To listen to audio on Rock Paper Scissors you'll need to Get the Flash Player

Sample Track 1:
"Ista Slika" from Ruke
Sample Track 2:
"Makedo" from Ruke
Sample Track 3:
"Ruke" from Ruke
Buy Recording:
Ruke
Layer 2
CD Review

Click Here to go back.
Slipcue.com, CD Review >>

Darko Rundek & The Cargo Orkestar "Ruke: La Comedie Des Sens" (Piranha, 2004) 

Eastern European music has never really been my thing; generally speaking, I see the word "Balkan" and my eyes start to glaze over... But then there are always surprises, particularly discs like this odd, atmospheric offering by Darko Sundek, a Serbian actor and musician who was once in a band called Haustor, and now fronts the uber-eclectic Cargo Orkestar... The opening number is enough to put any open-eared world music fan on notice: this ain't your grandma's Balkan music. Mixing moody, murky jazz-pop with styles indigenous to his Yugoslavian homeland -- notably gypsy and Arabic melodic themes -- Rundek crafts a multilayered, multifaceted, artsy sound, equally challenging and compelling, music that may remind listeners of irony-drenched, postmodern troubadours such as Tom Waits and Paulo Conte, who have taken their creative efforts into a different stratosphere than the legions of rude rockers and rappers that drown the soundscape. Anyway, even though the Slavic culture remains alien and unappealing to me, I could still recognize the spark of brilliance and timelessness in this album... It's definitely worth checking out!  07/21/04 >> go there
Click Here to go back.