Various
Groove Temple
Music Mosaic
World Beat
by The Evil Couch

With this latest album, I'm about to just create a label saying "It's from Music Mosaic, buy it." It's as if these people can do no wrong. Releasing hit after World-Beat hit, these people have been scouring the globe to find the very best and they've done it time after time. Even if you've known about Music Mosaic all along, there'll still be a few surprises this time around. Billing itself as a "cool sacred journey into the global temple of music", this album is right up my alley, since I worship Music.

Starting things off with "Terra Australis" a didgeridoo track that literally winds itself up in the beginning, this album is off to a good start with a deep, atmospheric track that slowly pulls itself through the mists and reveals itself as chilled atmospheric Drum and Bass track and then slowly vanishes again. With track three, the album reveals its ties to electronic music with the synths of Lost at Last's "Radhe". The vocals of Deva Priyo serving as an anchor to reality as the acid Trance counter-melody whirls around the tablas that take control of your senses. Next, Solace's "Bhaarat" is a distinctly Indian Two Step song that sends you on a slow, reverent stroll to the local temple to hear the commanding, yet soothing priest's call. Cecil Harding's "March Across the Endless Plain" sounds just like the title would have you believe. It's a gentle, plodding beat, almost as if you were on a camel, traveling out into the wind-swept desert as a rock guitar leads the caravan.

"Rhythm and Soul" by Ariel Kalma, one of the founders of Music Mosaic, etches out a warm place in the rocks to wait out the rain, as one of the best Chill-out tracks I've ever heard. Following in at track number 8, is my favorite artist on the Music Mosaic label, Karunesh. Named after a region in Indian, their tribal Trance masterpiece "Punjab" is the best tracks I've heard this month. With hauntingly gorgeous vocals and a soundscape that stretches out as far as the ears can hear: a new instrument every time you turn around. From the tribal drums, to the violin, to the flute, the song is such a powerful piece of musical artistry that every time I hear it, I have to hear it at least once more. I continuously draw parallels between them and Enigma, because of both their styles, their sheer skill and the beauty of music that they create. This album is more than great. It's more than simply spiritual. It's like a prayer with a beat.

This album is so passionate, so powerful that anyone that has any love for music needs it and needs it now. Forget all that you've heard before. This is communion with all life, all music. This is the world in music.

I give it five out of five biscuits, without reservation.