After some 20 years of making music, Taz must be described as a veteran. Formerly known as Johnny Zee and the influential part of Stereo Nation, excursions into Bollywood have not phased the much-travelled singer/producer. 'Café Mumbai' is no less than Taz's 16th release and has a very artistic feel to it.

The city of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, looks west from India and Taz has certainly done that in his music. Over the years he has been the pioneer of bi-lingual and multi cultural melodies fused together with a distinctive Asian backbone. 'Café Mumbai' has lyrics in Punjabi, Hindi, English and Arabic and can only appeal to all British and Asian cultures as there is something on there that (more or less) everyone can understand. In a recent interview with us Taz remitted he is proud to cross-linguistic and cultural boundaries in music.

"I have never considered myself to be solely a bhangra artist," explained the singer. "I am British born and luckily I have been able to travel a lot. This has enabled me to pick up ideas globally, which I treat with an open mind. I am not scared to use lyrics from another language as I have used Spanish and even Swahili in the past."

'Café Mumbai' is more than just a collection of good sounding tracks. Whereas other albums are perhaps groups of 'farmed' tracks where the best ten are selected from fifteen possible tracks, 'Café Mumbai' is thoughtful and moves decisively where it wants to go. It is unfair to say this album only has four or five good tunes, because the whole album vibe is what is important. In fact, it is difficult to listen to just five or six tracks from it.

Taz admitted on the Adil Ray Show that he thought the label of 'the George Michael of Indian music' was appropriate, and parts of 'Café Mumbai' definitely support this. Even if you'd never seen the flamboyant outfits and poses on the flyers, this album has elements, which emulate the Wham! Megastar. The vocals are cool and breathy, with funk elements reminding you of 'Fast Love'.

My main grievance with the album is the notes, which give a brief description of each track. Are they trying to put us out of business??? It must be either that or Taz wants a job here at Desitunes4u.com!! However, it is good because it outlines where each track comes from and also what language they are sung in, so us gorrae can understand it a little bit more.

'Mitran Nu Margeyee (Ride With Me)' is the opening track, described by Taz as "a fusion of drum and bass from the British club scene, amalgamated with Punjabi folk music". Nice catchy tune but not much drum and bass or Punjabi folk music. Taz's talent as a singer is there for all to see and the scratching is pretty good as is the production. The rapping from MC Angel is a bit slow and didn't impress me.

The second track, 'Hai Meh Marjan' is a cool tune. The album notes say it has "a stomping house groove", again, not accurate but the 'housey' undertones are nice and it's got meaningful lyrics. Taz's singing is typically impressive, particularly in the bridges.

'Baby Don't Go' is the first of the Mumbai inspired tracks on the album. A definite Bollywood feel with strings answering Taz's love-tainted lyrics. The beat is continuous and despite another performance from MC Angel which leaves much to be desired, it's a good tune to sit back and listen to, even if it does go on a little too long.

The next track is one of the highlights. Sung in Arabic, 'Habibi' is funky, has a deep bass and good musical returns at the end of the memorable choruses. Taz excels on the vocals and the rapping is pretty good. It's definitely one of the tracks of the album and with the simple chorus it makes it easy to sing to and trust me you'll be miming to it in no time.

Further funk comes from 'Apna Sangeet', which is track four. Taz and Diamond Duggal in this, the Jailianwala Baag Mix reworks the classic track with a more modern feel. The tumbi is ambient and the chords fanfare-like, with Taz proclaiming, "don't you diss my roots and rhythms" before the chorus works fantastically well along the theme of racism. The bhangra shouts are brilliant as well and this tune deserves the airplay it's getting.

The tempo slows right down with 'Pyar De Sapneh', which acts as an intermission between the fury of 'Apna Sangeet' and 'Get Down'. "The track fuses a beautiful tapestry of classical instrumentation, piano, sitar and sufi" sums it up in a description as poetic as the lyrics. Those who like the fast tracks will skip this, but I think it is deliberate and effective filler.

Whatever Rishi Rich does right now is electric, and his input on 'Get Down' is brilliant. This is the most George Michael-esque of the album and is brilliant for Taz because it's a funky pop record and also for Rishi because it cements his talent and poise for pop stardom after producing Britney Spears's 'Me Against The Music'. To be honest, there's nothing desi about this track at all but it's a good pop/RnB record, and shows a good diversity by our artists.

'Sun Sanji (Could You Be Loved?)' slows the tempo down again into a cool, jazz groove. Recorded live, desi jazz is a nice break from the normal stuff and the singing in Hindi and English is nice. With a catchy chorus, the tune "takes you into a journey of subtle elegance expressing true love". Pah!

The beat remains relaxed into track nine, 'Aaja Reh Aaja (Every Breath I Take)'. Emotional and with English and Panjabi vocals, this is the first Latin sound on the album. The slow ballad is easy on the ears and is the first step into the second half of the album, which has more artistic mode.

There is a more dramatic tone in 'Dil De De (Give Me A Sign)', another highlight. The pedestrian pace with effective strings and the refrain makes you sway. I really liked this tune for its production as well, and Taz's voice is somewhat hypnotic as it moves across octaves.

'Peeya (Someone Like You)' is a cool Hindi duet between Taz and Shubrah Bhamrah. The ambience is very love song and, apparently, "this tune takes you into a journey of hedonistic tantra". WTF??? Good tune though.

Track twelve, 'Nazran Milaleh' has an old skool reggae vibe and Taz's vocals are the best part. The rasta guitar is wobbly but achieves what it sets out to do. It is a modern (desi) take on 70's Jamaican music and although it isn't out of place here, I don't think it's a hit.

The best tune of the second half of the album is number thirteen, 'Girl From Bombay City'. Latin vibe in Asian setting is fantastic and the rumba rhythm with the scratching is brilliant. The trumpet fanfare is the same used by Wu Tang Clan in their rumba tune, but Taz takes it to a higher level with the English vocals incorporated with the Punjabi lyrics, something Taz does so well. "That girl she's got it going on, it's in every little thing she does" is a great bridge and Taz describes it as "a smooth coffee shop track set in Mumbai", and that it definitely is.

The Latin tempo hots up with 'Koi Mil Gaya'. Swinging bass and a samba rhythm is effective and the Hindi vocals sound as good as the Spanish/Portuguese lyrics heard in traditional Latin tracks, although Taz doesn't attempt the South American tongues. Listening to the tune I realised where South Americans got their 'arriba' shouts from - Ranjit Mani and Juggy Dee screeching 'brrrrrrruuuaah!' on any bhangra tune they've ever done.

'Rickshaw' officially features MC Angel but his dancehall splurt isn't heard until two minutes into the track and even that is only for one verse and the ending. To his credit, the lyric "who needs a Beema when you got a three-wheela" is pretty clever. But give me Cheshire Cat on the track any day. The fast paced track is sentimental in its topic - a rickshaw driver in love - but the deep lying guitar melody is very paltry although sounds pleasant.

'Chargai Glassi' concludes the album and is another George Michael tip from Taz. The JD Mix uses samples from Nelly's 'Hot In Herre' and is a good vibe with dance elements as well. This has to be the best Taz explanation of a track: "'Nasha' is the intoxicant, which forms the centre point of the lyrics… metaphorically stating love tastes sweeter than sugar cane". How true!!

'Café Mumbai' is an incredible variety of world music, with flavours from every continent fused onto one CD. With 16 tracks I knew that there had to be more good tracks on there and even so it is still excellent value for money. The fusion is total and there is something for everyone - not necessarily desi either, I plan on making my mum listen to this. Fans of desi garage and bhangra will not grasp this and dismiss Taz, but for those who can appreciate different styles of music then you will love it. The split means that it gets a controversial 8 out of 10, but bhangra-heads will only rate 'Apna Sangeet'. If pure desi music is not a must 4 u then this album is most definitely a must 4 u!