This six-track EP consists of three songs: an Afro-centric history lesson entitled "Al Andalus" (presented in its original version, featuring MC Johnny Lone, and in two dub versions), a bristling dub'n'bass remake of "Imitator," and the reggae-fied bhangra-jazz of "Beyond the Hills" (in its original mix and a remix). Musically, everything here is impeccable. Rootsman's touch as a producer and sound assembler is almost faultless; on "Beyond the Hills" he manages to bring influences from reggae, bhangra, jazz, and North ...
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This six-track EP consists of three songs: an Afro-centric history lesson entitled "Al Andalus" (presented in its original version, featuring MC Johnny Lone, and in two dub versions), a bristling dub'n'bass remake of "Imitator," and the reggae-fied bhangra-jazz of "Beyond the Hills" (in its original mix and a remix). Musically, everything here is impeccable. Rootsman's touch as a producer and sound assembler is almost faultless; on "Beyond the Hills" he manages to bring influences from reggae, bhangra, jazz, and North African liturgical chant into what sounds, against all the odds, like an organic whole. (The Ras Boras remix adds lounge music and '60s-vintage TV drama soundtrack music to the mix, with slightly cheesier but still compelling results.) "Imitator" in its "Landau Remake" is an eerily impressive jungle excursion, and the various versions of "Al Andalus" blend keening North African voices and violin with funky hip-hop drums and, in the original mix, an impressively organized (if historically questionable) exegesis of the Moorish empire's cultural rescue of benighted Europe. Ethnocentric chest-pounding aside, this is remarkably compelling music. ~ Rick Anderson, Rovi
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