It was difficult to separate Aromabar’s debut from the glum trip-hop work of Thievery Corporation and Andrea Parker, except that it appeared to have a deeper understanding of pop structure. Roland Hackl, DJ Scott, and Karin Steger put together the clever “Where’s Your Moon” and the Italian Cass & Slide big beat of “Africa For Eu” without a needless wandering of styles and fastened the rest to an understated house texture. While the idea that down-tempo didn’t have to constantly leap through genres to keep one’s interest was admirable enough, and it did leave for a series of more unmemorable tracks such as the poorly executed “Telephone,” “Green Running,” “Little Brother,” and “Winter Pageant.” – Dean Carlson
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