This is possibly not the record the archetypical Rainsounder would buy, but if you're into World Pop, or Multi-Ethnic music or cross-cultural R'n'B or pan-geographic what-have-you, then read on. Perhaps because you will have already heard of Liquid Blue, a San Diego based seven piece rapidly growing in popularity in America and Asia.

Look at their pictures (i.e., those of the three gorgeous frontwomen), and you'll feel like you'll have to cope with new destiny's children. Read their biog, and you'll think the world has found a new postmodern incarnation of the Inti-Illlimani, with their broad range of ethnic influences and plethora of political influences. It would be terrific, wouldn't it, to have Destiny's Child sing Inti-Illimani songs. Actually, it's all but that, as Liquid Blue are chart climbing hopefuls with politically correct ambitions. Supernova is a blend of pop, hip-hop and R'n'B with Eastern and Pan-American flavours and occasional dance beats, spanning through sixty-eight music of cut-n-paste, honestly not so exciting music. Which wouldn't be that bad in itself, were it not for that sort of kitschy feel you have listening to the songs or merely browsing the cd booklet. In the former, it's as if all the good ideas these guys have had to be all put in the same place at the same time, suffocating the melody with a thousand sounds and making the songs sound like each other. In the latter, the three gorgeous frontwomen in bikini share multi-colored pages with Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, UN Flags, soldiers and surfboards. Which is pretty much the odd philosophy behind the lyric-writing process, where it's okay to put Israel, Palestine, North & South Korea in the same line, to create anonymous, if not childish, political catchlines. Elsewhere, environmental problems share stanzas with love, faith and shrinking forests. Which is, if you think about it, the same as what even Sting and Bono would do. If only they were still seven. But hey, wait! Liquid Blue ARE seven.

Ok, forgive the joke. However, if you really would like to know what the world would be like if the Christinas and the Britneys had not been born in Disneyland, give these San Diego guys a try. If not, just move on to the next review.