The Daily Telegraph (United Kingdom)
August 2004

Over the past seven years, Momo’s Kemia Bar off Regent street in London has played host to an extraordinary and at times wilfully excentric array of talent – black Indian Sufis and Sephardic torch singers to cutting-edge Brazilian dance sounds – all in a space not much bigger than your living room. And when the bands stop playing, the DJs take over the subtle interplay of traditional and electronic dance sounds aimed at the bar’s chic clientele.

This double CD Showcases the latter aspect of the Kemia’s activities, the “Before Midnight” and “After Midnight” dealing in tastefully ethereal house rhythms. While it’s all been assembled with great skill, it hardly does justice to what the Kemia’s owners have achieved. We’ve already seen an inundatioin of venue-related compliations in the wake of Claude Challe’s Buddha Bar Series, all with a very similar musical agenda. While this is a superior example of the type, a collection of the Kemia’s most exciting live moments would have made as far more worthwhile contribution to the contemporary music culture.