Jazzanova

Jazzanova's reputation for quality control is virtually insurmountable, and the mix album Computer Incarnations for World Peace doesn't disappoint. It's an unmixed set, curated by Jazzanova's Alex Barck plus Gerd Janson of the Running Back label, focusing on post-disco of several stripes, Italo- or new wave or jazz or even Latin. (Unlike most Sonar Kollektiv compilations, it has nothing from the label's catalogue.) Virtually every track is a CD debut, and for anyone with an interest in Arthur Russell or Giorgio Moroder or My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (i.e. '80s disco or new wave experimentalism), this is one of the more necessary extravagances available. Heavily experimental, or as experimental as a sliding four-four beat gets, the set bounces from a warm Ray Barretto disco jam to the brutally cold electro-disco of Sylvester's "I Need Somebody to Love Tonight" (actually an instrumental) with little regard for what should work in a mix -- but this being Jazzanova, it always works. Highest points go to the mid-tempo dub-synth treatment that turns out to be a remix of "Reach the Beach" by the Fixx. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide