Does this already qualify as a concept album? With »Bar Mediterraneo«, the Neapolitan duo Nu Genea is trying to create an acoustic place of encounter where strangers do not remain strangers to each other for long, but quickly enter into conversation and happily exchange ideas. That makes you think of Café del Mar, of course, and sounds rather cheesy. But what you have to know is that this courage for an unbridled affirmation of life without a double bottom is, in a way, the core activity of the duo made up of Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina. Exuberant, full-bodied eighties synths, non-European instruments like the Ney in »Gelbi«, which seems like an Ahmed Fakroun number with Tunisian vocals and a heavy funk groove, and an uncompromising sepia sound propagate carefree and international lightness. »Marechià« also features a guest singer, Célia Kameni, but this time with French vocals. This plurilateral approach is systematic; after all, the »Bar Mediterraneo« is meant to be a refuge for everyone, regardless of where you are from. This almost provocative naivety may be alienating on a conceptual level, but musically it makes perfect sense – and is fun: Tracks like the captivating »Praja Magia« are immediately compelling and, with their gossamer melancholic note, transport a late summer feeling that is also inherent in some »Habibi Funk« compilations, for example.
Kamasi Washington
Fearless Movement
XL Recordings