AMG Review of Desert Grooves

Johnny Loftus
All Music Guide

Though it's a pleasant enough mixture of downtempo groove, worldbeat, and moody new age -- all inflected with Arabic and North African rhythms -- Desert Grooves travels over a well-worn footpath. That's because most, if not all, of its tracks have made appearances on similarly themed compilations. Natacha Atlas' "Duden," for example, is featured on at least five different downtempo/otherwise ethnically-chilled comps. What all of this means is that if you are an existing fan of windy electronica and worldbeat grooves -- or a desert wanderer selling his wares from a wicker basket in the souk -- then you may have these songs together already, probably in a similar formation. If, however, you are none of these things, then Desert Grooves will offer exactly what you'd expect. Banco de Gaia's "Amber" is a vaguely Arabic ambient dub piece, while new age guitar maestro Jesse Cook turns in his "Baghdad," which reminds you of white stucco and strong coffee in narrow alleys. Kabul Workshop's "Trigana" is another standout, as is rai superstar Abdel Ali Slimani 's "Moi et Toi."