TRACK LISTING:

1) "In The Back Of The Car," Emo
2) "Dirty Laundy," Bitter:Sweet
3) "Unrock," Gabriel Rios
4) "The Lost Song," The Cat Empire
5) "High Up On The Hook," Alice Russell
6) "Crabbuckit," K-os
7) "L.I.N.N.," Linn & Freddie
8) "The Hop," Radio Citizen
9) "Everything," Jehro
10) "Until The Morning (Rewound By Kid Loco)," Thievery Corporation

DESCRIPTION: On "A New Groove," Putumayo continues its exploration of new sounds by collecting tracks from a variety of DJs, producers and musicians who may have started out as bedroom producers but have transmitted themselves far beyond the confines of those four walls.

A New Groove features high-powered performances by a bevy of musicians from across the globe. The London-based Alice Russel brings her signature sound of funk and fun to the lush 70's-esque orchestration of "High Up on the Hook," while Canadian emcee K-Os hip hops his way through the half b-boy, half zoot suit adventure that is "Crabbuckit", a gem from his second album Joyful Rebellion. On the head-nodding "L.I.N.N.", Stockholm-based but internationally-known producer Freddie Cruger, a.k.a. Red Astaire, is joined by the silver-tongued Linn, who's been called Sweden's Jill Scott.

The album gains its balance with other artists who step in to help cool down the pace. The recognizable grooves of Thievery Corporation get a gentle reworking from Kid Loco on "Until the Morning" while the Puerto Rico-born, Brussels-based Gabriel Rios weds his old-school Latin roots with his love for modern production and melody on the quirky "Unrock." Other musical globetrotters, including France's newest sensation Jehro and Australia's latest success story The Cat Empire, lend their sensibilities and expertise to round out this eclectic collection of artists.

HEAR HERE

COMPILED BY: Mary Alice (Malice) Grant; born: Greenville, S.C.; reside: Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn .

"Seriously, though, I'm a workaholic by nature, so I've done a lot of different things to keep the rent paid. My interest in music began even further back than I can remember, and has just progressed from there. My parents raised me on a steady diet of old country, blues and Motown before I started doing my own exploration into other sounds. When I was 15, I lived in Austria for a year, and that's where I started to take responsibility for ensuring there was always music being played, whether at school functions, small get-togethers and or whatever. I spent most of my time in college either on the radio or in the record store. I hosted shows at three stations and worked as a buyer for Dynamite Records while interning with a local marketing and promotions company. After graduating, I stayed in the area working projects and developing a record pool for the New England area, before moving to New York and winding up at Putumayo. I started out as a salesperson in the Alternative department, but worked my way up."

PAUSE & PLAY: Where do you begin with a compilation?

GRANT: "It really depends on the compilation. Sometimes we pick the theme first and find music that fits the theme, or we'll pick a country, a genre or style, so on and so forth. Sometimes we have a selection of songs that we've uncovered during our constant research that all fit together in some way, and we'll create the compilation for it.

"For 'A New Groove,' though, we found one song that everyone really liked a lot and decided to build a compilation of tracks that had the same or a similar vibe."

P&P: What criteria does a song have to meet to get onto one?

GRANT: "The 'Putumayo Standard' is a combination of things - some easy to identify and others completely intangible. I could talk about melody, a sense of 'feel good' that exudes from a track, but all that's pretty hard to qualify. Sometimes we don't even know it when we first hear it - but when it's there, we do!"

P&P: What limitations do you face?

GRANT: "We're known as a traditional world music company, and though our 'Groove' series has sold over 1.5 million records, I think it still catches people off-guard to see a groove or lounge album from us. The flip side is people who hear one of our groove or lounge records and are really surprised to find out it's a Putumayo record. This is changing, but that initial knee-jerk reaction can be the crucial factor in whether or not someone buys the album."

P&P: Typically, how long does it take to put together a "Groove" disc?

GRANT: "Probably about the same amount of time it took to write 'War & Peace' ... only kidding ... well, sorta.

"Our 'Groove' and 'Lounge' collections have somewhat broader parameters than our traditional releases, but they still go through a laborious process of being submitted, listened to, voted on by a group, listened to again, dropped out of the running, added back, tossed around, loved, hated, voted on again and finally - it goes to licensing. Because 'A New Groove' was a departure from even our previous 'Groove' releases, it took a while for the theme and flow of the album to take shape and sink in. We found our one track in December of 2005."

P&P: What's the most underrated track on the album?

GRANT: "I'd probably have to say Emo's 'In the Back of the Car' ... it's the one track that started the whole thing. It's not a really new track, but it still has a freshness to it that - even after more than a year of working on this album - I still get geeked when I hear the intro come through my speakers. My other favorites are the Alice Russell and Radio Citizen tracks. I'm an Alice Russell disciple."

P&P: What other projects are you working on?

GRANT: "The company always has a million things in the pipeline, but we've just put our upcoming release 'Gypsy Groove' to bed (out March 27) and I'm really looking forward to the reggae collection we've got in the works."

P&P: What's the first album you ever bought?

GRANT: "The first album I ever requested and received was a Care Bears 45! I had the little Care Bears record player, too - not as classy as the little Fisher Price joints, but I was rockin'! The first record I ever bought with my own money was Janet Jackson's 'Control.' "

P&P: What's the first concert you ever went to?

GRANT: "The first concert I ever attended was The Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson). I think I was about 6 years old and the show was part of a hot air balloon festival that used to happen near my hometown growing up. I remember sitting on a picnic blanket wondering if I'd ever learn to play the harmonica. I own a harmonica now, and play around on it, but one day I will master the damn thing!"

P&P: What's the worst job you've ever had?

GRANT: "I think it's a tie between doing the early-morning receiving at a Marshall's (5 a.m. - every morning!) and the summer I decided I wanted to be a cheerleader. I had to work off all the money that it cost, but I was too young to hold a real job. So I worked for my parents and whoever else they volunteered me to for $3.50 an hour. Even then that was way below minimum wage!"