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It is NOT what it says on the label. Two things stand out after a quick perusal of the track listings here. One, that this should really be called ‘a little bit Gypsy a little bit Balkan’ as what you find here is just that and rather alot of ska-oriented Eastern Block hyperness. Haydamaky, Binder & Krieglstein, Russkaja and Municipale Balcanica (the latter of whom I am a big fan and are actually from Italy) will probably not fulfill your desire for straight ahead ‘Gypsy Beats’ OR ‘Balkan Bangers’ but feel far more Russian based and are more in the Balkan Beat Box and Gogol Bordello genre. Perhaps I am splitting hairs here, but I don’t think so.

Second, these tracks are not outstandingly new apart from a couple of exceptions. Indeed Dunkelbunt, a superb DJ/mixer hailing from Vienna, is well represented with not one but 2 tracks, but these were released months ago on Chat Chapeau. Gaetano Fabri’s brilliant remix of Kal’s Mozzarella, sure to be a hit on the ‘gypsy’ circuit, is in fact new and will be released in the UK in September. The N.O.H.A. remix of !DelaDap’s Goldregen track was released on Ost Klub Kapitel 1, a Chat Chapeau compilation last year. In fact DelaDap, Russkaja and Dunkelbunt are all Chat Chapeau artists, and my inclination is to wonder what sort of real research went into this compilation.

What I should point out however, is that unlike Vol. 1, which features Shantel, Mahala Rai Banda, Gogol Bordello, Fanfare Ciocarlia etc this collection brings artists otherwise pretty much unknown, certainly to a British audience, a bit of well deserved publicity. If you are like me and a bit of a connoisseur, though not necessarily a purist, you might well be better off getting the Dunkelbunt and Fabri albums. I personally would like to have seen more remixes (perhaps this is planned for future EPs?). I think where BalkanBeats Volumes 1 and 2 seem to deliver exactly that, this has been mislabeled. But if you want a party mix and are a fan of Balkan Beat Box and Gogol Bordello, than this is the compilation for you.