In the vein of Deep Forest's mix of ethereal drum-and-bass and world music, "Smoke 'N Function" trip in and extract a happier mood, serving up only the parts that make your face smile and your feet move. Infused with jazz, funk, pop, progressive, and rock, blended with the cultures of Zuni Native Americans and Tibet, performer/programmer Cliff Sarno creates his ideal dream, one that you can listen to on a sunny Sunday spent reading just as easily as you can pop it in the player when your friends come over for good wine and dinner.

Sarno has culled bits and pieces from various ethnomusicological sources, but obviously he was most inspired by the Spectrasonics' series, including "Bass Legends," "Hearts of Asia," "Voices of Native America" and "Symphony of Voices." Tracks like "Say Ooh La-La" and "Native Groove" have fabulously fun, catchy, but not over-the-top, danceable beats that could well prove a hit with a broad spectrum of listeners.

"Smokee" is a smoothly-constructed jazz fusion piece, while "Ocean of Joy" is an exuberant foray into spiritual party music utilizing elements as diverse as tablas and programmed horn samples. "Mikaela's Song" has acoustic guitars and woodwinds that recall some early 1980s easy-pop tunes, but all the good things about it - it was all something that you could move lightly to.

I don't have too much experience with world music much past the ethno background I managed to procure in college, and the Peter Gabriel/Real World catalog I own most of. But given the straight-ahead, easy-listening sensibilities of this record, it's not likely to be the sort of thing that makes much nore than a ripple, unlike Gabriel's undertakings of epic proportions, or Deep Forest's international stake in the ambient gloom-cookie chic seemingly vacated by early 90's upstarts, Enigma. Not that I mind that this is not some kind of monumental recording. This is really quite nice. It's never boring. It's pleasantly different, but it's not so overwhelmingly weird that it's hard to have near me while I'm working (and these days, that's a bigger plus than I ever imagined possible). That's about all I need - to keep it in the ever-humming stereo cabinet at the office.