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.
Here comes a brand new compilation setting a new standard for future jazz. Typifying
the ever-evolving contemporary melting pot of music genres, this seamless
mixture of jazz and tasty electronica showcases not only the very best tracks
out today but also a handful of previously unreleased gems. These
hard-grooving, jazzed up cuts will get both DJs and lounge dwellers
salivating...
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.
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.
