This is another in the long series of music-library compilations to pour out of Europe since the lounge-core scene began in the early '90s. However, Kaleidoscopica differs from the pack thanks to a surprising sense of musical diversity. Although it is subtitled "obsessive psychedelic, funk-beat '70s Italian music library," there is much more to the disc than just funky rhythms. In fact, Kaleidoscopica covers a number of other styles including jazz ("Sveltissimo"), electronic novelty music ("Soho"), and even straightforward orchestral music ("Giallo Nell'Industria"). This diversity is both a blessing and a curse for Kaleidoscopica: the unpredictability of the disc's stylistic shifts keeps listeners on their toes, but it also keeps the disc from finding the coherent stylistic flow that would make it a consistent listen. Despite this problem, the disc offers some highlights for patient lounge music diehards: "Vocal '700" is a peppy easy listening tune graced with a nifty scat-vocal arrangement and "Notturno" is a subtle jazz excursion that highlights a solo bassline against some cymbal-heavy percussion. However, moments like these are unfortunately sandwiched between a lot of pleasant but unmemorable filler: "Shake N 5B" starts with a promisingly funky guitar riff but fails to take it anywhere interesting, and "Battereologistica" is a throwaway one-minute drum solo that ends before it can get started. The latter cut also points up another problem with this disc: many of the cuts are too short to make an impression. As a result, Kaleidoscopica can only be recommended to lounge music completists.
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