Search - Trans-Global Underground :: Impossible Broadcasting

The comeback tribe

John R. Hodgkinson | 07/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"TGU's previous, Yes Boss Food Corner was a bringdown, with its bland, sample-sparse electo. But hope hops eternal, so I took a chance on their next, Impossible Broadcasting. What a pleasant surprise. These guys are back to their old, fine Temple Head level, enhanced by some recombinant DNA from other ethno trends (I hear shimmerings of Talvin Singh, Dum Dum Project, Voix Bulgare, and many others).



Standouts for me are the deceptively simple Vanilka (sounds like Bollywood exit music), the hilarious buddy movie Yellow And Black Taxi Cab, and Drinking In Gomorrah (I'd call it Casablanca On Acid). But the whole album hangs together, an intergalactic radio program mixed with a tinge of geopolitics. I expect I'll wedge my CD player on repeat for a few weeks. What a treat."

Be enthralled!

Daly Mavorneen | Los Angeles, CA | 01/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Starting with the snippet of radio-broadcast speak in "7-5," the audience knows immediately that this is not a casual listening experience.



From the rollicking beats of "Khaleegi Stomp" and "Yellow And Black Taxi Cab" to the absolutely giddy acid trip narration of "Drinking In Gomorrah" to the cheeky-yet-dead serious homage of "Take The A Tram" (referencing Duke Ellington's Harlem-visit masterpiece " "Take the 'A' Train"), TGU puts a masterful world-music, political-conservatism-be-damned spin on Arab rock and roll!



Spin this disc and dance, listen to the lyrics, or clean the house....either way you will be enthralled!"