by Jeff Berry (aka Beachbum Berry)                                                                                                                         Review!

What hath Dutch ex-punk rock diva Truus De Groot wrought?  One thing "Rancho Exotica" isn't is yet another postmodern rerun of the usual Martin Denny lounge music.  Leave that to the retro remix crowd.  Truus has what they don't -- an imagination.  If you're looking for something new and different to mix your mai tai's by, look no further.  Truus has created a new kind of exotica music, a sonic dreamscape at once primordial and futuristic, ethereal and corporeal, amped up and mellowed out.  It's the soundtrack for the life you wish you were leading:  a life of moonlit nights on uncharted isles, of exploring ruined cities in jungle overgrowth, of travelling through space in interstellar overdrive.  My favorite tracks -- "Visitors," "Ua Ahi," and "Mystery Isle" -- put me in a fugue state I never want out of.  And what an orchestra she summons from the void:  Kafiristani monks on horns, Inca shepherds on flute, Meiji geishas on strings, Alpine maidens on vocals, and ancient Marquesan warriors, Bantu chieftains, and prehistoric locusts on percussion -- all mixed down by alien engineers from Alpha Ceti, in a Chinese opium den recording studio.  Check it out!

Buy Both Muzotica and Rancho Exotica at only $20!