Balkan Beat Box: Nu Made (Remixes)

Brought out to supplement Balkan Beat Box’s 2009 tour of Europe, all but two of the remixes on Nu Made take their cues from songs released on the Box’s last album, Nu Med. Some tracks are more popular than others. Yobbish “Digital Monkey” gets three workouts, the Middle Eastern wriggle of “Habibi Min Zaman” gets two, the Balkan polyphony of “Joro Boro” only one. Planted directly in the middle of much moist swanning and grinding, those crisp Balkan yips arrive like cold gelati. If you don’t know the group already then this salmagundi of different cultures being tossed from one upbeat remixer to another is likely to seem shallow, piecemeal, and puzzling: a series without any apparent aim. Existing fans can enjoy it for what it is: a pleasing alternative glance at songs with which they’re already familiar. While not a great album in its own right, it’s a nice addition to the Box’s small canon.