Eclectica by the Swiss Robert Jan Meyer aka Minus 8 opens with Soverato, a moody bossa nova. With that, any comparison with its predecessor Minuit comes to an end, as Eclectica moves from downtempo to hip-hop with forays into disco and ragga, with the emphasis on a wide range of vocalists. Eclectica shows that Meyer's specialty lies in spontaneously rolling grooves and not in downtempo and certainly
… not in hip hop. Since these last two categories take up most of the CD, Eclectica leads without a doubt to a disappointing result, in which P-funk-like attempts completely fail and sound like a crowd puller at a farm fair. Moreover, Meyer is absolutely incapable of keeping his long list of guest vocalists in check, making Eclectica appear chaotic and unbalanced. (AD)more