v/a - TEEN DANCE MUSIC FROM CHINA & MALAYSIA CD"18 tracks taken from Chinese and Malaysian records by groups who were trying to imitate the Western 'go-go' and psychploitation styles. The fun begins when they innocently throw together a lot of western musical elements, not impeded by any stylistic 'rules' -- the 'do's and dont's' that make most Western music so predictable. You may begin to realize there's something quite odd about this music: vaguely Asian touches, apparently random gun shots and horse sounds, whistling, Latin rhythm sections, and Chipmunks voices backed by belly dance music.... The results are a bit disorientating sometimes. Strange indeed, but not over-the-top. Just great fun."
When asked to define "teen dance music," would one include go-go interpretations of Ennio Morricone spaghetti western scores? Perhaps not, but that's no slight toward this wild and raw exotic surf comp that seems to be a permanent fixture on WFMU's playlist. A "must have" for fans of strange international music.
