Joaquin 'Joe' Claussell and his Spiritual Life label has become well-known for its open-minded, eclectic and musical diverse styles over the years. Something that may be a nightmare to each A&R of a major label since it transcends musical borders and the music from Spiritual Life is hard to pigeonhole.
Amongst others there are the deep house influenced tracks with lots of percussions, some world-music songs or dub inspired tracks like some of the tracks on the 3 Generations Walking album.
All this music styles and influences can be found on this third compilation in the serial that brings of some of the best releases of Spiritual Life.
With ten tracks on offer this album is just the perfect soundtrack for the heatwave we have this summer here in Europe but it may warm your coldest days in winter as well.
Osaze with Unspoken Words opens the New Birth compilation and it's a pleasant lounge-like track, but it pales a little compared to the other 9 songs here.
Take the beautiful sung Umri (Terra Firma) by Slam Mode for example, that has all the right ingredients with a great piano and lots of percussions that make this song so special.
Mental Remedy's Dandos Gracias A Obatala brings us some afro-inspired chants over a percussive beat with more congas and bongos you'll ever here in Africa itself. There's even a saxophon after the first half that really makes this song a winner.
Peace Of Mind by Harmonics has a nice hypnotic appeal with great vocals, a fine acoustic guitar and some memorable percussions.
Dan Gna (Sacred Rhythm Vokal Journey) by Les Go is best described as a piece of African world music in a house version, but then there's an electro guitar at the beginning, something you may not expect in a house song...but it really works.
One of my favourite songs on this compilation is Desireless by Daniel Moreno which starts with a trumpet and piano and then builds the tension with keys until some mad percussion kicks in. Great tune!
Apraketa is another song by Slam Mode and appears as Jeff Mills' Snake Charmer Mix here. This tune is more uptempo than Umri and obviously has drawn its inspiration from the east.
Which leads us to Nitin Sawhney's Moonrise (When Worlds Collide Version) that beautifully combines traditional Indian rhythms with high-tech production. From Nitin's 2001 album Prophesy this version begins like you're stuck somewhere in Bombay or Bangalore but then changes the rhythm to become a latin/salsa influenced song with Nitin still singing in Hindi. Crazy and interesting indeed.
Midnight Bustling (Midnight Rockers) by 3 Generations Walking is another great song that has already been reviewed here as a 12" single.
Pata Bahia's Alaude is a jazzy excursion with a fine trumpet that closes this compilation.
If you like your music more left-field but still want to have quality stuff that's full of surprises then check out New Birth at your local record store.