A delightful debut full-length indeed, featuring singles first heard on the introductory 12"s Um Favor and Theme From a Dream, as well as a composition called "First Touch" off the Cocoa EP. Over 14 marvelously constructed tracks, Desmond Williams unravels a poignant vision of downtempo that quite intelligibly illustrates his understanding of the foundation behind the styles he employs, included but not limited to dub, exotica, jazz, bossa pop, funk, and a sound that can simply be summed up with Eighteenth Street Lounge. All the flavors of the garden blend into each other with a rhythmic denominator fueled by Williams playing almost all the instruments himself, producing each beat and the entire album almost single-handedly. However, the standout tracks are definitely the ones featuring exotic vocals from Portia Cristina Joo, who soaks "Um Favor" and "First Touch" in a caressing opiate and guides her contributions to slightly more trip-hopping regions.
DJ's Scott Hendy and Andy Smith are the brains and team behind Dynamo Productions and their debut release on Illicit/Invada, Analogue, bridges the gap between hip hop, old skool funk and breaks, giving respect to the past while keeping their feet in the present.
Hit The Floor warms things up, it's one for the dancefloor and has featured on Deadly Avenger's Fabriclive CD and also on the Battlecreek series - a highly sampladelic jam with a nasty organ sample on top. Get It Together uses the same sample that made Soul of Man's "Between The Eyes" such a popular tune.
MC Profile features on two tracks - the laidback Think and head-nodding hip hop of Back To Basics. The latter works for me as it is catchier thanks to it's funky bassline and more uptempo feel.
The uptempo joints on the album are it's high points, a healthy mixture of old skool breaks, funky basslines coupled with scratches and cuts that Andy and Scott are known for. Busta Beat is a personal highlight of the album thanks to it's b-boy breakbeats, latin orchestra horns and James Brown like "Bust It" samples. Look out for the breakdown in the middle!
The album also has it's share of downtempo tracks such as Slip Inn and the bluesy Airwaves featuring yawning strings on a laidback beat and the album finishes off with the piano heavy We're Through featuring a female vocal sample, which appears to be lifted off a classic breakup tune.
Overall Analogue is a great album and born out of the need for Andy and Scott to bridge the gap between hip hop and funk tunes in their block rockin' DJ sets and unlike DJ Format's album, doesn't over utilise the skit approach to bridging the gap between songs.
Tosca is the joint musical project of Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber from
Vienna, Austria. The three Tosca albums „Opera“ (1996), „Suzuki“ (1999) and
„Dehli 9“ (2002) are considered milestones of the downtempo genre. More moody musical fairytales from Richard Dorfmeister, this time with Rupert
Huber under the guise of Tosca. Suzuki is--like his releases with Kruder and Dorfmeister--a
sublime work that manipulates emotions through sound. Soft and sweet, subtle and
supple, Tosca's tracks drift, sifting from one dream to the next. Though they
patch hip-hop, jazz, ambient, and techno together, you can't hear where one
begins and the other ends. "Annanas" pairs sneaky, squeaky scratching with a
lusty female vocal and bossa-nova-inspired hip-hop breaks, while "Orozco" loops
a playful riff, running it through reverbs and filters, creating something like
pure bliss for the ears.
The venerable Nightmares On Wax return with ''Thought So...,'' a sun-drenched
collection of dub and heavy drums arriving just in time to wrap up summer
madness. After paving the way for soul-minded beat-smiths like Madlib and Flying
Lotus, this latest LP is another important step in an already iconic career.
Buoyant and supremely catchy, ''Thought So...'' is another skillful combo of
advanced production and vintage groove. In short, the record gives fans
everything they have come to expect from Nightmares On Wax.
A cohesion of beautiful melodies and rugged beats, “Maps from the Wilderness” is an accomplished album that should earn TM Juke the same accolades as fellow Tru Thoughts album acts Quantic, Jon Kennedy and Bonobo (who now record for Grand Central and Ninja Tune respectively). Having recorded various songs for Tru Thoughts under the guise of Al Stylus, TM Juke took it upon himself to adopt a name suitable for styles and sounds he wished to explore with this album. The styles are varied and they seem to span the full orchestral range; rolling timpani drums underpin hazy beats whilst delicate guitars flitter amongst intricate strings. As a producer, TM Juke draws on funk, soul, hip-hop and jazz influences, but adds a greater depth and maturity with immaculate arrangements that belie his twenty four years and give “Maps of the Wilderness” a strikingly original yet strangely familiar feel. Owing as much to the sampler as the guitar, the TM Juke sound embraces atmospheric melodies and street savvy beats in equal measures: this is made apparent by the album’s guest vocalists. Jim Oxborough and Alice Russell who join together for “Knee Deep”, the first single to be taken from the album, a lush affair with a natural swing and memorable hooks. Bringing back the hip-hop, Canadian MC’s Bread and Water lend their calculated style to “Get It Together“ whilst appearing on behalf of the UK, Rup gets lyrical and gives “Wilderness Kids“ an edge that sets it apart from any uniform hip-hop sound. “Maps from the Wilderness” has all the ingredients that make a great record, setting new agendas in instrumental music whilst retaining a universal appeal.
Timewarp was born in Athens, Greece 25 years before the second millennium. He was introduced to electronic music at age 13 when he acquired an amiga. Captivated by the fledging technology's potential he started working on his own sounds and soon found his musical identity in the area of chill sound beats. You can find him under the aliases Timewarp inc. or Timewarp a.k.a Angelos Stoumpos. Being a dj as well as a composer he became famous in the Greek underground electronica scene in early 90’s. Over the years he appeared in numerous parties and venues and he created one of the first pioneering dance projects in Greece. Influenced by and joining forces with a number of other composers and artists he started expanding the character of his music, combining smooth baselines with melodic instruments like flute, percussions, vocals, guitars creating a very characteristic worm ethereal worldly sound. At the same time his production style moved into funky sounds obtaining rough edges that applied to his music a dramatic intensity. His well-defined music signature can be easily identified in all his productions from dub, downtempo to funky breaks and dance . Timewarp has contributed in many releases of various record labels like: ecco.chamber, Sony BMG, V2, Irma, Waveform and more. He licensed music for commercial motion TV advertising spots for brands like Honda, WV-Polo, Seat, Stolichnaya, Old Holborn, Alpha Bank and more.
Environments, or atmospheres of sound, are the basis of Liquidus Ambiento. Guitar riffs, arrangements, baritone saxophone and trombone melodies crystalline sitar and flute, bass lines from below, are added to the lightness of an acoustic drum with jazz references. In the essence of instrumental music and electronics, the group enjoy his main influences of Dub, Nu Jazz, Trip Hop, Downtempo, Funk and Afro Beat.
With the burgeoning guitar rock of the sixties, kids growing up found heroes who played an instrument that could be easily mass manufactured for a relatively small amount of money. And over the next couple of decades, the guitar became the icon of new music in America, eventually becoming the most widely purchased musical instrument. Nonetheless, with the advent of DJ culture and assimilation of computers into our everyday lives, the sampler, turntable, and mixer have often supplanted the guitar as the instruments of choice for the new generation. No matter how cramped your apartment or how clumsy your hands may be, this technology allows you to manipulate and create such an incredible variety of sounds and structures that the possibilities are practically limitless. And with the amount and diversity of this kind of music now being created in all genres, the age of the DJ has truly arrived.These sounds are often created in a sterile electronic enviroment, but in the right hands they can be as compelling and organic as any other kind. Nickodemus is not a new kid on the block, but Endangered Species is his first full length album. Working parties in and around New York for well over six years, Nickodemus has honed his skills in melding genres and elements from various global musical styles—reggae, house, funk, Latin, Arabic, Afrobeat, and more. Using this experience, he has constructed an album that blends the familiar with the exotic. The urban meets world music aesthetic has been explored before with varying degrees of success, but Endangered Species is a compelling listen that does a good job of differentiating itself from the pack."Cleopatra in New York serves as a good example of how the album works as a whole. Nickodemus melds a complex rhythm of drums and various percussion instruments and lays Arabic-influenced flute and oud on top, which carries the main melody and serves as a textural bed for a wordless female vocal. The track has an assertive pulse that is calmed by the cool sound of the instruments, and although it may be considered a dance track, it is much more complex musically than that.The key here, and throughout the album, is that Nickodemus is not simply layering one beat or loop on top of another. Rather he is creating a foundation for these different musical elements to breathe and come together on their own accord. Every track here is cut from a similar cloth, but with vastly different colors and textures. From the laid back opening title track and its acoustic guitar groove to the roll call of drummers on Give The Drummer Some and the syncopated closing "Mystery of Life, each track provides a different journey and utilizes special guests to varying degrees.You can find common threads embedded throughout, but Nickodemus imbues Endangered Species with more than enough variation and ingenuity to hold interest while still marinating a dynamic sense of movement and flair. What will really be interesting is to see how he develops this already mature sound over time—and where he'll go next
It's ironic that a band with its musical head so firmly in the clouds thinks so
much about what’s happening down here on Terra Firma. Yet, that’s what Thievery
Corporation's Radio Retaliation is all about. The musical approach is
the same; just as they have on releases like 2005's The Cosmic Game,
Rob Garza and Eric Hilton still bring the dub-oriented beats, silky textures,
world musicology and outer spacescapes. And while Thievery Corp have always been
tuned into the strange currents and impulses of the now, words have never been
so central to their work. Femi Kuti lets loose on Africa's long, sad history of
oppression on "Vampires" while Seu Jorge preaches the gospel of peace on "Hare
Krisna." Both those tracks are killers, but the record has a way of topping
itself. In the midst of all the charged slogans and lullaby charm (listen to
LouLou's Gallic flow on "Le Femme Parallel" for an example of the latter), Garza
and Hilton will drop a celestial bomb like the painfully gorgeous "The Shining
Path." So, while there's no missing how politically engaged they are (the liner
notes include relevant words of wisdom from a range of open minds including
Einstein, John Lee Hooker and Mos Def), Thievery Corp can still help us return
to the serenity of nothing.
If anyone is guilty of Guts’ addiction to music, his mother is to be blamed. Instead of turning her son into an overweight and diabetic child, she preferred to give him a new vinyl each week, for his good manners. Guts, as an exemplary child, always finishing his plate at the table, is, by 9, already sitting on a collection of records and becomes the number one DJ in his neighbourhood. Between two soccer games and really becoming addicted to sounds, he is asked by his mother to choose between studies and music. The choice of option 2 will disturb his nights! Le Bienheureux will work on scratches and sampling art. He goes to London to get pictured with Royal Guards or eat a jelly plate, then Guts discovered New York’s old school gastronomy (EPMD, KRS One and the Public Enemy caviar) But by looking too close at the Hip-Hop cauldron , he finally fell in and created the Alliance Ethnik in 1990. The first album will make him grow from a sandwicherie to a four stars restaurant! Guts is good but needed more practice to value his recipes. Bob Power (A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots) becomes his ‘Paul Bocuse’, the coach able to teach him to spice and keep his preparations edible! He gets his American guides recognition and De La Soul, Rahzel, Biz Markie and Common Sense are joining him at the table. Faster Jay is opening the Kif Record label and ‘Le Bienheureux’ becomes one of his’chefs’ and goes behind the ovens for French rappers like Passi, Big Red, Sages Poetes De La Rue, the Svinkels, Les Rieurs. Impossible to please, he travels to Senegal to learn about new recipes in Youssou N’Dour studios and works with some local ‘chefs’ in Jamaica (Anthony B, Michael Rose and Sacha) The actual MC’s generation didn’t know how to prepare toasts when Guts was using an ASR Ensoniq with one hand ! Now ‘four stars chef’, Guts Le Bienheureux is proposing his menu! Mainly inspired by his travels, a meal with the taste of Pete Rock, DJ Shadow, Dan The Automator, RJD2, DJ Premier, Jay-Dee, Danger Mouse, Wax Taylor only prepared on a MPC 4000! Bon appetit
