Amrita... All These And the Japanese Soup Warriors

Just what is meant by "cultural piracy"? The term gets thrown around when Paul Simon makes an album of African-derived music, or David Byrne tries his hand at Latin rhythms. More recently the imperialist charge has been levelled at the practice of appropriating nonwestern traditional music into western club beats, a genre known variously as trance, world dance, ethno-techno, or global ambient, and represented by the globetrotting grab-bag sounds of groups like Trans-Global Underground, Banco de Gaia, and the leaders of the stew school, London's Loop Guru.

In their hands, techno and nonwestern styles are natural bedfellows. Both unfold along a fluid, linear path that put them at odds with western pop's verse-chorus infatuation. And sociologically speaking, the ecstatic release of the dancefloor has tons in common with the spiritual exorcism in mystic folk from Bali, Java, India, Iran, or Morocco--just some of the places represented on Loop Guru's second album, Amrita. In fact, the only impediment to ethno-techno's beautiful marriage is how well producers turn the music's cultural dislocation into postmodern enlightenment. Loop Guru, meticulous studio crafters and enthusiastic live performers, fare well in the middle passage. They do it not as looters, nor as teachers (Amrita's samples and appropriations are never credited), but with the simple (and best) justification--it sounds good. --Roni Sarig