Search - Cuica :: City to City

It's rare to find a record with the stylistic breadth of Cuica's City to City. The group's architects, Italian-reared, London-based Simone Serritella and Pete Herbert, clearly didn't get the memo stating that the perimeters of electronica, worldbeat, bossa nova, Brazilian, and African music should be clearly defined. The pair cooks up a wildly rhythmic stew that's equal parts Latin diaspora and dance-floor rumble. Tracks like "Meierising Pt 1" percolate with an incessant beat while foreground chants propel the action. Seemingly disembodied howls appear often on City to City, and the lack of discernible lyrics adds to the disc's international flavor. The vaguely funky "Nights over Vauxhall" is similarly built on fragmented whoops, adding bloopy keyboard swirls to Metheny-esque electric guitar and raging percussion. In fact, percussive is the keyword for describing City to City, and you just know Gilberto Gil would approve. --Kim Hughes