October 2004

It was only a matter of time before the Kemia Bar tastemakers followed the likes of Claude Challe in making a double CD of essential eatery flavours. Well the good news is that Mourad Mazouz, Stephanie Malca, and resident Dj Greg Sonata have produced a satisfying diverse collection of world and global dance that more than matches the Buddha bar Series.

The First CD is by far the more rootsy, with the likes of Radio Tarifa, Ojos de Brujo (Ventilator R-80, yet again) and Gigi making satisfying inroads. The remix ethos is in full effect troughout, as are jazzy nuances on the likes of Ursula Rucker’s \"Release\" and Ty’s \"So You Want More?\". A chilled African trip from Smadj finishes things off nicely on the Al West Remix of Fatwords, getting things warmed up for the second disk.

The “After Midnight” CD is a far straighter dance affair with the likes of Carl Craig’s remix of Cersaria Evora’s Angola and Optimus’ \"Caste Out\" segueing neatly into the tracks around them. If you aren’t one of the club beats then the track selection may start to niggle after a while. It feels as much a statement of intent for Most Records as anything else, and it will be interesting to see if they can continue to straddle both world and dance genres successfully. But this gives you a good insight into the ambience of the Kemia Bar and is certainly a promising start.