Balkan Lines | Computer Music

Until we tried Ueberschall's latest, the closest the Computer Music staff had come to experiencing Eastern European culture was an all-night session on GTA IV. Balkan Lines takes traditional Eastern European influences, and mixes them with contemporary dance sounds to create interesting musical fusions. While we admit that we'd never heard of the Superstar Orkestar or Aref Shakouri, their brass and violin playing is spot on, and the production on the disc is top-notch throughout. Even if you're not particularly fond of raved-up European folk music, there are some great sounds in this library that would work in a variety of contexts. As always with these Ueberschall libraries, we think it's a bit of a missed opportunity that you can't extract all the content to WAV in one go (you've got to audition and sequence them using the included Elastik Player), but if that doesn't bother you, then Balkan Lines makes for an unusual and interesting diversion.