let it snow

xpressway, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

TROUBLEMAKERS: EXPRESS WAY/Blue Note, 2004

LEMON/gone
MUSIC EVERYWHERE/gone
RACE RECORDS/gone
snow's falling, fire is burnin' and the cats are sleeping. it's just one of these cool/warm winter afternoons. i'm pretty sure you all spent a nice xmas time and a fast blog surfin' told me everybody's now back on tracks, some with well-deserved time on their hands (hi, mr.O and thanks 4 the tips!), others eager to grab new sounds and xciting beats.
it's been a while since i wanted to post tracks from the Troublemakers' wonderful album but now's the time. EXPRESS WAY came out in june on Blue Note and is one great piece of 2004 music. TROUBLEMAKERS are lionel corsini and arnaud taillefer, 2 guys from marseille (south of france) who met at some dj workshop back in the late 90's. their first album DOUBTS&CONVICTIONS (with fred berthet) came out in 2001 on the notorious GUIDANCE RECORDINGS and offered a nice brew of jazz influences, phat grooves and beats mixed up in soulful compositions.
in 2003, they collaborated to STEREO PICTURES (vol.2/mk2 music) a series of selector mixes on the cinematic tip (vol.1 was by DJVADIM, number3 by I:CUBE just hit the racks) which reunited everybody's faves from nina simone, junzon crew to rahsaan roland kirk . T's are totally into black music and blaxploitation soundtracks but escape the cliche, thanks to a real talent for original compositions, clever sampling (adderley bros, sonny sharrock...), comprehensive knowledge of the french classics (francois de roubaix, serge gainsbourg) and solid guest delivery by THE GIFT OF GAB, among others.the cd is in fact the soundtrack of a short dvd movie included in the package but the music speaks for itself.
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
i mentioned it earlier but YOU REALLY SHOULD VISIT AWFUL THOM because his selection is pure buttered soul! if you don't get all of his nice french writing, at least don't miss the ANDY BEY tracks and three versions of LET'S STRAIGHTEN THIS OUT by latimore, etta james and gwen mc crae. ok, it's tea time and i need to feed a few logs in the chimney!