Dance:Dream:Dance

The album features a fusion of east-west instrumentation with a focus on tightly woven, multi-layered percussion grooves. The rhythms are a wild mix of Latino, Asian, Amer-Indian, and Afro-Cubano influences. Singers supply a mix of chants, vocals, and multi-lingual raps. Some of the tunes are awesome club mixes or remixes with a smattering of synth effects and sampling. “Brasilerio” is stellar in this respect with its blood-pumping funk and insistent chanting and butt-swinging drum solo.   

The tracks are:
The Dreamtime Returns
Rakandao Remix
Brasilerio
Riosphere
Pranayamystic
Afronaut
Love the World Awak
Pow Wow Sky Mix
Istanbul Dubphonics
Eastern Shores
Liquid Experience
Braserio Nights Remix

Through the album, the Latino/Afro-Cubano influences pump a lot of passion and musical pheromones into the mix. The overlay of Asian influence provides a brilliant sparkle of sheer fun. “Afronaut” begins with a tapping bass groove and explodes into an orgy of drumming and chanting. “Pow Wow Sky Mix” begins with an intro straight out of Steve Roach and shifts into a rave-electronica tune.

The experimental mix of east and west, along with north and south, offers a premium musical trip around the globe. The tracks unfold in fascinating and unexpected ways, with layers of interest moving in and out of the mixes. The CD is top-notch in the genre, and a truly sweet serving of a Shaman’s Dream production. Highly recommended.

~review by Elizabeth Hazel

Artist: Shaman’s Dream
Sounds True, 2007
CD $17.98; 71:38 min