One of my favorite picks for the album club so far, as this genre of music is completely new to me. It did remind me a bit of some Vietnamese folk I've heard. This is a great example of heterophonic music (where the main instrument follows the singer's melody, but delayed a few beats). Because the melodies are always pentatonic the vocal line harmonises nicely with the instrumental line. Even where the music is stealing riffs from western funk or psych, it keeps this heterophony, and at the same time grooves really hard. The vocals are great, with weird bouncy vowels. While I'm not sure this style has the same depth as some other Asian traditions (especially Hindustani and Karnatic), it's still a great example of heterophonic folk that pilfers western music in groovy ways, and I'm giving it
7.5/10
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Hybrid Mode