Juno Reactor gets better and better.

Leave it to Juno Reactor to start an album off with a song that manages to brilliantly merge a jungle breakbeat with a Flamenco melody, then follow that up with a song comprised of almost nothing but tribal drums and chants, with some trance sounds...

"Shango" ranks amongst the greatest electronica albums ever written. The idea of genre blending may not be a new one, but no one, no matter what genres of music they were attempting to mix, has ever come even remotely close to pulling it off as brilliantly as Juno Reactor has here. The end result is one of the most original-sounding techno albums I've ever heard. I would almost accuse it of being a departure in style for him, except that he's never stuck with one consistent sound and has always tried to push the envelope, always with great results. Those unused to Juno Reactor's music will probably enjoy parts of it and be turned off by others, whereas long-time fans are going to be treated to what is his best work yet.

Pistolero

It starts off with a bang...literally...as samples of gunfire and a woman saying "oh, I hate robbing banks" accompany the Flamenco-sounding guitar melody. A trance artist is the last person I would expect to pay homage to the Wild West, but then again, it's almost precisely the sort of thing you would expect from Juno Reactor. The rhythm is pretty junglish in nature, and the bassline is definitely the result of synthensizers, rather than actual instrument playing, so the song remains very danceable, even though the feel is definitely Flamenco from beginning to end. At times, you'll hear some rather wild singing samples which give the whole thing a very surrealistic feel. Thankfully, while the guitar sounds are actually all samples, at least Juno used a number of different melodies for the samples, thus ensuring that the guitars don't get repetitive and annoying.

To put it another way, if they make a sequel to the movie "The Three Amigos", and give it a science-fiction setting, then 'Pistolero' is unquestionably the perfect theme song. It makes that little sense, yet somehow works extremely well.

Hulelam

The beautiful and energetic chanting found here is fascinating enough, but of course it wouldn't be a Juno track without some insane drumming. Congo drums are the order of the day here, but even though the feel is similar some of his earlier songs like 'Conga Fury' and 'Kayuga Hime', the drumming is far more frenetic than ever. The synthensizers are very cool sounding, but also lead to the one (very minor) problem I have with the song - they make the whole tune feel completely out of rhythm. They are slower-paced, yet louder than the drums, and wind up making the song sound like it has a 6/8 rhythm, when it really uses a more standard 8/8. That's no big deal to me since the chanting makes me want to go on an insane head-banging rampage, as opposed to actually trying to dance to it...but I don't think this song will dominate the dancefloors anytime soon. So it goes - it's still a fantastic song.

Insects

With its pulsing bassline and rather 'standard'-sounding trance rhythm, this song has a lot in common with the songs 'Glamourama' and 'Solaris' by Photek (from his 2000 release 'Solaris'). I suppose it also fits in with most of Juno Reactor's song from his initial album 'Transmissions'. It's rather quiet and dark in nature, and makes for some great dancing. But even then, there are times when a very loud, overpowering synthensizer will kick in, accompanied by violins and a pretty head-banging rock rhythm. Those periods, however, are pretty brief. It's not my favorite track as it doesn't stand out quite like Hulelam or Pistolero, but again, it works great for the dance floor.

Badimo

This tune kicks my butt around most harshly. Very deep orchestral tones are accompanied by a very eerie, distorted sample of some insane-sounding man repeatedly chanting 'bah-deeeeee-moh' over and over. The beat builds in volume over time, growing from that sound with a very quiet, almost imperceptible drum rhythm, into a very jungle-sounding tune with additional chants (ones that I can't decipher) and lots of atmospheric sounds. Near the end you also will hear a sample from one of his earlier songs ('Magnetic' from Beyond The Infinite), and it further serves to add to the eerie feel of this entire song. It ends with some very pretty cool organ-sounding notes, and leads flawlessly into...

Masters Of The Universe

This is probably my favorite tune on the entire disc, although 'Hulelam' comes awfully close. It starts off as a somewhat ordinary, although super-fast-paced trance tune with some nifty singing samples. But it's not too long before a majestic piano riff takes center stage, and the drums kick into absolute overdrive. The new drum riff sounds at first like congo drums, yet at times it'll be distorted and given a more metallic sound. The song eventually slows down greatly, reverting to nothing but a few atmospheric noises and singing, with what I can only call a techno-hiphop rhythm (i.e. it has a hiphop pattern, but uses synthensizer-drum sounds). That slow part only lasts for a little while, though, as the unbelievably fast-paced part kicks in again, this time with some industrial noises to add to the chaos.

'Masters Of The Universe' is the greatest song on a dance-ability basis, and the only problem I might have with it is that it's pretty much impossible to just sit still and listen to and smile at. I've tried listening to this at my desk at work and not succumbing to the urge to dance like a crazed lunatic, and only barely managed. Those with an untested willpower may wish to restrict their listening to this song to the dance floor and what-not.

Nitrogen Part 1

This song was co-produced with the always-grooving Alex Patterson of The Orb. The end result is a tune that is much slower than the songs before it, but a very cool one nonetheless. It features some odd guitar samples (it almost sounds like a harpsichord at times), typical strange synthensizer noises that The Orb are famous for using, and a smooth yet very loud bassline. This tune would fit in flawlessly with any of the tunes from The Orb's classic 'U. F. Orb'.

Nitrogen Part 2

Part 2 speeds up things quite a bit, and like 'Insects', uses atmospheric sounds in a way that make it feel much like most of Juno's earliest songs. However, there are almost two distinct parts to it. One part has the rhythm using of those 'metal congo' drums again, and with the bassline (which is almost identical to that of Part 1) and very creepy singing samples, the song takes on an almost-tribal feel at times. The remainder of the song sticks to more familiar trance territory, with the synth drums and bizarre noises that make it feel like a sped-up Part 1. Both parts of Nitrogen are really good, but they don't 'wow' me in any way, as do 'Hulelam' and 'Pistolero', so I can't say much more than just that...they're really good.

Solaris

Man, go to www.cdnow.com and do a search on 'song name' & 'Solaris'. I can't believe this many artists would use it...it must be a new federal regulation of sorts, "...every electronica album must have a minimum of one song on it entitled 'Solaris'..."

Anyway, Juno Reactor's 'Solaris' is far better than any other artist I've heard. Just when I was about to write off 'Shango' as having one or two innovative tracks and then resorting to simple trance music, the final two songs amaze me all over again. It starts off using what sounds like a distorted Tibetian monk chant and some very beautiful and slow flute playing. You also get a fair share of atmospheric sounds to give it an other-wordly feel. About halfway through, some slow-paced congo drums will kick in, along with additional chanting, and eventually all that will fade away to simply atmospheric sounds. It's an incredibly beautiful piece of music...it almost makes me want to take up meditating as a hobby.

Song For Ancestors

This speeds up the tempo a bit, and adds some great acoustic guitars and some lovely singing (I don't know if it's sampled or not, but if not, I forget who the woman is that performs it...irregardless, it's magical sounding). Some echoing xylophone riffs and synthensizer sounds make it even stranger and more beautiful, and it dies off in a very quiet manner. It and 'Solaris' came as close as any electronica song has ever done to making me cry, due to their very beautiful sound. It's quite a bit of a comedown after the very hectic beginning seven tunes, but is stunning nonetheless.

OVERALL

Juno Reactor keeps getting better. The tribal sound he began to dabble in with 'Bible Of Dreams' is no longer merely one element out of many in his music, but rather he has entire songs rooted completely in it. Yet he never abandons his trance roots at all, and is willing to take sounds from completely unrelated genres, toss them in, and make them work brilliantly. A pure trance fan is probably not going to appreciate the final two songs to their full extent, and those looking for drum-n-bass/jungle greatness might only dig the first two tunes and 'Masters Of The Universe' and get bored with the rest...so this album likely to disappoint some electro-heads. But there's no denying that there are very few artists willing to blur the boundaries between musical genres like Juno Reactor does, and again, the few who do cannot do so with such great skill.

I'm not going to pretend exactly what 'Shango' means, or if he's referring to a legend of some sort or what, so I'll just assume that 'Shango' translates to 'innovative musical brilliance'. This album is the embodiment of that very principle.

Essential Tracks

Hulelam
Masters Of The Universe
Song For Ancestors

Ignore These Tracks

um, Insects, I guess (although it's still good, that's how ridiculously much I love Juno Reactor's music)