First of all it opens with some sort of space-age mariachi-type influence and I'm not sure whether to get up and click my heels or lay back in my chair with my arms folded back trying to take it all in…

So how's that for a combination-earthy tones given a full Latino licking?

Call it, "Pistolero,"

Now there's something very strange going on here, very exotic and completely beyond the outer limits of expectancy-this, not even considering the collaborative effects of guitarist Steve Stevens!

"Hule Lam" invokes an accompaniment of tribal beats and mid-song chanting overlaid by whispering winds and other variously assorted new age musical development that hides vaguely within a techno-erotic ambiance-think of remixes without the benefit of actually remixing.

Now we're ready to take an epic journey to the center of the earth and beyond with the third and fourth tracks, "Insects" and "Badimo" which while less exploratory than the first two really take the theoretical image of what electronic transcendence in modern music signifies and creates a mutant world of wonder all their own…

If such a thing as virtual reality exists within the boundaries of music, "Shango" would be it!

This, the fifth album from Juno Reactor, follows a long line of historical development for a collaborative team at home on a cycle of the moon or as a central piece of footage in the latest wave of Japanese animation-as colorful and diverse a project even the most advanced of listeners might ever hope to imagine.

Released by Metropolis Records

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]