Blending near eastern, dub, jazz, deep house and a little hip hop style, Cay Taylan's debut "Su" is ripe with delicious slow and mid-tempo grooves. Deep and dirty doublebass lines, smooth and sophisticated synths, cool and gritty jazz edges, warm and rhythmic near eastern percussion and strings... ahh... this is straight Turkish delight!

1. Tell Them Why
2. Kolambe
3. Zanubia
4. Beijo
5. Ciftetelli
6. Su
7. Pop
8. Dalaaqui
9. Blu
10. Olamaz
11. Saria Says Love
12. Alev

"Tell Them Why" is an amalgam of the range of styles you'll hear in various combinations in the songs of Su. Persistent bass kicks, subtle near eastern percussion, rhodes keys, latin styled piano stabs, jazzy guitar licks and horns, and Jamaican-accented and echoed, spoken word vocals.

With my hyper-sensitivity to African and tribal inspired male vocals (due to their abuse by so many new age acts of the early and mid nineties) I'm surprised "Kolambe" doesn't give me that familiar nervous feeling that says "this just isn't right". Maybe it's the distorted vocals echoes, horns, percussive claps, or the all out funkiness of the bass and synths, but altogether this song just sounds right.

Cay Taylan has really offered up an incredible album with Su. While I tend to always skip past a track or two based on my own personal taste, I really can't say there's a bad one in the bunch. From "Ciftetelli" and its strong eastern flavor, "Su" with smooth, doublebass groove, and brushed snares over subtle vocal chants, "Olamaz" with its funky doublebass, near eastern percussion, and layered sounds, or the ultra-laid-back, deep loungey sound of "Saria Says Love", I just can't keep this one out of play. Highly recommended.

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