Frequency

Album Review

In an era of extreme globalization, the world shrinks by the second, as commodities circle the globe and cultures collide. Those collisions can be violent: witness the deaths in South Asia sparked by irreverent cartoons in a European paper, or they can be peaceful, as the rise of world music well illustrates. Frequency is globalization at its most positive, with the core duo of Alex Spurkel and Avi Sills enlisting the assistance of a multi-national, multi-ethnic, and multi-confessional group of vocalists and musicians. The result is Frequency, the group's debut album, a phenomenally diffuse set. The music within is highly sophisticated yet immediately accessible, song driven, yet club driven, too. "Every place that I've flown is my home," rapper Brutha Los imparts on "Babylon," a haunting number, where the mystery of the East washes over the west. Flamenco goes clubbing in a "Gypsy Lounge," dipping in and out of Mediterranean discos and North American jazz joints along the way. "Shisha" powers down the Autobahn straight into Afro-beat, across the Middle East and onto the Indian sub-continent, driven by a Spanish guitar that at one points flips into a gypsy dance, all the time pursued by an irrepressible rhythm. "Samba Bionic" boasting inspired disco vocals from C.C. White, moves carnival from Rio to Funky Town. "Sar I Sky" is illuminated by tabla and sitar, yet still finds strong echoes of the West via its clubby beats and funky bassline. "Moon Over ala Nar" throws its shadow across the Middle East and the Ottomans' Northern regions, while below a stomping, storming rhythm bashes its way into the techno clubs and out onto the street. The earth never stops spinning, but Naked Rhythm refuses to move with it, instead allowing countries and continents to slide under their feet, deftly shifting their styles as each new musical force passes below them. This must be what the sun hears, an ever changing musical concordance as the earth revolves around it. The genius is that Naked Rhythm doesn't fuse these myriad styles into an amorphous, generic world blob of a sound, but instead highlights their individuality, weaving each discrete one in and out of their songs, creating a vibrant tapestry that interconnects the world's music and rhythms in ways previously unimaginable. A fabulous set, and an enthralling ride across the planet.