April 10, 2011

La Cherga | Revolve

ARTIST:  La Cherga
TITLE:  Revolve
LABEL:  Asphalt Tango
REVIEW:  Here’s the sophomore effort from La Cherga, the Austria-based band whose debut was a surprise favorite of 2008.  Croatian bandleader-producer Nevenko Bucan comes out of the fertile Austrian electronic dance music scene, and he’s interested in fusing electronica with a live band.  Naturally Balkan beats are a big part of La Cherga’s sound, but they’re equally influenced by Jamaican reggae and dub (their touring band features a Jamaican rhythm section).  The combination of those two contrasting styles is very similar to Balkan Beat Box’s sound.  Like BBB, there’s some hip hop in the mix as well, but new singer Adisa Zvekic from Bosnia is definitely more soul than rap -- interestingly she mainly sings in English here.  There are terrific cameos by Serbian toaster MC Killo Killo on track 5 and accordionist Sandy Lopicic on 10.  Good record, good ideas, lots of promise here.
REVIEWER:  Bill Lupoletti
TOP TRACKS:    5    10
ALSO RECOMMENDED:    1    2

No comments: