looking good

LTJBUKEM
Originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

JOURNEY INWARDS/gone
LTJ BUKEM
Good Looking Records, 2000
i was totally into music, djing and the club scenes when the UK jungle/drum'n'bass thing hit the decks in the early 90's. as i always tried to keep an eclectic and open mind, i stashed a few jungle jams in my record bag but actually never was a dedicated fan. the scene was pretty hardcore: you had to be a jungle dj or get the hell out and there was no way you'd dare to throw any other style of music in your sets. but as it happened with hip hop or house music, the early scene threw jazz elements- sampled or live- in the mix and among the producers, LTJ BUKEM stood out as one of the best. early on, he created his own label, GOOD LOOKING RECORDS and mixed many influences of soul, downtempo and even house music in his many releases, with always the right balance between pure dance tracks and music you could actually listen to and enjoy outside the club.
plenty of info about the man, the history and the current drum'n'bass/broken beat/nujazz scene at GOOD LOOKING RECORDS
their radio program is pretty good too, very close to gilles peterson's worldwide groove and plays amazing xclusive tracks at this very moment.
taken from the JOURNEY INWARDS cd, the eponymous track is one of my BUKEM's faves:
a perfect blend of soulful downtempo jazz full of rhodes, flute and crisp beats, a creative musical journey into LTJ's inspirations. great tracks on his LOGICAL PROGRESSION and EARTH series, too that you'll try to find at your local record store or BUY HERE
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: among all the online wonderblogful daily discoveries, i can't thank enough cb THEOFMIRROREYE
for pluggin' me to the NUMERO LABEL the site is beautiful and so seem to be their releases. be sure to read their philosophy and overview for a 3rd millenium music label. their re-release of isabelle ANTENA's album first caught my attention, because that band was a thrill for me back in my college days. next, the stories behind the CAPSOUL and BANDIT soul labels
made my day and BAM! i ordered the three cd's on the spot.
same thing happened yesterday on SAMADHI SOUND david sylvian's blemish cd is one piece of music i wanted to grab for a long time. then, i experienced the beautiful online listening of harold budd and akira rabelais' new albums and here again, immediate order took place as early self-indulged xmas gifts.
here's for the power of the blog! elsewhere: PLAY.PAUSE
offers great tracks, very good info, nice and fun writing in both french and english.
SCISSORKICK and ROYAL MUSIC (with a new design) are keepin' the faith close to worship and the recent comeback of MOISTWORKS digs even deeper into hip hop's jazzier and funkier backgrounds. finally, GRAPEJUICEPLUS
lately ranks high in my everchanging bookmarks and bloglists.