Ultra Lounge CD

Water Music's (not to be confused with Water Records) double-disc Ultra Lounge comp is pretty much standard issue, but there are some truly fun moments here and nothing whatsoever is offensive (how often can you say that about a double-disc electronica compilation?).There is ambient and midtempo jazz house here as well downtempo, chillout, and minimal techno, to name a few of the styles, and nothing here really grooves above a summery simmer. Lemon Jelly's "95 A.K.A. Make Things Right" is a nice easy way to start things off with its lush textures and multidimensional atmospherics; Vanessa Daou's (when was the last time you heard that name?) "Passed" is beautiful in this context, as is Nitin Sawhney's shimmery "Sunset." Blue Smitty's remix of Lawrence Welk's read of "Blue Velvet" is strictly outer space groove. Jens Buchert's wildly exotic "Mélange Eléctrique" with its doussn'gouni loop is a great touch. Disc two starts off a little predictably with "Moods," a jazz house track full of a Milt Jackson vibraphone loop, but Tosca's spaced-out backdoor move on "Rondo Acapricio," digs the second disc into the tapestry well, as does the Thievery Corporation's space-and-rhythm remix of Bebel Gilberto's "Cada Beijo." The slippery futuristic electro-jazz-funk of Lemongrass' (Roland Voss) "Sync It Up to Love," is a left turn, but a good one, with his female vocalist doing her best Ruth Copeland. The sheer Andalusian/Gypsy feel of Andrew Kremer's and Mariana Murdocco's "Vuelvo" is almost a scene stealer. There is something here for almost anyone in the ultra lounge frame of mind here. ~ Thom Jurek

Recording information: GB Music Studio, Rome, Italy.

Personnel: Stef Heinz, Anne Schnell, Barbara Zanetti (vocals); Peter Daou (piano, keyboards, programming).

Audio Remixer: Afterlife.