Around The World In 80 Minutes

I have to admit I really can’t see what the fuss is all about on this one. Tegma have always seemed to me to be competent producers, but I’ve never really “got” them. I can recognise it’s clever, but I’ve never been able to really appreciate what it is they do, and I’ve never been able to get as far into them as a lot of mates have. And the mates of mine who love Tegma all have bloody good taste in music (as you need to, in order to be my mate) so I know they must be onto something.

Around The World In 80 Minutes is an exquisitely-packaged concept album. The concept is fairly simple: the boys decide to incorporate global flavours into an album of nine tracks, reflecting their experiences of travelling around the planet playing at parties, sampling cultures, and meeting musicians. All very worthy stuff. The reality, unfortunately, is a little more half-baked than this. Desert Tale features contributions from an uncredited Egyptian musician whom Temga met on tour. The track promises lots but delivers little – it’s too cobbled together, as though the “world” influences are an afterthought. L

ikewise El Mariachi, an obvious name for any kind of track with a Mexican influence. It’s a little cobbled-together, likewise Tribal Dancer and Drums Of Africa, which incorporate some of the most bland and patronising sample-CD African clichés. A Night In Cairo has little tangible reference or resemblance to anything, and I Wanna Be A Robostar is a limp affectation to cyborg pop (“while many want to be rockstars, we want to be robostars,” enthuse the sleevenotes). The only saving grace is the electro-tinged Spooked, which has nothing to do with travel, and sounds like it was tacked on at the end. I just don’t get it: the internet is (check if you must) full of adulation and praise on this album. But I just don’t see what the kick is.

The tracks themselves are competent; but remember that in the last eighteen months or so the prog bar has been raised and raised again. Slapping mostly unimaginative and occasionally patronising ‘world’ music over the top doesn’t help. For me anyway, this is the one duff release in Tribal Vision’s otherwise flabbergasting catalogue.