Search - Taba Sensi :: Taba Sensi

Good CD with terrific packaging

bordersj2 | Boston | 11/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Funny thing about this one is that I've had it for a while but didn't open it mainly because the packaging looked so good! Taba Shops were, according to the liner notes, founded in Ponza, Italy. It's a shop of very special and very unique designer clothes and art work. It looks like their real focus is to have an ecclectic mix of items of high quality. But really, the album is off of a label called Cool d:vision, and they've put out loads of other compilatoins, maybe most notably "Essential Chill Out" and then there's "Blacktronic", which was done by Bruno Bolla. The Italian connection is clear - Bruno Bolla did some of the first ever Break & Bossa's on Schema (Nicola Conte, Gerardo Frisina, Soulstance, S-Tone Inc... Luciano Cantone's label). But he didn't do tihs one.



Enough about the history. This is actually a pretty good cd. It was released in 2004 and for the time, had a very mixed line-up of artists. This is good and bad, though. You've got some cool tracks by Suba... three of them, actually. I still like ihs Felicidade and "Abraco" is interesting too with I think it was Arnaldo Artunes on vocal. You've also got a quirky remake by SMoke City with "Aguas De Marco". It's off of their first album, where the artists were bit more exploratory. Alta Another highlight is Macumbalada's "Samba Do Morro"... I remember that one from 2002 - it was played all the time for the 2002 World Cup. You've also got Nicola Conte's remix to Maxwell Implosion's "Tic Tac" and you can make the connection with Anvil Fx's "Seja O Que Foi" (same singer). A kickin' samba features with "Grupo Batuque's "Percussion Livre" and you've got a throw-back to 1996 with Everything But the Girl's "Corcovado" - I still remember the Red Hot & Rio TV special when the cd came out. Maybe one the cd's guiding lights is that it's really trying to capture an atmosphere, and you can tell that the tracks were hand-picked. Some cuts are head-scratchers but then again, most people aren't DJ's and dorky collectors like I am.



It's a good CD and a lot of thought was put into it and the packaging. I recommend it. A few shortcomings here and there though... particularly with labeling the tracks. Maxwell Implosion's cut is a Nicola Conte remix. That is a fact. But the cover omits this, as do the liner notes so you might think it's the original, which it isn't. Same with Wanda Sa's "Meditacao"... that's actually BossaCucaNova's version, taken from their very first album. You know that guitar... when it plays, there's instant class with Roberto Menescal. Also in regards to BossaCucaNova, "Mais Perto Do Mar" is off of "Brasilidade" and is actually part 2 of a 2 part track, which is why the track starts a bit funky. But despite these things, it's a good cd that's off the beaten path, and it's certainly worthy of more than a few listens. If you like this, you may also like "Nueva Bossa Nova" , "Brazilectro 6" and... the sequel to thi CD titled "Taba II"."