VA - Cafe Mundo: An Electro World Experience (2003)

"An Electro World Experience," as this album is subtitled, can mean virtually anything, from chillout to funk, electronica to world, and the compilers take the definition liberally. There's definitely plenty of world music, running the gamut from the chilled (Hamid Baroudi with the endearing "Trance Dance" in a remix) to the decidedly funky (pulling out the old Manu Dibango chestnut "Soul Makossa"). The emphasis seems to be on the continent of Africa, but it does drift further afield, taking in Latin sounds with Bajofondo Tango Club and even the Asian steppes with an interesting Huun-Huur-Tu remix. But it dives outside world music at the close, into the easy electronica of Isolee and "Beau Mot Plage," which manages to seem oddly out of place. It's all pleasant enough listening, with little to stretch the ear or drastically open the mind, music for the background rather than intense listening. And if that's the aim, then it succeeds (and with a name like Cafe Mundo, you have to assume it wasn't meant as a major listening experience). But strip it to the core and it's just another compilation with a few interesting tracks and a fair amount of filler. -- Chris Nickson