JAZZWISE March 2001, issue 40, page 8.
COOLEST PLACE ON THE PLANET? Move over, Oslo. Come in
Belgrade. Yep, hours of fun here at JW playing 'spot the sample' on the
inspirational, African chant-inspired Masks from Alexander Sopchek.
Gleaming freshly cut nu-jazz out of eastern Europe by way Cosmic Sounds
London (a label better known to jazz fans for it's superb sides by
Dusko Gojkovic). Check it out...
PETER
KRUDER G-Stone Recordings
"I don't know if i got those Cd s sent or if somebody
gave them to me at a gig, but i sure know that they are wonderful. I
really dig the Alexander Sopchek album.Very special no boundaries
music. Also the Belgrade's Burning Compilation has some fantastic
moments...So i just wanted to tell you that i'll appreciate the vibe..."
STRAIGHT
NO CHASER /spring 2001/ page 70
Two from the independent Cosmic
Sounds label ran by jazz enthusiast Zeljko Kerleta from Belgrade. Field
trips led him to discover all these artists feverishly working outside
the main streamand lacking an outlet for their productivity-until now.
The vibe is on amalgam of inspirations, be it jazz, African. local
folk, electro and dance. Alexander Sopchek's 'Destiny Dawn' is the
first track from the compilation and his own long player 'Masks'. It's
his personal homage to Africa, inspired by Pigmy melodies and the
tribal rituals of Kenyan tribes resulting in spacey trip hop colours
with roots planted firmly in the Motherland's soil...
WIRE
/March 2001/ page 36 - Global
File under clever bastard
beatnik shit, or something this is an oddity. Sopchek is throwing a
virtual party in his studio just outside Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He has
invited African pygmies, a witch doctor, half a Kenyan tribe, a jazz
group with brass section and a set of pedigree drum loops. In other
words this is a solo album cunningly assembled from scraps and samples
by a producer who loves jazz and African music. Now my theory is that
if you work in this way, your music will ultimately be banal, but
Sopchek has so much flair and sheer, big hearted vibe that he comes
within a hair's breadth of proving me wrong. The album is infectious.
It's a world away from the unspeakable Deep Forest. Perfect for your
next loud party, especially if you're inviting clever bastard beatniks.
(Clive Bell)
JAZZ
AT RONNIE SCOTT'S / no.129, March/April 2001/ 'Making Waves' on
page 10 /
Back to Africa: Unbelievable
vibe coming direct from Eastern Europe via Belgrade thanks to Zeljko
Kerleta's Cosmic Sounds London label. Alexander Sopchek's
African-inspired Masks stops you in your tracks. The briliant
sampling is taken from just two jazz albums. Spot the George Benson
played backwards. (Chrissie Murray, editor of Jazzwise)
DUSTY
GROOVE AMERICA
A wonderful crossover of styles -- recorded by
Yugoslavian producer Alexander Sopcheck, but influenced strongly by
mode of African rhythms, all filtered through a European remix
sensibility to give the record a fresh modern sound. There's a heck of
a lot of percussion on the set, all looped and layered, in a mode that
we might call "downtempo Afro Funk".
PLASTIKS
magazine, Belgium (issue 46, page 61) [in Flamish]
Zemun, een voorstad van Belgrado, is plaats waar
Zeljko Kerleta (platenbaas van Cosmic Sounds, London) en creatieveling
Alexander Sopchek elkaar ontmoeten. Deze 41-jarige jazzgitarist /
documentaire maker zocht sinds lang een gelegeheid om zijn materiaal
aan de man te brengen. Kerleta en Cosmic Sounds bewezen Sopcheks ‘right
thing, right time and right place’ te zijn. Op ‘Masks’ vermengt
Alexander Sopchek Afrikaanse klanken, vooral Kenyaanse en Tanzaniaaanse
rituals, met jazz invloeden (Coltrane, Davis, Montgomery, Metheny en
Weather Report). Dat resulteerde in een fris en origineel album:
straight uptempo afrogroove ‘Destiny Dawn’, de exotische worksong
‘Coconut’, mellow magicsphere in ‘Akamba’, afrotriomf in ‘Erasto’ of
breakbeatshuffle in ‘Vugo’…Een organische en levendige afro jazz
colage. **** (jp)
Michael
Rütten (Soulpatrol 101.4fm/99.85 Frankfurt)
All very good - like the idea behind it and the way
it was transfered into the music. african roots melt into 2000
production standard and all make sense. Faves: Destiny Dawn, Akamba
& Dodo
MUSICAOBSCURA
Equally
inspired by Fela, Sun Ra, DJ Shadow and pygmy melodies, Alexander
Sopcheck forges a new sound for a borderless future. The realization of
Sopchek's musical dream was over 20 years in the making, but MASKS soul
jazzy arrangements vamping over African polyrhythms rapt in the throes
of a true funk groove arrive on the scene just in time. Who'd have
thought that the deepest African record in recent memory would be
delivered by a documentary maker from the Belgrade (as in Serbia)
suburbs? Based on local stories from Kenya and Tanzania, each track on
MASKS hacks through preconceived musical notions like a machete through
the jungle underbrush, clearing new paths of sonic discovery. Follow
Alexander Sopcheck, the unsung pioneer musical explorer, to the village
circle ...the jazz club...the dancefloor
OK
MAGAZINE, Yugoslavia
Na
svojoj dugo osmišljavanoj ploči Aleksandar Sopček donosi obilje
afričkih ritmova, kenijske i tanzanijske ritualne muzike. Vrlo
egzotično... Autor je uspeo da izbegne zamku nemogućnosti da se
atmosfera dalekih podneblja i načina života prezentuje, i da samim tim
album učini odbojnim za slušaoce. Šta više, Sopček ne samo da uspeva u
tome, već svaka tema i svaki instrument veoma bogato dočaravaju
ambijent i podsećaju da je poskakivanje i iskonski ritam u svakom od
nas, bez obzira na kom kontinentu živeli. Album Masks možda treba čuti
pre albuma Leftism (Leftfield) i prve (najbolje) ploče projekta Deep
Forest. Ono što je pomenutim umetnicima bila polazna ideja, Sopčeku je
baza i nadgradnja. Bez preteranih aranžmanskih zahvata u odličnoj
produkciji Aleksandar baca potpuno novo svetlo na područje o kojem smo
od mnogih (uspešnih/neuspešnih) umetnika do sada čuli svašta. Na albumu
je zabeležena jednostavnost života, svakodnevno buđenje, radost danu,
životu, lovu, porodici, Suncu...To je dobar beg iz okruženja u koje smo
sebe doveli tokom dvadesetog veka. Suviše naviknutim na prednosti
savremenog života, takva jednostavnost bi nam sigurno brzo dosadila,
ali je dobro znati da tako nešto na Zemlji još uvek postoji i da je tu
atmosferu moguće doživeti slušajući ovu ploču... to je... kao...
psihoterapija. Sopček će nam album prezentovati na predstojećem Cosmic
Sounds festivalu i to bi trebalo da bude još jedan korak ka
približavanju različitih kultura. Mislim da bi se ovim albumom rado
pozabavili mnogi svetski DJ-evi jer Masks prosto VAPI za dobrim
remiksima. Oni bi svakako Sopčekovu ideju približili aktuelnim klupskim
i plesnim trendovima. Uroš Milovanović
CD
ROOTS
In the lineage of Sun Ra,
Fela and other unclassifiable artists, a musician from Beograd
constructs his own sonic universe, rooted in the rhythms of Africa and
branching out into future jazz. 7 tracks, no pigeonholes
SOUL
SEDUCTION
Inspired
by Pygmy's melodies and a variety of tribal rhythms, Alexander Sopchek
offers this musical collage heavyly rooted in Kenyan tribe rituals.
Great Afro Jazz!
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