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NEUNG PHAK/MONO PAUSE (CD)
Bay Area musico-pranktitioners Mono Pause (which includes members of Negativland and Porest) have spent more than two decades in a host of different guises, from right-wing, pro-war Operation Desert Storm vets to an unclassifiable improv combo playing to a room of blind listeners, so they appear just as comfortable with this ethnographic pop exercise known as Neung Phak. Their 2003 debut CD is a non-stop barrage of Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Taiwanese and West Oaklandese cover songs (and like-minded originals) which refuse to be "world music". Both current-ish Southeast Asian pop hits and morlam country styles bump up against each other in a host of languages and dialects, and the result is an upbeat and danceable pop record on one hand, and a severe blurring of nationalities on the other. There's even a "secret" guest appearance by Sun City Girls' Alan Bishop. (An Abduction Records release)
Model: ABDT025