one from the heart

apple enid, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

enid, marsou's baby-sister, is joining us to thank y'all for the warm support and sweet words you expressed here. much love to everyone...

we loved him madly

marsou, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

marsou R.I.P
june1989
june,15th 2005
8:45 a.m

house of blues

GU, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

GLENN UNDERGROUND
HOUSE OF BLUES/GONE
Secrets of CVO E.P
Guidance,1997
GLENN UNDERGROUND is one of Chi-town best-kept secrets and a sure choice when it comes to deliver the beats. this moody track feat. STEVE ISRAEL's guitar licks isn't a proper floor filler but a mellow jazz-fueled housey jam i used to blend in the mix back in the days. it builds up brick by brick of funk in true oldschool house style. hope it will brighten your sunny side up and turn your disco side on.

honey bring it close to my lips yes

professionalwidow, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

TORI AMOS
PROFESSIONAL WIDOW
ARMAND'S STAR TRUNK FUNKIN' MIX/GONE
Atlantic, 1996
when i arrived in Los Angeles in 1996, california just fell under the spell of the dance music phenomenon via GROOVE RADIO. tori's remix was blastin' everywhere, next to WAY OUT WEST's "THE GIFT". it was the perfect soundtrack of my early cruises in the L.A. area... the STAR TRUNK is the epitomy of remixing: take an obscure or average track, keep very few original elements, add a killa sampla or a monster beat and give it heavy radio rotation. after a while you're DYING for that special intro to kick in, you keep pumping up the volume 'til you damage your auto speakers. more about a baad motherfunker HERE
special shout out to the L.A people out there and much love to lena, rose, eduardo's car, the people at Disney and the very beautiful, gifted and talented nic.

d'amour à volonté

mfcover, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

MYLENE FARMER
SOUVIENS-TOI DU JOUR
ROYAL G'S CLUB MIX/GONE
SWEET GUITAR MIX/GONE
PEPPERMINT JAM PRODUCTIONS REMIXES
universal, 1999

as a friendly wink to our Tofu Hut friends and their recent infamous mylene farmer post: here's a couple of remixes of a late 20th century MF track.
xcept maybe for her first ambiguous and controversial teenage hit (1: maman a tort 2: c'est beau l'amour 3: l'infirmière pleure 3: je l'aime) and despite her gay-friendly cult/icon status, i hardly shared any vibes or crossed musical paths with ms.farmer.
a few years ago, a friend's girlfriend and aspiring singer offered me this MF 12", as she knew i was into house music and remixes stuff. i probably thanked her with a warm, hum, sneer... and hurried up to bury it deep under the crates. then it somehow surfaced later and i gladly realized the remix treatment was signed by peppermint jam's ROYAL GARDEN SOUND team, which could mean quality stuff. on this 12", both club and downtempo remixes make ms. farmer sounds amazingly good, production enhances its cheesy melody and chorus with minor chords with an edge, the kind to mess with both your head and butt.
actually, i know nothing of ms. farmer's taste or policy for remixing choices. it's probably on the crest of MOUSSE T's hits wave that some cubicle A&R at universal dance pool submitted the track to the peppermint guys (along a phat eurocheck of course). no idea if the sales or clubs feedback made a difference between these babies and regular average eurodance poop (of course there's one of a kind on the 12", too). listen here: there's no way i'll ever get caught dancing my ass off in a club on these tracks but i have to admit i quite like them... now you'll make up your own mind.
NEWS FROM THE EDGE: to the bands who sent messages on a regular basis to offer their sounds to be pushed here eventually: i had little time lately to indulge in this kind of explorations but i will. give or take, it's harder to keep up with the blogworld everyday but i'll try. to all naugahyde fans: your comments and feedback are the backbone of our dedication and enthusiasm to share favorite sounds here, so stay cool and leave a message after the tone.

everybody is trying to get down to the aaaaah

disco, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

WHIRLPOOL PRODUCTIONS
Ladomat, 1996
in 1996, german house music was hardly regarded as the leading scene it is today.
sure a few labels were already rockin' das beatz, firmly paving the path of the future: K7! in berlin or peppermint jam studios (feat. mousseT and boris dlugosh ( i'll be back to these guys in a future post). it seemed the whole eastern europe club scene was overshadowed by uberdubbers KRUDER & DORFMEISTER and countless related austrian posses. not a bad thing per se of course... then i heard this funnyfunky track on heavy rotation on the couleur 3 radio station: i peed my flared pants down then repolished my mirrorballs.
first i got a hard time finding the 12" and just cherished it for that. later, the track went huge and granted its classic discohouse anthem status. more on the artists and the ladomat label
HERE and HERE

them that's got shall get

a&b, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

ALEX GOPHER
solid, 2000
long before the intoxicating "french touch" phenomenon, ALEX GOPHER was already famous as mastering wizard at parisian Translab studios since 1985. on top of that, he had legendary formed ORANGE, a versailles pop band starring xavier jamaux, jean-benoît dunckel and nicolas godin, the two dudes who will later mutate into superduo AIR. in many ways, gopher helped moldering the future sound of paris by laying hands on the Translab boards for many french pop singers while elaborating his own style. check his cool biography and original mix of THE CHILD HERE
about billie holiday and her "god bless the child" sample, gopher confessed being quite ignorant of her musical legacy (...) except her rhymes sounded cool. he bought a cheap cd compilation to extract the gem and housed it up to classic status. jérémie mondon a.k.a DEMON was about 20 when he got house virus. his take on gopher's classic has a strong david axelrod flavor, mixing both soothing and devastating dancefloor qualities.

UPDATE: thanks to captain planet from the wonderful CAPTAIN'S CRATE to let us know the above link was still bougie soliterre's... sorry 'bout that ...now' the child is finally fixed

bougie soliterre

bougie, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

BOUGIE SOLITERRE
from simple things lp
Flipside, 2000
sorry for unplugging the beats during vacation time but actually there's life growing outside the blogosphere and in order to get cherries, apricots, salads, tomatoes, etc. the garden is needing full attention these days!
back on the dancefloor with a soulful/old school jam signed by bettina constanzo a.k.a bougie soliterre (now that's some weird mispelled french pseudo...meaning "lonely candle").
less than very few girls been shakin' the house and most of them are dj's (or djettes) but female talented producers come as rare as a tasty eggplant. betty came from montreal, canada and moved to london where she banged the decks with the early brokenbeat scene and UK house heavyweights BUGZ IN THE ATTIC CREW or PHIL ASHER and top notch u.s house wonderboy KERRI CHANDLER. finally, she created her own imprint FLIPSIDE to promote jazz, house, disco & soul music by kerri, victor davies, blak beatniks, fred everything and herself, of course...
BESIDES YOU is a fave track with a classic 70's soul flavor thanks to the vocals talents of former P-funk vocalist STEF FRANK and a killer bassline. originally only available on 12" and 2lps; it made its way to classic status and CD formatwith remix treatments by uberhot german duo TIEFSCHWARTZ. hear samples of these remixes here and add this nice one to your record collection HERE

too much too soon

faze action, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

FAZE ACTION
IN THE TREES
nuphonic,1996
SIMON AND ROBIN LEE are the funky brothers behind the FAZE ACTION concept. as bona fide disco music connoisseurs, their sound was an instant blast: lush strings and heavy bass bringin' the dancefloor back to the best undeground disco years, without the cheese or the rollerskates.
it was luminous and sensitive dance music, the epitomy of deep house that you could actually get lost into in da club and listening at home on a rainy sunday. it was the golden era of UK house music at its best and all early NUPHONIC releases were amazing: FREE CHICAGO MOVEMENT, BLAZE, ESG, YELLO SOX, BLACK JAZZ CHRONICLES... for a year or two, you just had to grab the new nuphonic release to stay on the edge of the best music world/clubwise, as featured on their first comp NUPHONIC VOL.1
but from1999 on, the whole thing grew out of proportion: the label parted from the 12"s only politics and added a lot of artist's full-length albums to the release list: FAZE ACTION's 2nd opus, BLACK JAZZ CHRONICLES, SOUL ASCENDANTS, BLOCK 16, FUG, ADAM GOLDSTONE, and prestigious compilations like David Mancuso's THE LOFT vol.1 &2, NORMAN JAY's GOOD TIMES vol1&2 and XPRESS2, LAST NIGHT A DJ SAVED MY LIFE, etc... almost all of these were beautifully designed/packaged albums classics but very costly projects, too. the tough turning point of the new century hit hard both the UK house music/club scene and its derivated record industry and nuphonic got flushed away as a leading label. thank god the music still remains and all dicography is available on cd thru amazon or your favorite record dealer.

do you want to jerk?

jerichojerk, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

PIERRE HENRY/MICHEL COLOMBIER
JERICHO JERK
PHILIPS,1967
ST GERMAIN MIX,1997
when PHILIPS label realized a brand new generation of hipsters held the two avant-garde composers' MESSE POUR LE TEMPS PRESENT (mass for the present time) as the ultimate 70's french cult opus, a remix project was launched: METAMORPHOSE
A-league producers were invited to mess with the1967 original ballet (created by maurice béjart) score. among the likes of COLDCUT, FATBOY SLIM or WILLIAM ORBIT, a solid team of frenchies stood up: DIMITRI FROM PARIS, CHATEAU FLIGHT, THE MIGHTY BOP, KRISS THE FRENCH KISS (aka BOB SINCLAR) and LUDOVIC NAVARRE a.k.a ST GERMAIN. most of the guys concentrated on the 3 funkier cuts of the opus: PSYCHE ROCK, JERICHO JERK and TOO FORTICHE, except Dimitri who took on TEEN TONIC.
frankly, i never really got into all these remixes. the original album is a classic and the last thing i felt i needed was a fatboy "malpaso remix" or an "invisible mix" by william orbit.
but to me, st germain's track was another story. first time i heard it was in a club and i witnessed it building up very slowly from loose jazz jam to dancefloor mayhem. people were really getting down on it: everybody was chillin', drinking like they just don't care... next thing i know girls start shakin' that ass and guys are losin' it brett sinclair style (me included)! a few months later, i'm playing a stylish outdoor warm-up/open bar set where dancing is usually the very last thing trendy people are thinkin' about. for an hour, i'm stayin' alive with bossa nova and cal tjader jams scattered with jazzanova sounds. i feel like i'm in the Antonioni "La Notte" movie which is great, but just to a certain point...then i dropped the jericho jerk and let these keyboard licks spreading over as a dancing virus... it went on and on and grew kinda ibiza free for the rest of the night, thanks to the bombs bag i had packed, too (more of this selection to come)...

you could fly away

sense of danger, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

PRESENCE FEAT.SHARA NELSON
SENSE OF DANGER
ATTABOY REMIX/GONE
1998
the always impeccable london lee at THE NUMBER ONE SONGS IN HEAVEN posted recently the original version of this absolute classic gem of a track, so you'd better go back to his cool writing to grab all info about CHARLES WEBSTER 's PRESENCE album and great featuring by ladysoul diva SHARA NELSON
to my knowledge, at least 4 different sets of 12" remixes were released thru pagan records : one by pepe braddock/furry phreaks (one of many webster's aliases), another one by attaboy/stephane mandrax, a third set feat. dave sears/future shock and a final delivery by le bustafunk/kings of tomorrow... frankly, all are pretty good, thanks to the track's potential but my fave's always been ATTABOY's. it's a quite simple effective mix but there's something about these drums, THAT bass hook, the synths, the way shara's voice sounds in the mix and the chorus girls whisper in my ear... and here i am, lost on the dancefloor again: it's moist, sensually funky and i wish that night never ends.

best things in life are free

janet, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

JANET JACKSON &LUTHER VANDROSS/BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE
S-MAN SALSOUL VIBE/GONE
AM:PM 1995
JANET JACKSON/WHEN I THINK OF YOU
DEEP DISH CHOCOLATE CITY MIX/GONE
AM:PM 1995
in the mid-90's janet jackson was runnin' the charts thanks to hitmakers JAM & LEWIS. but to push it to the limits of dancefloor experience, A-list dj/remixers were needed on the boards. traditionally, it was a new york thing: every major player had a NYC club residency and competition ruled between them for saturday night fever supremacy.
for years, FRANKIE KNUCKLES, DAVID MORALES, DANNY TENAGLIA, MASTERS AT WORK, TODD TERRY, ROGER SANCHEZ, JUNIOR VASQUEZ used to share between them the soul/r'n'b/pop divas' megabucks pie.
since the golden days of the paradise garage, clubbing was mainly a gay thing and the sound was clearly on the vocal/garage tip. but clubs started to gather a different crowd and therefore needed new sounds and new faces. drafted by danny tenaglia, newcomers DEEP DISH entered the game and put washington DC on the club map, showing the way for a new generation of remixers with darker, technoid sounds that reached the younger heterosexual/gay-friendly audience.
by the end of the century, the DAFT PUNK revolution 909 and DJ craze phenomenon blew up the whole scene to absurdity.
both tracks here are pure 90's dancefloor classics. they were mixed for clubs so you probably won't get any of it on computer speakers or earplugs...but hey, think about friday night, dress up, put your patrick cox shoes on and rush to your favorite club!
roger sanchez claims its SALSOUL influences on his S-man version of janet and luther's duo but doesn't reach any VINCE MONTANA orchestral standards here... his mix keeps it pretty simple and effective but for a nasty clavinet that brings the house down and of course with such a cast, leaves it to the singers to bring it home...
the chocolate city remix is an early dd trademark reconstruction based on a simple hypnotic hook and a live sax that slowly build up until the drums finally kick in for maximum dancefloor effect.
both were issued on the AM:PM label as promo DJpacks so get lucky at your favorite used record stores.

let's get naked

naked, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

AQUANOTE
ONLY
Naked Music 012, 2000
ORIGINAL VOCAL MIX/GONE
WEEKENDER VOCAL/GONE
NAKED MUSIC is probably one of the few contemporary music labels that succesfully established its identity both musically and visually. but where other house imprints tended to keep it abstract and minimal with faceless software design patterns, label founders BRUNO IBARRA and MIGUEL MIGS brought back the tradition of the great sleeve cover genre, thanks to the talents of uberartmeister STUART PATTERSON.
a cool INTERVIEW with the guys will tell you everything you want to know about the label. i expected to be delivered instantly an exhaustive gallery of all them sexy covers but google just left me in the ropes instead. patterson seemed to have relocated from SF to barcelona where he set up his new studio COLOROLA. a place to check out ASAP.
since then, naked music's releases got the generic photo treatment which is a shame but makes the previous series even more desirable. since the downfall of house music sales globally and before record dealers stock the early naked babes in the vaults, you still have a chance to find these gorgeous releases in some dollar bin. to me, any naked12" is worth the greens, even full-price, not only for the art sleeve but because the quality of the music is very consistant on the deep soulful/jazzy tip.
one may object that the naked style layed the foundations of the lounge/coffeetable house music genre, the sexy good looks adding a wallpaper* quality to the listening experience...
i could agree with that but still will stand for it. if house is meant to be heard very loud on amazing sound systems and in sweaty nightclub atmosphere, naked music sounds great with early morning coffee or at the office, works perfectly for sleazy naps inspiration and eventually makes you dance, if that's what you're after.
one of my favorite releases is AQUANOTE's ONLY 12". both vocal mixes reach my inner feelings and became instant classics. don't expect to turn any dancefloor upside down with this one but let it grow on you. as lady kier said once : groove is in the heart...
GET NAKED

take me to the garden

kd, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

now people i'd like to tell you about the way we used to do it, at the paradise garage... everybody was freakin'... people from all over the world...
early spring reminds me that once i was younger... and that on friday nights, usually around 1 or 2 a.m, i kinda loved to lose myself on a dancefloor. how about that?
for a series of next posts, i'll share a selection of favorite house tracks from the late 90's/early 21st century. some were pretty big in the clubs, some weren't-and guaranteed you'll be kicked out the dj booth if you play them! others were just part of intimate trips but all have a specific echo in my heart, body and soul.
i won't follow any chronological path, so put yer dance boots on and find your way on this journey into sound.

KARDEK
">SECRET GARDEN/GONE
fiat lux, 1998
in 1998, the so-called "french touch" phenomenon was ridiculously hyped out: all the majors that had previously overslept on the club scene now wanted their own house act, with dreams of daft punk grandeur. consequently emerging labels flourished like mushrooms in every parisian backstreet and basement, pushing homestudio dj's beats to feed the beast.
among them FIAT LUX chopped its teeth on numerous acts before hitting it big with SUPERFUNK's discohouse hit "lucky star" in 2000. meanwhile, french duo KARDEK layed this deep melancholic number as Bside of an otherwise club formatted 12" (fiatluxO8) that got lost on the dancefloor but this track remains as a delicate flower in the garden of my record bag

DEEP DISH/ELASTIC REALITY
CASSA DE X/GONE
Yoshitoshi/Tribal america, 1994
DEEP DISH are another duo but based in washington, DC. early on they created their own label (deep dish records) and produced countless tracks under many differents names or monikers. though mostly renowned for their deep dark, tribal and almost technoid beats and dj sets, they sometimes indulged in very soulful compositions. CASSA DE X is one of the kind, building up slowly from amniotic ambient to hypnotic bliss.
since then, the grammy-award duo mutated into a flourishing business in DC, with three record labels and a DJ agency, remixing everybody that counts and your sister. i remember one semi deserted pre-olympics gig in '96 Atlanta, then a more relaxed set in Santa Monica a few months later where they played some drum and bass i hated... instead of my favorite dish.

you and the night and the music

new directions, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

well, just found this one online and can't resist to share it with you...
amazing band: jack dejohnette, eddie gomez, john abercrombie, lester bowie
beautiful smooth jazz recording on ecm, 1978. enjoy
NEW DIRECTIONS

update: that link's gone now... back soon with new music

swinging in the rain

repac, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

NICOLAS REPAC
SWING SWING
no format! universal jazz, 2004
thanks to everyone who showed support and left comments in the last post: it's good to feel this blog so alive and people caring for true inspired soul music. if meshell is playing live with her band anywhere close to you, do yerself a big favor and run to her show!
lately i had some amazing feedback from sam menter of the band CITIES OF FOAM:
he witnessed a cool 300 downloads of their single generated by our post!
it's very rewarding for me and i hope the record sales will follow...
today's post is about another very good album that emerged recently on these shores.
i must confess that because of early reviews that put me off at first, i slept on it for months instead of checking the music (here's one thing audioblogs and online music prevents us from now ). music mags unanimously celebrated NICOLAS REPAC's mix of electronics/samples with "swing jazz", an "imprudent marriage" that seemed scary as hell.
to me the formula began and better ended with mr.scruff's hit GET A MOVE ON. based on MOONDOG's "bird's lament", scruff's genius track was a very cool idea but generated on its wave monsters of 4th to the floor irritating cab calloway reprises.
though nicolas repac's credentials prevented us from such faux-pas, it took me some time to get curious again about his album (enjoy the cool cover art by swiss artist NOYAU, long-time collaborator of VIBRATIONS MAGAZINE), released thru the quite new and adventurous NO FORMAT! label (an unexpected experimental extension of universal jazz).
i'll leave it to your ears to decide but "swinging in the rain" will sure bring a smile to your face and feet, that billie holiday minimal groove reconstruction is a gem and the sensually haunting reverie of "la nuit mene une existence obscure" just goes to my head.
get the move on and BUY IT ONLINE

suhaila's dance

me'shell, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO PRESENTS
THE SPIRIT MUSIC JAMIA: DANCE OF THE INFIDEL
Verve, 2005
well, i must confess i'm a little disappointed by the poor feedback we got on the last posts, especially after the mike brecker sessions that seemed to please many of you.
don't get me wrong: i'm not desperate about contact or communication but i thought the great pieces of music shared here deserved some love or reactionzzzzzzzz&zeeeeeeeeees - oops, this is one of my cats walking on the keyboard here! is it a sign that i should stop complaining? whatever... are y'all so busy tracking music online? is it the perverse effect of rss that feeds your musical HD cravings without stopping by the blogspot itself?
anyway... spring is here and to prove you i have no hard feelings i'll share some piece of a new opus by MESHELL SUHAILA BASHIR-SHAKUR, formerly known as MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO.
"DANCE OF THE INFIDEL" strangely got an early exclusive french release one month ago and is only scheduled for the states for june, 21st. it's a beautiful mostly instrumental recording (well, the track "aquarium" features sabina on vocals&piano) where meshell deals with her deepest jazz and improvisational feelings, inviting the cream of contemporary music to:
"listen and hear
how musicians can take a seed and create,
grow,
build,
communicate with each other,
paint,
fly,
fall,
return,
then depart again on the unknown journey."
oliver lake, don byron, michael cain, kenny garrett, wallace roney, brandon ross, matthew garrison, jack dejohnette, mino cinelu, cassandra wilson, lalah hattaway... here's a few of this luminous line-up... i can tell you it's a pure gem and that's why i won't spoil too much of it here either: it's one of these rare records you must get ABSOLUTELY !
you can have a taste of the tracks here and place an early order for the digipack version:
DANCE OF THE INFIDEL
MORE MESHELL INFO

it's a beautiful day

citiesoffoam, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

CITIES OF FOAM
A GREAT DAY FOR THE RACE
dorado, 2005
track of the day: OUT OF REACH
part of the fun in musicbloggin' is to get spontaneous info from bands and enjoy the privilege of discovering their music firsthand (ok, probably next to the dozens other spots they probably contacted too...). as blogging is much about sharing, contacting me implies that if by any chance the music meets my kicks, i could spread the good word to my limited but faithful audience. that's usually how i know if the post went global or suffered basic target practice: UFOS of noisy pop, hardcore acts or postpunk logorrhea had been landing here with less than zero chances to be echoed.
for submitters who stand in the muddy waters of crossover genres between abstract hip hop, electronijazzica or more funkafied influences, i first feel like warning them that i mainly post "music from the past" and that the confidentiality of my crowd (compared to much more notorious blogs) won't probably reach their lower expectations by exposure standards.

anyway, last week i had the chance to be contacted by UK band CITIES OF FOAM and their music felt like i could break my own rules and show some support, even if it's a tiny drop in this virtual blogocean. actually, before i even hear them sounds, the fact that they were signed by the Dorado label aroused my curiosity.
for those who missed some action in the 90's, DORADO was one of the most exciting independant labels (along with Talkin'Loud) that blossomed out of the "acid jazz" scene, pushing upfront artists like JHELISA ANDERSON (niece of souldiva VICKI ANDERSON, cousin of CARLEEN), D*NOTE or OUTSIDE who contributed to put live jazz and soul back in the clubs or on stage. anticipating the evolution of home studio culture towards electronica and house formats, Dorado then launched sublabel FILTER MUSIC, which promoted acts like djQ, the Amalgamation of Soundz or Kid Loops.

CITIES OF FOAM are Sam Menter and Todd Wills, a Bristol studio band who took the time to polish songwriting and arrangment skills until Dorado's manager Oliver Buckwell noticed their music on a self-promoted website and loved it enough to reactivate the label's pressing plants. and all for the best as the album and first single "A great day for the race" shortly received heavy support from the likes of Patrick Forge, Gilles Peterson, Mr.Scruff or Daddy G...
COF's adventure seems to epitomize the realities and possibilities of online music, as Sam Menter explains: "the web is integral to what we're doing...the designer for the CD found us through our website and asked if he could design our sleeve.We found our deal through the web. We're selling through the web. We're building up a list of people who like our sound through the web and so it goes on..."
Cities of Foam 's new single "Out of reach" feat. Nia Lynn on vocals is currently "iTunes single of the week". check samples of the album on their WEBSITE or on Dorado's, then pay a visit to your fave wax dealer or BUY ONLINE

the great lazy post

WTby DR, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

WAX TAYLOR
TALES OF THE FORGOTTEN MELODIES
naive, 2005
ok, it's a lazy post but it's worth it. this wonderful album just hit the racks here and makes my day/week: it sounds like an instant classic...think dj shadow, rjd2, blockhead, herbaliser or handsome boy modelling school and you're right on tracks.
an exciting trailer and plenty of info, sounds, etc are available
HERE
do yourself a favor and BUY IT
be back soon...

slim, it's time to wake up!

rare moods, originally uploaded by thebeathunters.

RARE MOODS:PEACE IN DA NEIGHBORHOOD
comet records, 2004
SILK/GONE
NUMBERS/GONE
sorry about lack of post recently but we've been swamped in both work and snow.
good thing about it is that good music got played continuously and especially THIS GREAT NEW ALBUM by one of my favorite musician/producer: LIAM FARRELL a.k.a DOCTOR L.
i wonder if many of you out there worldwide are familiar with the good doctor's work, as most info and shopping seems to be french-based.
living in paris, france, farrell first got recognition in production work for various french hip hop crews (assassin) or rock bands( wampas, FFF) until his first opus "EXPLORING THE INSIDE WORLD" dropped in 1998 and cause immediate buzz. as far as stupid marketing tags go "digital soul" is kinda accurate for his sound, as abstract beats, funk, soul, soundtrack reminiscence, electro and free-jazz are influences beautifully twisted and distorted in liam's music, that he once described himself as " free style hip hop spiritual instrumental music".
RARE MOODS is a new entity created with MANU BOUBLI, a sound system with turntables and sound effects, samples, live recordings used as cut-up elements reorganized through computer work, though the duo recently played two live gigs in shangai and hong kong with extra keyboards and flute players. more Doctor L. music to come...
former Doctor L.'s collaborations include TONY ALLEN on the very good PSYCO ON DA BUS and BLACK VOICES albums
more on DOCTOR L.