So, I’ve been doing some decluttering and I ran across this CD which has probably been setting on my shelf since it came out in 2009. I don’t specifically recall where I got it, but it was obviously something I got for free and then threw it on the shelf and just never listened to it. Well, I’ll give it a listen and then get rid of it, I thought to myself. I then had one of the most joyous and surprising musical experiences I’ve had in a long, long time. This sampler is only seven tracks long and clocks in at just a hair over thirty minutes. But this is an incredibly broad sampling of various genres and I found myself absolutely loving it. The album starts with a rip-roaring live performance by Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar; it’s the folkiest track here, what you’re probably thinking of when you think “Croatian music,” but it’s really intense. From there, we get into a lovely acoustic instrumental (Sasa Bulic by Davno), a couple of hard-driving stadium rockers (Paranoja by Letu Stuke), a gorgeous acca pella choral piece (Dalmatino, Poviscu Pritujena by Oktet DC) and more. My favorite is probably Sanjati Cemo Zuto by Gustafi; it’s got a thunderous club beat under some bouncing folk-sounding music and a scream-along chorus that I was singing along with before I knew what the words meant. I loved the sprawl this album had, even with only seven tracks, and I loved the way that all the songs fell neatly into familiar genres, like hard-rock or club music, but all, due to the Croatian origins, featured just slightly different elements, like different chord progressions or melody lines. This was just a full-on blast of fun. Ignore that terrible cover; this one’s pure gold. 4 stars.
tl;dr – compilation features a large variety of genres, all with a Croatian twist, and delivers an unbelievably fun listening experience. 4 stars.