Buscar:smooth

As rookies in the thriving Brussels scene, jazz fusion quartet LũpḁGangGang have been making waves the last couple of years. After the EPs 'Stalingrad' and 'Urban Detox', they are now releasing their debut album 'Dopamine Overdose' on March 17 via Sdban Ultra.



Lyrically the inspiration for the album comes from growing up in a digital world and the constant dopamine we all have to deal with because of that. Musically their sound is rich, diverse and hard to pin down, looking at Yussef Dayes, BADBADNOTGOOD and even Black Country, New Road for inspiration.



LũpḁGangGang started out as a jazz/funk cover band in 2017. Anton, Miel, Lena and Rob all met at a jam session summer camp while still in school. Over time, the band started writing their own songs and released two EPs to critical acclaim. Due to the band's desire for creative expansion over genres, they have been able to perform on various Belgian stages for the past three years including Ancienne Belgique to Flagey, Gent Jazz and Handelsbeurs in support of label mates, Black Flower.



The album title 'Dopamine Overdose' is a quote from the track 'Dada Data', a track about the influence social media tends to have on our lives. The album's recurring theme is definitely the struggle with today's hyper virtual society and the overwhelming influence tech is having on society. With unbridled enthusiasm the band tackle relevant themes and combine striking observations with a highly contagious and very diverse sound.



From "Out the Light'', a smooth track about being stuck in the image we all try to create of ourselves, to 'Wanderer', a jazzy tune about the road to self-acceptance, and from 'Candy', combining a punk attitude with infectious hand claps, to 'Time Faded', about the difficulty of finishing your artistic work, LũpḁGangGang constantly showcase their genre-defying versatility.



As a whole, the album is a very balanced collection of tracks, ranging from brooding atmospheres to punky explosions with a constant drive, social criticism and an indomitable energy binding it all together. A promising debut, indeed.

As rookies in the thriving Brussels scene, jazz fusion quartet LũpḁGangGang have been making waves the last couple of years. After the EPs ‘Stalingrad’ and ‘Urban Detox’, they are now releasing their debut album ‘Dopamine Overdose’ on March 17 via Sdban Ultra.
Lyricaly the inspiration for the album comes from growing up in a digital world and the constant dopamine we all have to deal with because of that. Musically their sound is rich, diverse and hard to pin down, looking at Yussef Dayes, BADBADNOTGOOD and even Black Country, New Road for inspiration.
LũpḁGangGang started out as a jazz/funk cover band in 2017. Anton, Miel, Lena and Rob all met at a jam session summer camp while still in school. Over time, the band started writing their own songs and released two EPs to critical acclaim. Due to the band’s desire for creative expansion over genres, they have been able to perform on various Belgian stages for the past three years including Ancienne Belgique to Flagey, Gent Jazz and Handelsbeurs in support of label mates, Black Flower.

The album title ‘Dopamine Overdose’ is a quote from the track ‘Dada Data’, a track about the influence social media tends to have on our lives. The album’s recurring theme is definitely the struggle with today’s hyper virtual society and the overwhelming influence tech is having on society. With unbridled enthusiasm the band tackle relevant themes and combine striking observations with a highly contagious and very diverse sound.

From “Out the Light'', a smooth track about being stuck in the image we all try to create of ourselves, to ‘Wanderer’, a jazzy tune about the road to self-acceptance, and from ‘Candy’, combining a punk attitude with infectious hand claps, to ‘Time Faded’, about the difficulty of finishing your artistic work, LũpḁGangGang constantly showcase their genre-defying versatility.

“This is me at my most imaginative, freakiest, and yet still most grounded and introspective,” says Japanese American rapper/actor Lyrics Born not only about his new album Vision Board, but also his “self” and his existence. “I feel like a new man! I’m healthier physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.” The lead single and video “Diamond Door” is a pop/rap banger that lands you with an infectious barb and keeps you hooked for days, and is a thinly-veiled tribute to a particular style of female appreciation, but it can also be taken as a welcome mat to the new era of Lyrics Born. The accompanying video which shows Lyrics Born in his current physical form - svelte, stylish and with a confident swagger - reinforces this next chapter in his life. 60 pounds lighter, he lost the weight during the pandemic when he knew he needed to make a change. “Touring was becoming harder, and I was having all these weird health problems, but nothing that anybody could put their finger on,” he explains “My anxiety was high. I was not sleeping well. I was on the verge of really bad health.” And this improvement brought more confidence which shows in his new album. Vision Board is a focused affair that found him stretching his creativity farther and challenging himself to write in a way he’s never written before. Recorded primarily in New Orleans and produced by Rob Mercurio of Galactic (who also produced 2015’s Real People and 2018’s Quite a Life), it posited him in a new environment that helped his creative juices flow even more fluidly. “There’s nothing like recording in the Crescent City. It just gets in your blood, and the results are always funky and wild.” “This is about as psychedelic as I’ve ever been,” LB says. “I’m so proud of this album. I’m in a different space. The world is in a different space, and I wanted to celebrate that, loosen up and really create some imagery and share some emotion that I never have. I was listening to a lot of Shuggie Otis; a lot of obscure psychedelic soul and later Temptations,” he explained. “This is like if Alice in Wonderland was Japanese.” Vision Board was also inspired by another Bay Area rap luminary, although one who’s no longer with us - Gift of Gab. The dexterous Blackalicious MC and fellow Quannum Projects alum had a profound effect on Lyrics Born’s life, both creatively and philosophically. “I asked myself on some of these songs: ‘How would Gab approach them?’” he said. “I’d play with certain cadences, certain styles; I tried to stretch stylistically, lyrically and vocally on every single song. None of the patterns are the same.” Lyrics Born’s vulnerability shines through on the nine-track effort, something he’s not ashamed to admit (nor should he be). At one point during the pandemic, he was losing one friend, peer or family member every other week - from Zumbi of Zion I to Gift of Gab to Digital Underground’s Shock G. While many of the songs are deeply introspective, he had to “write some fun shit,” too. Celebratory horns, uptempo rhythms and fiery bars pepper the project from start to finish, and truly encapsulate Lyrics Born’s evolution of not just a groundbreaking Asian-American MC but also a human being. As the only Asian-American MC to release 10 studio albums, the first Asian-American to play major music festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza and the first Asian-American to release a greatest hits compilation, Lyrics Born has been breaking barriers his entire life - and he’s not going to stop anytime soon. From the bombastic and tribal “I’m the Best Rapper in the World” with its self-winking boastfulness to the playful scat of “Bang Bang Bang” that slinks like an outtake from West Side Story, to the smooth and seductive “Who's The Best? (Dear Young LB)," to the psychedelic and swoony ”Alligator Boots” with it dreamy “Walk on the Wildside”-esque reverby sway, Vision Board sees Lyrics Born tackling different tones, textures and genres without fear and making them completely his own. It's an eclectic body of work that boasts more synths, more psychedelia and is generally more abstract.

“Eye Of Delirious” is a long-awaited debut Muscut's release of Chillera’s band bass player Ganna Bryzhata — an Odesa-based sound artist. An ambient LP is a smoothy-flow sub-nautical journey with the songs of Black sea sirens glowing under the moon.

Mastering by Gennadiy Boychenko
Artwork by Volodymyr Pavlov
Graphic design by (DN) daynight.info
Neu Medieval and Heymland typefaces by KTF
Riso print by Hands on Press
Muscut, 2023

Book of Roses is yet another brilliant Vollenweider album, yet it's notably
different from the rest of his works to date
There is a wide range of styles and a tremendous range of different instruments
and sound effects used here. In addition to his electroacoustic harp, you hear
orchestral music, vocals, hammer dulcimer, bassoon, flutes, harmonica, horns/
brass instruments, piano, electric and acoustic guitars, accordion, bass, and
many different types of percussion, e.g. hand clapping, chalk/crayon scratching,
and various kinds of drums. In addition you hear many sound effects: pages
turning in a book, footsteps, clocks ticking, dogs barking, birds chirping, bow and
arrow, and many other special effects.Even though this album is perhaps more
"chopped up" into different songs (and four separate "chapters" like in the book) it
flows together nicely as do the rest of his albums and the songs are great to
listen to. There is a diverse range of styles. It starts off with orchestral
movements, then we have the cheery "Morning at Boma Park" and the smooth
crayon- scratching rhythm of the title track, to the optimistic sounding South
African "Passage to Promise" to the fast paced Spanish- guitar/ harp piece
"Jugglers in Obsidian." Track 13 "Hirzel" is probably the most mainstream
Vollenweider track on this CD. It is an upbeat song with a pop-rock feel and brings
back a similar style and intensity of many of the songs from "Dancing With the
Lion." The final track "Letters to a Young Rose" has a somewhat festive African
feel and beat with several different kinds of percussion and is a perfect way to
end the album.Bottom line: It may be different and more diverse from many of his
previous albums, with many different instruments and sound effects in addition
to his harp, but "Book of Roses" is another must-have Vollenweider album.

Emotional Rescue turn their attention to Rare Silk and their sublime cult classic "Storm". It's one of those rare tracks with a wonderful otherworldly quality that manages to be smooth and accessible, and somehow not like anything you've ever heard before. It must be somewhere in the mix, between the dreamy harmonized vocals, lush instrumentation and curious sense of space. The original on the A side is a treat enough, but then throw in a mercurial dubbed out version by Arp on the flip and you've got yourself a 12 inch portal to a most delightful dimension.

Sebastian Gummersbach's Yore debut brings with it a further refinement of the material he's created for the German label Raw Soul. It specializes in material infusing modern house and techno grooves with flavourings of jazz, funk, and soul, the result a timeless take on house music. Anyone who's been keeping tabs on Andy Vaz's Yore releases will realize immediately that the same description could be applied to his imprint.

Given all that, it's easy to understand why Gummersbach, a producer hailing from Neuss, Germany, is such a natural fit for Yore. There's no small amount of artistry in play in the EP's four tracks, each one arguing strongly on behalf of his skills as an arranger and mood shaper. No cut better shows that than the opening “Rough Edges,” which is, frankly, anything but rough. He builds the arrangement methodically, starting with warm, billowing washes and then layering in step-by-step dub atmospherics, a strutting house pulse, congas, and synth ear-worms—a seductively smooth intro to the release.Gummersbach might have been listening to Hall and Oates's “I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)” prior to crafting “Calming Solitude” when the latter sounds so much like a clubby instrumental riff on the hit. Here too silky chords and synth textures merge with a rousing beat pattern to draw listeners to the dance floor.
On the flip side, “Eden” initially changes things up with a classic B-Boy beat and handclaps, but the tune gradually aligns itself to the character of the EP's other body-movers, even if acid-tinged synths become part of the mix. Closing out the release is the most techno-oriented of the four cuts, “Undisclosed Thoughts,” acid once again central to the track's identity and the chugging groove frothy. The word Eden naturally calls to mind the Biblical paradise, and consistent with that the tone of Gummersbach's EP, its A-side cuts especially, is generally smooth, serene, and harmonious; it's also, as stated, a seamless addition to the Yore catalogue.

Repress

Palms Trax signals the arrival of his new label CWPT with ‘Petu’, a new single featuring South African vocalist, Nonku Phiri. Originally debuting in dub form during the Berlin-based DJ and producer’s set at The Music Locker as part of Grand Theft Auto Online, ‘Petu’ re-emerges here as a soulful collaboration, neatly complimented by a wide-eyed take from Masalo.

Initially written as a slow-heating instrumental to connect the various musical dots across a DJ set, Palms Trax nonetheless had a vocalist in mind throughout, a fresh voice to lend ‘Petu’ universality and energy. Introduced through mutual friend Esa, Johannesburg’s Nonku Phiri draws on her signature style influenced by vintage Afropop styles and folk traditions, delivering a smooth and vulnerable tale of desire. Triumphant brass recorded by instrumental collective Jungle By Night adds to the depth of instrumentation and feeling throughout, each element driven by Palms Trax’s ebullient percussion and an altogether celebratory energy felt across both the original and dub cuts.

Closely associated with Dutch dance music staple Rush Hour Records, Masalo subtly raises the tempo on his high-energy rework of Petu, spinning off the interconnected elements of the original into a memorable and gloriously Italo-tinged house trip.

Established in 2021, CWPT will play home to Palms Trax original productions alongside collaborations, mixtapes, new-generation artists and vital reissues. An online blog will feature interviews, reportage and charts exploring the stories past and present at the fringe of Palms Trax’s wide-reaching record collection.

Following well-received collaborative outings for us as 1/2 of the SF dynamo duo Moniker whose classic “Billy D” anthem and respective Patrice Scott remix graced the early catalog, followed by the galactic
flex Straylight EP with Cali brethren Dave Aju on velvet vocoder vox b/w a stellar Kai Alcé remix on the Another offshoot imprint, and of course his indelible contributions to the arrangements/derangement of the wondrous KAMM LP Cookie Policies, Kenneth Scott is essentially an extended family household name for our camp and so we’re beyond proud to present his initial solo release for the Circus Company label proper. Schooled as always in the deepest of electronic music roots and classiest of track traditions, the three pieces that form the Light Blooming EP puzzle display all the prized synth wizardry and production ingenuity we’ve come to expect from the Berlin-based veteran.
“Firesound” kicks us off in fine form, with a glistening array of pads and tight arpeggios that give way to a soulful funk strut that any fan of Detroit-style electro flavors will enjoy to the fullest. We then move to
the stylized 4/4 pulse of the aptly-titled “Lost Sonar”, an extended live set for Lost Sonar Collective skillfully condensed and finessed into a smooth-as-silk true deep house cut, where warm synth tones set the sound bed while shards of sharper percussion and angular textures flash and fizz throughout, creating an ultra-fresh contrasting feel while a rock-solid groove grinds us along faithfully. Scott then finally closes out the set with the powerful and titular “Light Blooming” which begins with a similar rising pad intro before unleashing fierce and raw overdriven drum programming, teasing us out to the two minute mark when the mighty sub bass line and multi-layered arps drop in to devastating effect, bubbling and building to a bold harmonic apex, before eventually bringing us down softly and somehow with ease
after such a glorious rise.
Filled with early-Warp feels and futurist sci-fi hopes in equal measure, the Light Blooming EP is three tracks of pure funk precision and expressive musical class from the man Kenneth Scott

Anne's 7th Opus in 13 Years, Containing 6 Fantastic Covers and 6 of Her Own Songs, Recorded in One of the Most Prestigious Studios in Montreal with Her Original Blue Mind Team

Fresh from the success of her single "Killing Me Softly" from her previous album Keys to My Heart, Anne Bisson, singer-songwriter and jazz pianist, decided to perform and record more standards from the American jazz songbook, as well as new arrangements of classic songs that were so much a part of her teenage years.

Be My Lover, Anne's seventh album is, therefore, a savoury feast of original compositions and classic songs in her own bold new arrangements for acoustic trio. While still in the 'Smooth Jazz' genre, the presence of a Fender Rhodes, the legendary '70s keyboard, along with an electric bass, impart the album with quite a unique tone.

After over 18 months of musical experimentation and other creative endeavours, Anne once again brought together master drummer Paul Brochu (Gino Vanelli, Michel Legrand, UZEB) and proficient bassist Jean-Bertrand Carbou from France, for a series of informal sessions to explore the songs that were being considered for this seventh release.

These two musicians have been valuable collaborators for several years now. Paul has been featured on many of Anne's albums, notably Blue Mind, which made a huge splash when it appeared, with over 35,000 hard copies sold, while Jean-Bertrand's playing has also graced several of her albums.

Since 2009, the three have performed at several important venues, including Le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, as well as other festivals in the United States and Mexico.

What holds them together is an evident complicity which is present from the very first notes. Their musical contributions are precise and deeply heart-felt. Their virtuoso playing greatly enhances these songs without turning them into mere technical exercises.

With precision playing, subtlety and attention to detail, as well as being recorded in impeccable High Definition, these songs will definitely please Anne's audiophile fans, while also appealing to a wider audience.



All About Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD)
Many years have passed since the birth of the Audio Compact Disc (CD) back in 1982. By use of High-Quality materials and a totally different manufacturing method, the definitive version of audiophile audio CD was born. Playable on any CD player, the Ultimate High Quality CD greatly surpasses all previous CDs before it!

The Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD):
UHQCD is a radical change to the CD manufacturing process itself. The conventional wisdom about CD manufacturing, which had remained largely unchanged across the world for over 30 years, has been exhaustively questioned. Through this effort, the ultimate in quality was attained - a level of quality that is certainly impossible to achieve with existing CD discs.

The Ultimate High Quality CD was developed through an effort to improve audio quality by simply upgrading the materials used in ordinary CDs to higher quality materials. For the substrate a high-transparency and high-fluidity polycarbonate (a type of plastic) of the type used for LCD panels was used, while for the reflective layer, low-cost, common aluminium was replaced with a unique and expensive alloy of high-reflectivity.

Differences in manufacturing methods:
Conventional CDs are produced using the technique of injection moulding to form "pits" of data on polycarbonate material. Metal plate on which "pits" representing audio source data are formed is used as a die. This is called the "stamper." Polycarbonate is melted at high temperature and poured into the die to duplicate the pit patterns on the stamper.

This method is efficient because it enables high-speed production, but it does not enable totally accurate or complete duplication of the pits on the stamper. As a melted plastic, polycarbonate is inevitably viscous, so it cannot penetrate completely into every land and groove of the tiny pits of the stamper.

The Ultimate High Quality CD photopolymer is used instead of polycarbonate to replicate the pits of the stamper. In their normal state, photopolymers are liquids, but one of their characteristic properties is that they harden when exposed to light of certain wavelengths. The advantage of this property, perfect replication of very finely detailed pits was achieved. Photopolymers in the liquid state are able to penetrate into the tiniest corners of pits on the stamper so that the pattern of the pits is reproduced to an extremely high level of accuracy. The Ultimate High Quality CD reproduces audio with greater precision and at a level that is impossible to achieve using conventional CD production technology!

Deep Purple
Who Do We Think We Are (180g LP)
Woman From Tokyo . Mary Long . Super
Trouper . Smooth Dancer . Rat Bat Blue .
Place In Line . Our Lady .

Cosmic Romance is the first LP from Los Angles producer MoodHay that beams down to planet Earth in a swirl of lush synthesisers, hypnotic melodies and warm grooves. It’s a journey of emotions, contemporary and classic all the same. The album orbits around earthly elements of R&B, funk and house, seamlessly blurring in a unique way that MoodHay pulls off with an endearing ease here in the early 21st century. It’s a sonically beautiful love note with a lot of attitude that pilots right to the center of your soul, while keeping your body rocking out real smooth.

MoodHay’s hilltop studio is like a hidden oasis out in the desert, mystical and soothing, where he brings gems (like the ones you’ll hear on this album) to life. He sings and plays all the instruments on this record (minus the hot sax on ‘Melodies’) and is truly blooming as a songwriter.
MoodHay has such a fresh energy around him that is certainly felt throughout Cosmic Romance and these songs were methodically crafted to maximise the vibe out on the dance floor on this planet and others out there.

• The Hytones were Nashville’s top soul group and under the tutelage of genius producer and songwriter Bob Holmes, made some great music. ‘You Don’t Even Know My Name’ was their first release on the short-lived Southern Artists label before it was released on Bell. It is an exceptionally smooth style of singing by the group - in unison for much of the track.
• ‘Good News’ by contrast is a gritty Stax-sounding mover that was first a 100 Club Anniversary single before being issued as a Kent 45. Now regarded as a rare soul classic, its release on a Southern Artists repro label will be welcomed.

But when 19 Naughty III was released on February 23, 1993 with the lead single Hip Hop Hooray the group proved that they could recreate that magic. Celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year, the album has been certified platinum and "Hip Hop Hooray" has become a hip hop anthem. The single was #1 on the charts, earning the band their second Top 10 hit, with the video directed by Spike Lee, featuring
appearances from Tupac Shakur, Run-DMC and more. The album also contains the hits "Written on Ya Kitten" and "It's On" and has guest appearances from Heavy D and Queen Latifah. Production was handled entirely by group member KayGee, who has one foot in the clubs and the other one on the street corner, and that's true of the group as a whole.

One for the G-funk heads, this album is on a limited run 300 2LP only.

For their eighth reissue, NBN Archives dips right back in the Bay Area, unearthing a G-Funk gem by San Francisco rapper Tha Dangla. “Straight Max’n” originally came out in 1996 on G-Note Records and produced entirely by G-Note who delivers nothing but smoothed out productions fitting perfectly with Dangla’s funky flow. Despite being considered a Gangsta Rap artist, Tha Dangla remains positive and uplifiting on most of the tracks. The eponym track “Straight Max’n”, “Dangla’s Love” and “Homies Dedication” feature Iyesha Johnson and Latonya Coleman on background vocals, adding a nice touch of R&B to the project.

Unfortunately « Straight Max’n » was his first and only album as Ramadan "The Dangla" Smith was shot and killed in 2007. He was the younger brother of Edward "The Fast 1" Smith and first appeared on his solo album “Down 4 The Cause” that came out the same year on G-

Some 30 years after first putting on a slab of vinyl in front of an audience Belgian DJ mainstay Red D presents his debut album called ‘Fantasize Then Realize’ under his Red Basics guise. An experienced and versatile DJ if ever there is one, it was logical that his album takes in a wealth of influences from around the house and techno block and features some of his best musical friends and inspirations. From his ‘go to’ singer Lady Linn, to his musical friend and partner in FCL San Soda via Belgian stronghold Lefto, to his Detroit buddy Reggie Dokes: these are the people Red D has been working with and learning from for years on end.

The music ranges from the dreamy beatless title track to the sleazy spoken word ‘Just Like Hercules’ up to the Larry Heard-inspired deepness ‘Compelled’ and including the melancholy of ‘The Larkin’.

Locked down during the first months of the Covid 19 madness Red D had no more ‘I’m too busy to get into the studio’ excuses and all the inspiration gathered during the countless hours of DJ’ing and listening to records in the last 30 years simply poured out. Making track after track was daily (and nightly) business and after a while the idea of a full album simply came naturally. The next lockdowns were spent fine-tuning the tracks, coming up with lyrics and finalizing the tracklist.

The result is ‘Fantasize Then Realize’, Red D’s debut album and a testament to his sound and attitude.



DJ FEEDBACK:

Mousse T:”22 Shoulders, hell yeah!”
Laurent Garnier: “Thanks a lot for these tracks. There’s some lovelyyyyyyy deeeeeepness in there. Love it.”
Levon Vincent: “I gave the LP a listen, nice one! I thought ‘Devious Monday’ was captivating and I liked the work with Classy Lassy as well. Congrats!”
Ka§par:"When a guys knows what he's doing, it sounds like it's real. Great tracks, loving it more and more the further we go."
Roberto Rodriguez: "Classy album! Red D quality!"
Nacho Marco: "Loving it, hard to pick a favorite. Thanks!!"
Kong: "Big up Bart, well done. Belgium = house = Red D!!"
Melon: "House music represent! Love it, feel it & gonna drop it. Great stuff :)"
Simon Caldwell: "Some really special house music on this album. Many thanks!!"
OOFT!: "Yes! This sounds amazing! Authentic underground house music just the way I like it :)"
Massimiliano Pagliara: "Nice tunes!"
Tomaz: "We all knew Bart knows where it's at but this is ridiculously good. Hard to pick a fave. The collabs are great, so are the ‘solo’ tracks. I picked the single with Lien as fave because that'll hopefully draw the deserved attention to the rest of the album. Top marks !"
Juliano: "Congrats for your album Bart ! love the deepness of the tracks and the authenticity you brought. Thank you"
Harri: "Liking these a lot, will play and support."
Alex Barck: "That's a great piece of work"
Quintessentials: "All around fantastic album! Congrats!"
Lauer: "Respect, amigo!"
Darko Esser: "Beautiful album, congrats mate great work!"

Paris' own Marwan Sabb joins Sous-Vide Records with three tightly trimmed tracks for the sophisticated dance floor. Known for his trademark hybrid style, Sabb's kaleidoscope of influences is on full display with subtle shout outs on every track. Smooth and sultry melodies find themselves paired with dubby bass lines and rough glitchy abrasions that texture the audio landscape. Sabb's affinity for precision percussion finely compliments the upbeat rolling groovers that fill out this EP. Marwan Sabb makes a welcome addition to the SVR catalogue.

Heads have been after Otakar Olšaník and Jan Martiš's Advanced Process for a long time. That's because "coincidentally-cosmic disco" packed with spaced-out, smacky-synth dynamite tends to become sought-after. Originally slipping out on the mighty Coloursound in 1986, the label described the sound as "contemporary synthesizer underscores played by computers; depicting future technologies in today's process." If they'd just added "acid-drenched", they'd have been closer to nailing it.

The A-Side is totally beatless. It's also totally perfect. "Atomic Plant 1" is a pulsing synth epic and could've easily soundtracked a stylish 80s thriller such as Thief or To Live And Die In LA. It's a narcotically enhanced meeting between John Carpenter and Steve "Lovelock" Moore. "Atomic Plant 2" adds extra squelch and proper early computer synth squiggles. This stuff is addictive and truly ace. The 3 part "Fusion Point" showcases a dramatic and insistent industrial mood via a gripping sequencer pattern mixed with effects and accents. Menacing and magnificent. The trio of "Nuclear Radiation" tracks veer majestically from a hypnotic sequencer pattern with a heavy dramatic tune to hectic patterns without much of a tune, managing nevertheless to maintain a hold on the listener.

The drums enter proceedings on Side B and they're absolutely outstanding. Coming on like a slicker, heavier Johnny Jewel production, 20 years before Italians Do It Better, "Regulators 1" marries the smoothest head-nod beat you can wish for, with a murky mechanical rhythm and phasing effects. After the stunning beatless version ("Regulators 2") the suuuupppper slo-mo "Data Load" sounds like its wading through the heaviest K-Hole and is all the more thrilling for it. "Modem" is a brief and breezy funky bass and synth squiggle wonder, of the beatless variety. "Robot Masters", would you believe, actually sounds like something those Daft Parisians would've sampled on Discovery, over 15 years later. An uptempo, optimistic track with a real strut; propulsive rhythms with dramatic synths, what can only be described as "very-80s sounds" and digi-handclaps. The breathless "Digiheart" double bill rounds things out, one with a dynamic driving rhythm and more slick-as-hell beats and the other without drums. Mental, brilliant and completely essential.

As David Hollander, in Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music, states, Coloursound was "founded in 1979 by composer, music lawyer, and vibraphonist Gunter Greffenius. A Munich-based library with a reputation for releasing innovative and ambitious music, it catered largely to the market for experimental sounds, its first release was 1980’s Biomechanoid, an abstract synthesizer excursion by Joel Vandroogenbroeck, of the pioneering kosmische band Brainticket. The record — complete with imposing, anonymous title and unearthly H.R. Giger cover art — set the tone for the label’s progressive leanings. The label’s catalogue stands as a tribute to the unfettered creative license that libraries were able to provide to forward-thinking musicians who, frustrated by the whims and constraints of the commercial scene, found complete freedom in the world of production music."

As with all our library music re-issues, the audio for Advanced Process comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. Richard Robinson has brought the original Coloursound sleeve back to life in all its metallic silver glory.

blue + red + pink vinyl

It's a huge link-up. We proudly present our fifth compilation, celebrating seven years of service. Over the course of the 18 tracks, divided across 3 discs, a whopping 25 individual artists show us what they can do, repping the distinct sound they bring to the label.

On the first disc, techno giant Alan Fitzpatrick teams up with Drumcode affiliate Reset Robot on a big-room techno slammer before Israeli duo Red Axes take us into the big room of our mind with a transcendental techno cut. Laurence Guy guides us in a different direction completely, joining Lis Sarroca, Marc Brauner and Tender Games in creating a groove that you can sit back into, losing yourself amongst Lis' syrup-smooth house, Miller Blue's soul-stroking vocals and MB & TG's piano tickles.

Before you get too comfortable, the Time Is Now lot come through with a suitable dose of ruffage, from Main Phase and Soul Mass Transit System's giddy UKG and speed garage, to the '90s-inspired atmospheric garage house of Borai and Coldpast & Tufftrax.

Closing proceedings are SNF's melody specialists. Ams, Kassian and Kaysoul each offer their take on blissed-out deep house whilst Module One & Soela and Alex Virgo & Benjamin Groove infuse stripped-back garage and breaks instrumentals with contemplative atmosphere.
Order SNFLP013 now

Steve Moore's Lovelock is back with Washington Park, a gorgeous suite of instrumental lounge music that can only be described as synth exotica. A real departure for Steve, this is a more mellow, soothing sound and can be regarded as Lovelock's response to these dystopian times.

New York-based multi-instrumentalist/producer/film composer Steve Moore is probably best known for his synthesizer and bass guitar work as Zombi, together with Anthony Paterra. Yet his Lovelock alias has been quietly blowing minds and warming hearts for a decade plus now. His latest effort, Washington Park, was not initially meant to be a Lovelock album. But Steve was posting little snippets of his work on Instagram and people started asking him: "is this new Lovelock?" It was at this point that Steve had an epiphany, of sorts. "It occurred to me that Lovelock can be whatever I want it to be. So yeah, maybe this new lounge/exotica record is, in fact, Lovelock."

Washington Park creeped out in a very low-key, early lockdown fashion and there wasn't much of a reaction. Says Steve, "I just self-released it and all my usual suspects were down with it, but it didn't really make it outside of my own circle." Yet many of the Balearic heads in Europe were indeed on it and Be With were most certainly listening. So, when we struck a deal to do the vinyl version of Burning Feeling, we couldn't resist asking about Washington Park.

Gentle opener "It Means Love" grooves along in the laconic style, conjuring carousel innocence and complimented by dreamy, spiritual sax and syrupy synth strings over a digi-soul beats. Title-track "Washington Park" glides smoothly in much the same vein, almost like a slightly more acidic, squelchier version of the preceding track with more insistent organ. Swoon. Closing out Side A, steady ambient gem "We'll See" is all gorgeous, soft pads with plaintive guitar and organ giving way to soaring digital strings over that metronomic drum machine soul.

Flip for the eerily brilliant "Seduction", a track which starts like a minimalist slice of Tommy Guerrero-esque guitar and drum machine soul but soon takes on a more menacing bent as Steve leans into his long-held predilection for horror by creating a slow-mo haunted house jam. The tempo (and temperature) rises with "Center Square", a Latin rhythm section and a sensual sax rubbing up against hot and heavy organ and string action. Steamy! To round things off, the ominous creeping groove of "Rhythm 77" feels like exotica-in-excelsis.

Washington Park was recorded over the first few months of the pandemic, during the spring of 2020, against the backdrop of his kids being out of school which meant daily walks and bike rides through Washington Park in Albany. It was during these moments of family activity and gentle movements, trying to make sense of the chaos engulfing his world, that Steve formed the ideas that led to this album. To make it manifest, he used all his old Roland beat boxes (CR-78, Rhythm 77 and Rhythm 330, Rhythm Arranger) plus a Chamberlin Rhythmate for all the percussion. Basslines were usually performed with his Moog Source or Minitaur and for pads and brass he used his Sequential Prophet 600 and Roland Juno 60. Strings came via a variety of old stringers - Korg Polysix, Elka Rhapsody, Crumar Orchestrator and Solina String Ensemble - and he also used his Fender Strat and Yamaha Custom saxophone.

Steve is a huge fan of exotica and that's clearly where this album is coming from. The likes of Martin Denny, Les Baxter and Henry Mancini can all be discerned here. As Steve explained, "I spent a lot of time listening to that stuff in the 90s and I figured it was time to let those influences show." You're going to be glad he did.

Mastering for the Washington Park vinyl edition was overseen by Be With regular Simon Francis before being cut by Cicely Blaston of Alchemy Mastering at AIR Studios and pressed in the Netherlands by Record Industry.