Saloua

Truffaz's mix of dance beats and jazz trumpet started out in a coolly downbeat zone. Here, he heats things up -- which is a nice change of pace, but veers into TV-commercial pop at times.

Tunisian singer Mounir Troudi takes a bigger role (he's on one track of Truffaz's "Mantis" CD), adding to the album's exotic "world" feel. Searing electric guitar adds spice and creates psych-jam space (8,9,11). Tracks 2 and 4 include outright rap. Truffaz's crisp trumpet veers each track into jazz territory and sounds almost out of place on tracks like #5.

Recommended, although I suspect this session gets less satisfying as the element of surprise wears off.

1- Exotic North African expansiveness. Slow feel w/midtempo beat.
2- Dub with rap vocal. Slow, spare.
3- Downtempo oasis, mellow
4- *FCC* "shit breaks loose" at +1:30. Tunisian(?) vocals and English rap: Bouncy midtempo pop
5- Mid/slow, burning
6- Experimental! Dub + psych jam w/simple jazz ending
7- Slow landscape
8- Mid/fast and swirling
9- Whoa. Big guitar fuzz over a happy tune (it'd be cheesy rock in another context). Proggy solo.
10- Gentle, soft, acoustic
11- Big, spacey, slow, w/hyper synth squeaks. Slow start.
12- Mid/slow, with dub elements