful but popular music sweeping Macedonia and Serbia. Instead we get a little Eastern European Ibiza on "Stojne Bre Mome Kocansko", combining traditional folk singing with laid back rhythms. The Italians have take up about a third of the album but it's hard to discern an "Italian" lounge sound as they are the least chilled out on this record. Maybe they are far too excitable to actually relax. "Limbe" by S-Tone Inc. has a Middle Eastern feel and is sung in French. "Sweet Sadness" by Gabin has a definitive Brazilian/Herp Alpert feel to it. "Girl" by Turkey's Ilhan Ersahin is easily the most sensual track on the compilation with its melancholic Portishead vocals that mesh perfectly with Middle Eastern strings.
In the end, Euro Lounge shows that Europe is in no rush here. The operative word is "chill", so it's time to sit back on the couch with a martini while the new Dimitris and Esquivels create a sultry mood.
Euro Lounge
