| | O M F O Trans Balkan Express CD O M F O Discography of CDs
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In a nutshell, Our Man from Odessa (O.M.F.O. for short) has decided to blend East European folklore and kitsch electronica, and to give the results a title spoofing one of Kraftwerk's best-known LPs. The title track of Trans Balkan Express actually begins with the ascending chords from "Trans-Europe Express" played by an accordion over a chugging train-like loop. The track quickly chooses its own course, dominated by a Balkan-style melody, but the Kraftwerk spirit remains in the electronic accompaniment, and this kind of humor permeates the whole album. Accordion, duduk, cymbalom, and Jew's harp are given lead melodies in quirky wedding tunes let loose over cheap beatbox rhythms. O.M.F.O. occasionally add dub treatments to further emphasize his impossible cross-cultural fusion. No European culture is safe from O.M.F.O.'s good-intended thefts: Moravian, Russian, Macedonian, and Turkish (and probably a few more!) folk all get hijacked. "Gutsul Electro" is a laugh riot of Giorgio Moroder revision. "Chupino" and "Drimba 'n' Bass" are folk tunes dressed up as retro-futuristic anthems. The accordion is given a special feature in the album's middle third, which tends to slow down the pace (not because of the tempo, but the difference in variety) and doesn't always give convincing results, as in the overlong "Sirtaki on Mars," but that's the only case where O.M.F.O.'s recipe fails. Everything else is marvelously varied, upbeat, unpredictable, and good-humored. "Space Hora Dub," with its breathy lead flute, provides a slower highlight, while "Gutsul Electro," "Chachak," "Drimba 'n' Bass," and the title track all stand out as irresistibly silly foot-stompers. Despite its high entertainment value, Trans Balkan Express goes beyond the novelty hit and promises good replay value, too. If you have a thing for kitsch, this is the kind of album you could cherish for a long time. ~ François Couture Trans Balkan Express Music O M F O Trans Balkan Express Songs Trans Balkan Express Review
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Purchase Trans Balkan Express CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Portishead Dummy CD (1994)
Trans Balkan Express album
$11.49 Named for a town near Bristol, England, Portishead is a British dance band that grabs ideas from all over the mod pop world (spaghetti Western guitars, turntable scratching, melancholy soul vocals, atmospheric organs, house beats) and stirs them into spacey, dub-like productions that sound like a dance club in the middle of a "Twin Peaks" dream. You could call it surreal hip-hop pop. But if the beats on the band's debut album achieve a kind of trance-like static, the songs themselves reach for something more rousing. With understated lyrics and overstated melodies, singer Beth Gibbons and bandleader Geoff Barrow write insinuatingly melancholy dance ballads that ebb and flow like waves through ...
| | Portishead Third CD (2008)
Trans Balkan Express CD music
$11.99 More than a decade after its self-titled sophomore outing, the pioneering British electronica ensemble Portishead finally resurfaced with 2008's THIRD, an album that both meets and defies expectations. Although the record features many of the group's aural signatures--most notably that exquisitely dark, cinematic mood and Beth Gibbons's heartbreaking vocals--it presents little in the way of vintage trip-hop, proving that sonic masterminds Geoff ...
| | Enigma Screen Behind The Mirror CD (2000)
Trans Balkan Express music CDs
$11.55 There is a certain other-worldliness to the musical landscapes created by the artist also known as Michael Cretu. With Enigma, he is known for pioneering the synergy of traditional and world music with dance and electronica. ...
| | Gary Numan Jagged CD (2006)
Trans Balkan Express songs
$12.95 On 2006's JAGGED, influential synth-pop artist Gary Numan is firmly entrenched in the dark side. This ominous studio outing finds the British singer/multi-instrumentalist ...
| | Windham Hill Christmas CD (2002)
Trans Balkan Express album
$6.09 While they may not be everyone's cup of herbal tea, the pioneering New Age label Windham Hill could never ...
| | Sharam Get Wild CDs (2009) Limited Edition; Deluxe Edition; Digipak
Trans Balkan Express CD music
$15.05
| | Caifanes Matenme Porque Me Muero CD (1994)
Trans Balkan Express music CDs
$7.75
| | Two Lone Swordsmen Tiny Reminders CD (2000)
Trans Balkan Express songs
$14.29 A slight return to experimental electro after the downtempo breakbeat of their EP work during 1999, the second Two Lone Swordsmen full-length for Warp ...
| | 20 Best Of Kenny Rogers CD (2004) (Import) Digipak
Trans Balkan Express album
$6.29
| | Mothers Township Sessions CD (2005)
Trans Balkan Express CD music
$14.29
| | Sunlightsquare Urban Sessions CD (2006) Import
Trans Balkan Express music CDs
$12.55
| | Bob James Swan CD (1995) (Import)
Trans Balkan Express songs
$11.85 Bob James was far from predictable in the 1990s, when his albums ranged from the embarrassing Playin' Hooky to the excellent Straight Up (an unexpected return to straight-ahead jazz) and the enjoyable pop-jazz offering Grand Piano Canyon. Drawing on pop, jazz and new age, The Swan is a bit lightweight...on the whole, but does have its moments. The CD's most substantial tunes include "Prospero" and "Ensenada Madness," which has a Spanish flavor and shows an awareness of the writing that Chick Corea did with Return To Forever... ~ Alex Henderson
Bob James was far from predictable in the '90s, when his albums ranged from the embarrassing Playin' ...
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