Sounds like…

Guest vocalists and traditional instrumentation making new mergers of electronic world music.

The review

After working at the wildly adored Soma Sounds Studio in Bali for the last nine years, ShaMANoiD, aka Stef Soma, has made lots of friends across the new age, electronica and world music genres. ‘Otherly Worlds’ is an album that sees ShaMANoiD work with artists from around the globe to create world beat ambient dub music with them all.

The album is crammed with mid-tempo beats and has a fair bit of dubstep wub-wub bass supplementing the beats themselves. Everything else is then extra dressing and this is where ShaMANoiD’s guests and his worldly music comes to the fore. ‘Kami-no-Kaze’ mixes together deep Shinto chants from Japan with big psy-beats and thick basslines. It’s a hypnotic experience that is darker than anything you’d normally get in a new age styled production. The chants disrupt themselves and become psychedelic jew harp jangles too.

Elsewhere ‘The Ineffable Breath (of the Divine)’ and ‘Eye (I within)’ showcase the Indian Veena (a type of sitar) with Israeli vocals and huge rolling traditional percussion. Both are mystical, rhythmic and have a certain bite to them with the razor-sharp synths and electronica that bubbles around the traditional instruments. ‘Japanese Belly Dance’ brings in the Oud and vocals from Yemen whilst ‘Me and You’ guests vocals from Java. It’s a really global feel that ShaMANoiD provides. You can hear influences from different parts of the world but it is merged together in a world that feels futuristic – almost industrial – with all the synths and beats. A couple of tracks are more IDM focused with electronic flutes and guitars painting out a psychedelic trip to be taken. It’s the kind of thing Merkaba Records specialise in and their albums often blend into each other. The reason why this one stands out is because of its global guest roster.

ShaMANoiD definitely has a knack for mixing ideas and cultures together to create something hypnotic and rhythmic. Fans of psybeat, ambient dub, world beat and tribal electronica will be right at home here. I love the diversity of voices and instrumentation throughout and hope that part 2 of the collection continues with the same huge diversity.

Recommended track: The Ineffable Breath (of the Divine)

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