LAZA RISTOVSKI / ALEKSANDAR LOKNER: NAOS

"NAOS" is a collaborative album recorded by a duo of keyboard players - Laza Ristovski and Aleksandar Lokner (ex GALIJA). It builds upon already established Vangelisque sound of earlier Ristovski records and expands into a pleasant, non-aggressive soundtrack-like music. When we talk about electronic keyboards music, not everything fits into the picture and there are always excesses of synthesizer abuse. But here: a dark beat and a church choir-infiltrated sound of the title track (whose meaning describes a part of a Byzantine style church where liturgy takes place); a joyful melody and female vocals reminiscent of COCTAEU TWINS' ethereal sound in "Moravo" (Morava is a major river in Serbia proper); a jazzy piano and odd time signatures of "Par-nepar" (En. "Even-Odd"); and the closing spacey percussion-filled piece "Bulevar 1994" (En. "Boulevard 1994") can justify purchase of this disk if you are into this kind of laid-back instrumental music.

However, due to rather awful "Vatra" (En. "The Fire"), which terribly copies the ideas of BIJELO DUGME's "Padaju zvijezde" that was in itself a Yugoslav copycat of a cheesy VAN HALEN's arena-metal mid-80s hit "Jump", three stars is a maximum I can give to "NAOS".

PERSONAL RATING: 3/5