San Francisco based OM Records issued a compilation record comprised of some of the label’s rising stars. The LP, “The United Nations of Future Music”, begins with the cut “Ohhhh, Ma Ma Ma.” This track has some funky little electro-drum fills and mood setting audio phalanges but overall the cut sounds like the DJ’s are testing the sound-mix levels before cuttin’ loose.The second cut, “Howdy”, builds on a samba-ritmo that should get asses shaking. Like said Brazilian genre, it follows a simple structure driven by the bass line, percussion and syncopated drumming in a way that gets the head bobbin’ involuntarily. “Howdy” blends evenly into the third cut, “Who Are You?” by Afro-Mystik which is an electro-hip-hop piece that definitely sounds different. Maintaining the LP’s groove collective feel, the singer and the rapper help keep things percolating in their own right. The album’s pace picks up on the appropriately titled “For Those Who Like to Get Down.” This might be considered standard fare to deep house-heads but hey - “there two types of people in the music world.” “Flying Over the City” takes the previous cut’s pace down just a notch. This mid-tempo jam features jazzy saxophone sprinkles and bluesy George Benson-ish guitar/ vox interplay which are all built on a foundation of straight-rhythm track. “FOTC” breaks down into Mark Farina’s “Do Things” which is tight. This jammy will bring out the manea (Carnival-style butt jigglin’) in most who hear it. I found myself returning to listen more than twice – another simple yet bangin’ construct. That international flavor continues on “Can You Feel It?” as a driving bass keeps things lively – it’s a pretty standard house tune but it does have all the requisite meat and potatoes. “Right Time”, another sweet call, has all the necessary ingredients for a good house piece. When I checked the vocalist’s lyrics, I had to remind myself that this is dance music and to just focus on kickin’ steps. I’m feelin’ that. “Contraceptive” by Colossus brings the metronome click-speed back down with a groove that takes a while to settle into but in hindsight, I think that was the desired effect. And then everything takes an ill-fated turn...The roll downhill begins with the cut "Barenaked" which is COMPLETELY SKIPPABLE. I don't want to hate but it must be said (you'll never get those minutes of your life back). Moving on. King Kooba’s “If I Could” has a promising entrance in the wake of the previous cut’s tom foolery but it too falls apart; the candy-assed lyrics sucks any and all life that the groove might've offered. The chirpy drivel becomes repellant after a while: Gloria Gaynor she ain't, yo. This is the kind of prattle keeps many of us away from formatted radio as it is. Conversely, there is a bit of a reprieve here as the supporting music is kinda crunk, go figure. Mark Grant’s “Hey You” leans heavily on the UK’s "Brand New Heavies'":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P++++12446&a_id=R+++++2572&PersonID=P%20%20%20%2012446&prodid=DV76782.2&si=rhino sound when they first dropped in the states back in the early 90’s which by now has become de jour. Further, the album’s ultimate track “For You” by Kaskade sounds like much of the cookie-cutter “lounge-electronica” already out there . In light of the latter, the slice doesn’t really offer the listener anything new at all- Nuff said.This album begins with a roar but closes out with a whimper. The plate does, however, have a couple of notable moments (almost in spite of itself).The worldly opening cuts give way to an unforgivable string of schleppy duds so heed the warning: “close cover before striking” and check some of the cuts on a test run before you buy or download anything from this LP...
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