Ghoom Charakahna (Talvin Singh Future Sounds Of India Mix) - Najma
Transcendence - Thievery Corporation
Harmon Special Session XI - Black Star Liner
Sweet Lassi Dub - Stoppa & Nobby
Sirocco - Christopher Goze
Der Bauch - MC Sultan
Just You And I - Dzihan & Kamien
Caravane - Radar
Shashkin (Hefner Remix) - Omar Faruk Tekbilek
A sultry haze hovers over Mystic Groove, like the heat and scorching sun on a nomadic caravan lost in the desert. Compiling old and new tracks from the Asian Underground, Mystic unfolds slowly but consistently, casting a l... more »ooming swarm of percolating tables, echoing frame drums, bells, billowing sitars, flutes, dreamy vocals, and that unique drone peculiar to all Indian music. With their floating, mid-tempo rhythms and enigmatic melodies, the tracks are almost interchangeable, but their mission is to chill, not thrill. Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh, and Thievery Corporation offer the prevalent Indian sounds, but Mystic Groove also goes techno-Turkish with Omar Faruk Tekbilek and more leftfield with the exotic Arabian airs of Dzihan & Kamien and MC Sultan. One track bleeds into the next, the pace imperceptibly rising and falling like the tide. Mystic Groove won't help you shake your groove thing, but that doesn't mean it won't mess with your transcendental mind. --Ken Micallef« less
A sultry haze hovers over Mystic Groove, like the heat and scorching sun on a nomadic caravan lost in the desert. Compiling old and new tracks from the Asian Underground, Mystic unfolds slowly but consistently, casting a looming swarm of percolating tables, echoing frame drums, bells, billowing sitars, flutes, dreamy vocals, and that unique drone peculiar to all Indian music. With their floating, mid-tempo rhythms and enigmatic melodies, the tracks are almost interchangeable, but their mission is to chill, not thrill. Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh, and Thievery Corporation offer the prevalent Indian sounds, but Mystic Groove also goes techno-Turkish with Omar Faruk Tekbilek and more leftfield with the exotic Arabian airs of Dzihan & Kamien and MC Sultan. One track bleeds into the next, the pace imperceptibly rising and falling like the tide. Mystic Groove won't help you shake your groove thing, but that doesn't mean it won't mess with your transcendental mind. --Ken Micallef
CD Reviews
Blatant rip-off of a great album.
rrobertdn | San Francisco, CA USA | 08/12/2001
(2 out of 5 stars)
"This CD really had a lot of promise and could have been just great. In fact when I popped it in my CD player it started out great. From reading the liner notes I already knew that the last track was also to be found on another compilation album, Arabesque. That album BTW is a must for almost any music collection. It turns out however that no less then four of the ten tracks of "Mystic Groove", all on the last half of the CD, are lifted straight out of "Arabesque". It would have been so easy to replace those tracks by different ones from the same fabulous artists. So, to make a long story short, save your mon and buy the much better and longer "Arabesque" instead. Don't support this blatant rip-off."
Under-produced electronica
Thomas Olausson | Manhattan Beach, ca United States | 11/24/2002
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I bought this CD because it had a track with Goze - Sirocco, I loved that track from the Kelly Slate Surfing game.Unfortunately, this CD suffers from the Buddha Bar/Chill Out/ syndrome.
One or two tracks are good, but you wonder where they found the other 10 tracks, (or that whole 2nd CD in some cases).Mystic Groove is supposed to take place in a commercialized mid-Eastern Electronica World.
The gee-whiz factor wears off quite quickly.Most tracks on this CD are plain under-produced electronica. That's a bad combination, because it means a sounds and samples repeated just too much.There's gotta be better compilations out there, and the only good thing from this one is that I'm searching for other, better ones."
Stop crying and start dancing!
musikphan | Canada | 11/28/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This cd has madd flavor if you actually listen to it. sure, there are some repeats from another compilation, but that happens every other day. If you own that other comp, don't get this one, but if you're just getting into this kinda stuff, I highly recommend this album. The best tracks are from Nitin Sawhney, Thievery Corporation , Black Star , Christophe , MC , Dzihan & Kamien, the last one probably the BEST. It's a song for under-the-sheets, if you catch my drift, nudgenudgewinkwink."
Love it! Love it! Love it!
Melinda R. Allen | Okinawa, Japan | 01/31/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I love it. My Friends love it. My Yoga Students love it! I get more compliments on "Mystic Groove" in class than I do on any other cd that I ever used for Yoga! People can't help but to look into the room when they pass by...the exotic rhythms just pull them in!"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1