XX

""They might not like us but no one can say we're not original," declares Osman Murat Ertel of the group he helped found 20 years back. He's right - Baba Zula are a one-off, their "Istanbul psychedelia" offering an often madcap brew of Anatolian folk, krautrock and reggae. XX is in part a "Best Of" collection, although it chooses remixes and live tracks over the originals, and adds another disc of dub cuts for good measure. It's by turns playful and earnest. Their biggest hit, Biz Size Aşık Olduk, is a sweet clarinet melody with rattling spoons, while Eternal Is the Word of Poets is a pulsing broadside against the political establishment, led by electric lute. Bosphorus rock'n'roll".

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"Istanbul's Baba Zula have a most singular sound, inspired by the Turkish psych-folk-rock movement of the 1960s and '70s and the traditional Anatolian music which was an inspiration to that scene, but also drawing on jazz, art-rock experimentation and a heavy dose of dub and reggae. They're celebrating their 20th anniversary with this sort-of "Best Of" which draws on material from all parts of their career, though not in versions that have ever seen the light of day before. "XX" is choc-full of alternate takes, remixes, live versions and collaborations, creating an alternative history of the band which is very much in keeping with their defining off-kilter spirit ... In truth, there are maybe one too many samples of heavy breathing and orgasmic moans for my taste and I think us non-Turkish speakers miss out by not understanding the band's socially conscious lyrics. But all in all this is a fine compilation, well-programmed in its shifts from driving rock to digi-reggae (Sly and Robbie are in the mix) to delicate folk and out into all kinds of weirdness".