Mo'Horizons

On their third full-length, the German duo-it-all Ralf Droesemeyer and Mark "Foh” Wetzler live up to their "more horizons” name. With house, soul, jazz, nu jazz and funk mixed with influences from places they visited on tour (Mexico, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Australia) and some they didn’t (Brazil), their 13-song follow up to 2001’s Remember Tomorrow is a success of influences. While some artists’ blending of genres only highlights the culture vulture nature of a globalised dance world, Mo’Horizons display a good sense of how to blend without claiming ultimate authority over the cultures they borrow from — and still make it work. For example, the wonderfully youthful yet mature voice of Indo-German-Senegalese singer Denise M’ Baye stops the show on "So Ma Guisee,” as she sings in a couple of different languages and raps over a mix of watered-down soul piano and swaying classical guitar. It’s followed by a couple down-tempo jams replete with forceful soul keys on one and a floating jazzy vocal on the other. "Gonna Be” is a house jam with a tasteful and hearty R&B vocal, that’s followed by the South American jazz funk mix "Mambuloo.” However it must be said that for all their skilful blending they could’ve gone slightly easier on the polish. All in all, the tracks are laid out in complementary order making it a nice listen all the way through.