Track Listing

1. Hop - Bajka, Radio Citizen
2. Mondlicht
3. Everything - Bajka, Radio Citizen
4. Night Part 1
5. Night Part II
6. Cielo
7. Birds
8. Prophets
9. Roads
10. Voices
11. Black Forest
12. Championsound - Bajka, Radio Citizen
13. Dust
14. Density
15. Nightingale
16. Love Serenity Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61718 in Music
• Released on: 2006-09-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
Berlin's Radio Citizen is Niko Schabel and a talented collective of local musicians who are behind this adrenalin-infused and spiritually-charged debut. Strains of film noir-worthy dark jazz, earth-shaking tropical dub, and snake-charming soul permeate this release. Channeling Mulatu and Coltrane in a dub shack studio, a barrage of big horns blast blacksploitation flavors with an Eastern funk twist. For fans of Ursula Rucker, Massive Attack, and Nostalgia 77.

Customer Reviews

Channeling the Spirits of Trane, Kirk, Tyner and More
Radio Citizen's "Berlin Seregeti" summons the spirits of John Coltrane, Rashan Roland Kirk, McCoy Tyner, and the hard bop / experimental jazz of the mid-to-late 1960's and wraps them in extraordinarily crafted beats and samples to create a truly fresh sound. The true test of this kind of music is whether it simply recycles old sounds or recasts them in a new light. What struck me most was the amazing convergence between the afro-cuban beats and the hard bop horn and flute runs that comprise the CD's most interesting tracks. In this respect, McCoy Tyner is probably the closest point of reference and "Berlin Serengeti" effectively answers the question: "What would John Coltrane and Rashan Roland Kirk have sounded like if they had played with McCoy's Latin All-Stars?" German spoken word / poet / singer Bajka provides perfect vocal flavor to her tracks, including the rather incongruous though catchy "Hop", which starts the album off in more conventional trip-hop direction. Her contributions to "Everything" and "Championsound" are evocative in the manner of Nina Simone, while her tone and phrasing are superb, in the manner of Billie Holliday and Sarah Vaughn. "Berlin Serengeti" is really a remarkable achievement and succeeds in paying the best kind of homage to its sources. Even more, it reconnects avant-garde jazz with its dance roots - quite an accomplishment.

Fantasic from out of the blue!
Radio Citizen was a new name to me when I downloaded the album Berlin Serengeti from eMusic on a whim (I saw that some folks who's tastes where similar to mine had gotten it). My eyes almost bugged out the first time I listened to it.

Fat grooves in the background, great jazz riffs and fantastic original vocals come together in a thick stew of groove and and beats. If you are a downtempo fan who also likes jazz I cannot recommend this enough. It may be blasphemy, but Radio Citizen did a much better job of Jazz/Downtempo fusion then Davis did with Rock.

bajka is great
this is for fans of bonobo, quantic, and nostalgia 77 with a heavier jazz vibe with heavy beats