For something fun and keep everyone interested, I decided to make weekends my day (or days) to post reviews of things relevant to the blog. This blog obviously has a dance slant, but I will try to post a few physics things every now and then.
I’ve been listening to Tribal Derivations recently. If you are not familiar with Beats Antique, they were the music of choice I believe for The Indigo, who are probably the most influential tribal fusion dance troupe around these days. Zoe Jakes (one of the current members of The Indigo) is even on the cover of the CD. The music blends Middle Eastern rhythms with very breezy electronica.
Most of this music is perfect for those who want to move slowly in an ambient, chilled out way. It’s very pretty, but a lot of it I find repetitive. For a lot of dancers who like to sink into the music and get into a trance-like zone, most of the songs (thinking of “The Battle” on this CD) do not have sudden breaks or dynamical changes. I’m into something a bit faster and bit more dramatic myself; I favored “Intertwine” and “Break Me” myself.
I do like this for slow drills (constant repetition of a movement for muscle memory and strength/endurance building) and stretching, which is why I still have it. For the former, it does have a nice rhythm to follow. Slow drills are good for really understanding a move, by the way, and I haven’t found a lot of music I favor for slow drills. For the latter, the music is tranquil for a good stretch.
I give this CD 3 out of 5 stars. For my purposes, I can’t see myself really performing to most of it, unless I edit the tracks and slice & splice with another song. However, it isn’t a bad CD, and I’ve even found uses for it in my own practice. If you are of the tribal fusion with continuous sounding, slinky music, you’ll probably love it. If you are not a dancer but favor interesting music, check it out.
