Al Gromer Khan
& Emin Corrado,
Tantra Electronica
(New Earth, 2004)

This CD promises a lot. Not only does the New Earth Records website state that "another level of consciousness" can be reached through the listening of Tantra Electronica, but there is an implied tie-in to tantric sex, with a quote about sexual intercourse on the back of the CD sleeve and song titles that include "Pleasure Palace" and "From Lust to Bairagia."

I don't think this CD will either raise your consciousness or raise, well you know. This bliss CD could put you in a mellow mood, however.

The 13 instrumental tracks are synthesizer-based, with Indian instruments like tabla, sitar and surbahar (an instrument of the sitar family) added, and occasional Indian vocals and spoken word. The synthesizers are very space-like, using long, drawn out notes. Gromer Khan calls his style "paisley music," intertwining ambient keyboards with traditional Indian melodies.

Corrado wrote three tracks, Gromer Khan wrote seven and they collaborated on three. All the tracks blend together well.

On this CD, just under an hour in length, there is nothing here to really capture your attention. This is not quite an ambient and not quite a new age CD, but somewhere in between, without taking anything interesting from either genre. And combining Indian music with electronica has been done many times before, by Gromer Khan and others. Gromer Khan has also done CDs mixing ambient music and the art of love with Tantric Drums and Kamasutra.

Some listeners say that this music is good for meditation. This one sounds more meditative than erotic.

- Rambles
written by Dave Howell
published 30 July 2005



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