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Electronica and World Music Exotica Kaya Project's nonstop foray that moves from trance to transcendence Kaya Project
...And So It Goes
(Interchill Records) by John Diliberto Some records simply exude joy and dispense intoxication and that's the sound of And So It Goes, by Kaya Project. The title may suggest a certain resigned attitude or an inadvertent nod to Billy Joel, yet the music is anything but, on both counts. Seb Taylor is the master mixer of Kaya Project and on their third album, he brings in many of the same ethno-electronica elements that made the first two discs so exhilarating. "Always Waiting" serves as something of an overture to the album with cross-picking guitar, Indian percussion, and tribal vocals from Irina Mikhailova, diva of the late and lamented Lumin and countless other ethno-fusions.

Equally compelling is Taylor's partner, Natasha Chamberlain. She co-composed several tracks and sings in a wordless style on songs like "Obsidian Beats," where her voice is stacked in chanting choirs against Bollywood strings. Kaya Project uses voices as instrumental colors instead of lyric vehicles. Besides Chamberlain and Mikhailova, other tracks include Deeyah, who takes a Bollywood turn on several tracks and the soulful voice of Randolph Matthews.

The vocals play alongside some virtuoso musicians including clarinetist Susi Evans and violinist Deepak Pandit, who can be found wailing on most of the tracks. Taylor, who started as a guitarist before he went digital, draws deeply on American blues and folk music in his playing, from the swampy reverb and tremolo intro of "Five Plus Eight" to the slide guitar that seems to slip into every setting he creates.

Kaya Project's ethnic brew is all-embracing, from the bluesy "Jamming with Marco" to the ethno-techno excursion of "Obsidian Beats." That's tough to do on an album that goes from Klezmer clarinet to country picking, raga sarangi to electronica grooves. Sometimes that's all on one track, but Kaya Project make it sound like one happy global party. We take it for a spin as the first Echoes CD of the Month for 2009.