Review: Various - Exotic ésotérique Vol​.​2

Well, spring is slowly dragging its way here...the days are getting longer, the lawn needs mowing and there is a vague glimmer from that big yellow ball in the sky (and let's face it, that's as good as it gets here). If you are looking for a soundtrack for the season of renewal and birth, then can I suggest this rather ace mixtape from the uber cool guys over at Artetetra. I don't normally review mixtapes (mainly as they are a bugger to review!) but I have put that to one side 'cos this is something pretty damned good.

Split into 2 sides, 'Eksotik' (side A) and 'Esoterik' (side B), the tape brings together some of the artists that have worked with the label and it all goes to promote the ethos of the label, namely to bring "exotic, psychedelic and ethnic sounds" to the world. There are some 22 tracks on the tape, totaling almost 2 hours of mind-bending music "from fire music and free jazz to noise, sound collage, tropical wave, exotica, italian occult psychedelia, outernational music as well as drone, neofolk and vaporwave." I'm not going to review each and every track as this is a project that is a 'whole' in itself. I will say that some of the contributors have appeared on these pages before (Babau, Holypalms, Adamennon and Hexn) and there are plenty more that I will be investigating further. What it amounts to is two hours of top class music, seamlessly put together and that positively flies by. Some of the tracks are blissful, some are challenging....some are purely experimental while some have structure....but all contribute evenly to a mixtape that is captivating and ultimately satisfying. If you wanna tracklist then here ya go:

EKSOTIK:

The Mauskovic Dance Band – A big brain

Mårble – Archipelago

Babau – No Light

BICIKL – Penga

DJ Bitcoin – €urowallets

Kuru – Potong Jari

Marimba – Turkish rainbow

Hexn – Ysempar

Holypalms – Great amazing waterfall

Los Siquicos Litoraleños – Misterios del Amazonas

LDGU – Dawet

ESOTERIK:

Ak'chamel – Funeral with strippers

Rave Fosche – Percorre una bambina handicappata

Adamennon – Parte Tetra

Francesco Vara - Gelindo

The Beautiful Bunker – Common mistake

Jealousy Party – Polymorphic stomp

Electro Summer Arcade – ラテックスキリスト

Accou – Trajet

Vacuum Templi – Dolorosa et violata

Tacet Tacet – Silex

Dián Lòng - 你妈妈的阴道

The tape is out today and is available from the Artetetra bandcamp page here(also available as a download) and, at 7 euros, is extremely good value for money! Do yourself a favour and get hold of this....a beguiling and fascinating trip.