Comments (1) ... This compilation features elusively tight cuts. The kind that you could hear inside an independent movie theatre in Europe. But to call this a cinematic presentation of the finest downbeat and dub is nothing short of an understatement. Most of the artists here were either born in Austria or moved to the mountainous country at some point in their careers. Professor Oz, who brings us the opening number "Whatever the Sun", is one good example. Born in Paris, he eventually relocated to Vienna to meet Sugar B, also credited on the track, and Richard Dorfmeister of Tosca.

1. Professor Oz "Whatever the Sun (feat. Sugar B)"
2. Shanti Roots & Scheibosan "Find It"
3. Lazy "Love Robbery"
4. Sin "Game of Despise"
5. Xploding Plastix "Treat Me Mean, I Need the Reputation (dub version)"
6. Stefan Obermaier "Inna Fat Dub Combo"
7. See-I "Dinner of Herb"
8. Architektur "The Smoker"
9. All India Radio "Dehli Dub"
10. Jamie Saft "Tuf Luv Dub"
11. The Waz Experience "Smoker's Funk"
12. Ohm "Helium Voices"
13. Karl Stirner vs. Canartic "In July (Canartic Raggaready Remix)"
14. Sundae Club "The Voder"
15. Lazy "Wasteland (instrumental)"

Following the inaugural track, punctuated by dub licks and languid beats, is the Viennese electronic scene at its most infatuated. Markus Dohelsky, also performing under the Shanti Roots moniker, lends his reggae-flavored approach to the good skills of Scheibosan, the musical equivalent of a nomad, having played before crowds not only in his native Austria but also in Hungary, Greece and Brazil. Moving up a notch, the record gets all trip-hoppy and scratchy with the Los Angeles-based band Lazy, which was founded by former members of Supreme Beings of Leisure.

But if "Love Robbery" sounds a lot like Portishead circa the 90s, Sin's "Game of Despise" has a true erotic vibe. From the cold Norwegian shores comes the Xploding Plastix (named after Andy Warhols' series of multimedia events that rocked the late 60s) with a furtive yet catchy "Treat Me Mean, I Need the Reputation". By the time the CD player hits two exquisite marks, namely via Stefan Obermaier's funkiness, and See-I's stylistic world journey (the link with Thievery Corporation is obvious), the record hits this listener's most eclectic nerve.

In less than two minutes, All India Radio, actually coming from down under, manages to deliver fat guitar lines and loose beats that exhale a perfume so gallantly pop and movie-like. And while "Tuf Luv Dub" is on it's not difficult to understand why multi-instrumentalist Jamie Saft has such a brilliant résumé, having worked with John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, and the Beastie Boys, among others. That, and the following track "Smoker's Funk", by the Italo-German ensemble The Waz Experience, seem to have been composed under the influence of the kind of weed smoked in spaceships – if smoking was allowed in such endeavors.

The record's final moments are more distractive and thus disruptive, ranging from the conscious sloppiness of Ohm's "Helium Voices" to the ragga-ready treatment of Austin's Canartic amicably challenging Austrian experimental wizard Karl Stirner, and the electronic dreams in color of Theremin-lovers Sundae Club. "Musik For Film" has so many stylistic deviations that make this material suitable for the most obscure western spaghetti, as well as the hypothetical next chapter of the intergalactic wars.

~ Helder Gomes

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