balkanbeats vol. 3  (CD, £13.75)

Balkanbeats has been rocking the dance-floor of Berlin's Mudd Club for more than a dozen years now, with DJ Robert Soko brewing up his gypsy punk. Now this crazy music is not only hurtling through the entire West, but also back into the Balkans where it is mutating and being flushed back out again. Thus 'Balkanbeats' gives birth to ever more spectacular combinations. Anything goes: Brass is flirting with Euro Pop, bagpipes pump up Rock, Klezmer grooves with Electro, Bregovic dancing with Karmen and … why not? The main thing is that it rocks! DJ Robert Soko's regular Balkanbeats parties in Paris, Amsterdam or London have found DJs and musicians discovering what has been missing in Western music for the last years - live, fire and a tad more craziness - using the know-how of the modern world and combining this with the old melodies and folk instruments of the Balkans. For the third time the compilation series 'Balkanbeats' features DJ Robert Soko's smash hits of the last year on one CD - again compiled strictly from a dancefloor point of view. Nothing smoothed out, but steaming and right in your face. The boys are grinning and jumping and the girls turn into wild gypsy brides. Shake it, baby! Life is too short for boring music. Tracklisting: 1. Slavic Soul Party! - Opa Cupa, 2. Magnifico - Ubicu te, 3. Kiril feat MC Wasp & Rucl - Jungle Shadow, 4. Watcha Clan - Balkan Qoulou, 5. Shantel feat. Boban Markovic Orkestar - Disko (friends of Boban Mix), 6. Goran Bregovic - Gas Gas, 7. Ot Azoj Klezmer Band - Turkish Honga (Streamer & mps PILOT remix), 8. Max Pashm - Manea-k, 9. Parno Graszt - Drunk of Sorrow, 10. Slonovski Bal - Moscow Fever, 11. Damian & Brothers – Hopai Diri Da (edit), 12. Äl Jawala - Heymischer Bulgar (Garage-Mix 2004), 13. Figli di Madre Ignota - Nema Problema Tourist, 14. The No Smoking Orchestra - Dobrila, 15. Romengo - Naj ma shela