[.ca] Peoples Colony No.

Chronique amazon.fr:
Voici le dernier trésor que les aventuriers Neil Sparkes et Count Dubulah (ex-Transglobal Underground ) nous ramènent de leur récente expérience au contact de la dynastie Ali Khan des chanteurs Qawwali. Temple of Sound est le nom de ce projet qualifié d'"exploration sonore globale" et qui voit le jour dans l'album People Colony N°1 au terme d'une recherche de longue haleine et d'une démarche patiemment mûrie. Aucun cliché dans cet album, donc, qui utilise toutes les ficelles de l'électronique et rend parfaite la fusion avec une musique traditionnelle pakistanaise non dénaturée, abordée avec des sonorités, certes modernes, mais en harmonie totale avec les instruments : Zafar Ali Khan, le Bruce Lee du tabla, Omar Puente le violoniste cubain aux sonorités arabes bien étranges, Jah Wobble et sa basse mugissante qui bouscule les fondements de l'édifice, Kevin Haynes qui injecte avec ses percussions au coeur du projet musical l'esprit de Santeria ou encore Harry Becketts avec ses cuivres, et les voix : Rizwan et Muazzam, petits-neveux du légendaire Nustrat Fateh Ali Khan. Les ambiances créées ici gardent une certaine dimension religieuse (celle du "temple du son..."?) tantôt méditative, tantôt presque transe... mais toujours spirituelle. Projet impossible à enfermer dans un créneau précis, ni dub, ni trip-hop, ni asian-sound, cet album est simplement un disque de musique du monde (d'où sa parution sur le label Real World...) --Luc Demont

From Amazon.co.uk:
People's Colony No.1 brings together the Transglobal Underground off-shoot of Count Dubulah and Neil Sparkes with Rizwan and Muazzam, the two Qawwali-singing great grand-nephews of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. At WOMAD, Rizwan and Muazzam have already joined forces with Fun-Da-Mental but perhaps that spectacular collision was deemed too inflammatory to record. This album's guests include jazz trumpeter/flugelhornist Harry Beckett and bassist Jah Wobble, dropping some deep dub-lines in to three numbers. The TOS keep things fairly simple, constructing steady beats and slumbering bass pulses, sculpting moody electro-textures, making sure that the Qawwalis merge organically, retaining the qualities that define their sound. The vocals still ascend to the expected heights, the lead duo bolstered by their five ensemble singers, two harmoniums and tabla. The only concession that the Rizwan-Muazzam brothers made was to observe a stricter click-track beat, instead of flying off into less constrained time-keeping realms. The track sequence is expertly arranged, following a graceful curve towards spacious, silvery acoustics, then reintroducing a heavier pulse with Wobble's shuddering presence on "Garden Of Perfume" and "Love Moves The Sun" leading the second half's bass-quake assault. --Martin Longley

rythmic goodness:
I bought this cd not having previously heard anything by its artists. However after listening to it once, I was hooked. The songs have hard-but-flowing beats, hauntingly beautiful vocals, and showcase a variety of different instruments ranging from the amazing tablas to sweet chimes to heavily distorted, rumbling bass. These provide the cd with a modern, dancey sound while still maintaining traditional Indian and East Asian melodies. The songs also lay down crisp details and smooth, circular backgrounds, giving the album a nicely balanced feel...almost like the genres were just waiting to be blended into one. The only drawback? A few of the songs (The Palace at 4 AM and Tears of Light) gave me the feeling they were trying to lead up to something, but couldn't quite reach whatever that something was....other than that this cd has earned itself a high mark. It has the ability to get you up and grooving, even before the beat truly kicks in!

Head-on crash 'tween Realworld and Transglobal Underground:
I bought this CD not knowing what to expect. I had liked TGUs work in the past, and Temple of Sound is essentially half of TGU. I was unfamiliar with the Sufi singing of the Qawwali, but decided to take a chance. I'm overjoyed that I did. This CD is excellent. It's more "world beat" than Transglobal Underground, but there is a strong basis in electronics to most of the songs as well. It's certainly not a thumping techno-CD to throw on at parties, but there is a definite electronic groove and vibe to many of the songs. Dub influences are pretty apparent, and most obvious on the opening track. The singing is actually quite haunting with a mix of droning lower parts and stacatto top end parts. Taken together, the mix of the vocals with the traditional insturments and the electronics makes a very "thick" mix with lots of depth to the sound. The album also flows together beautifully. While each song is good in its own right, the album feels very coherent and interlocked when listened to in one sitting. I highly reccomend this album. It sits on the fence between "traditional" world music and global techno, but really benefits from toeing the line, rather than hurting from it. I've tried to just put this on as background music while working, but there are enough great songs ('wheel of heaven' being my favorite) that make me stop whatever i'm doing and just *listen* with my eyes closed. If that's not a good reccomendation, I don't know what is.

Decent, but not great.:
"People's Colony No. 1" is a collaboration that works only about half of the time. The vocals by Rizwan and Muazzam and their backing group are nothing less than superb, but Temple of Sound does an inconsistent job of matching the Pakistani group's power. The formula works best on tracks like "Solar East" and "Tears of Light," with its spooky keyboard sounds and cool tabla playing. The concept of fusing modern instruments with Qawwali singing can and does work (see uncle Nusrat's collaborations with Michael Brook), but here, the electronic backdrops don't effectively engage the more traditional musical elements - it's as if Temple of Sound is trying to ride on Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali's coattails. Still, there is enough interesting material on this album to warrant a few listens. Just be prepared for occasional lapses in musical maturity from the Temple of Sound side of the equation. (One member of TOS actually thinks that referring to himself as "Count Dubulah" is a good idea - need I say more?)

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