Former ambient label Apollo goes broken-beat for their 50th release. Orin Walters produces
and Melissa Browne vocalizes on the jazzier A-side, with a stonkin' instrumental on the flip.
Some state-of-the-art West London business.
I have seen the future of downtempo and it's a kid named Alex! (Well, Alexis Mauri to be
exact.) The first full-length from Parisian Alexkid includes a superbly chilled
collaboration with Richard Dorfmeister, a spoken word contribution from Ursula Rucker,
and much more. Lush and lovely.
An epic in four parts, beginning with a tribal drum intro, then moving into a deep
and jazzy house version. Flip the record over for the broken beat treatment and
a housey dub. Featuring the sultry spoken word talents of Miss Sonja Sohn ("Slam"), this is
top-notch all the way.
Is it two-step? Or broken beat? Hard to pigeon-hole, but Tim Land's vocal and dub mixes
of this familiar London Elektricity track are the best so far.
On the somewhat disappointing follow-up to the first MOJO CLUB remix compilation,
this track stands out from the pack. A latin-fueled remake of the song from "Hair"
that is certain to get dancefloors moving.
The original version of "Coconut Groove" was great in its own right: a jazzy slice of
future lounge fare recalling that 60's classic "Spooky." Here we have two
percussion-heavy remixes from Raw Deal (fresh off his brilliant remix of the
"Freeform Arkestra Theme") plus Walkner.Moestl giving the track a proper G-Stoning on
the flip.
A stellar cast of remixers deliver the goods for this Viennese duo. Ian Simmonds,
Richard Dorfmeister, Mad Professor, Enduro, Tom Tyler, and Howie B are just a
sampling from the amazing lineup. Deep and dubby.
The hubbub around this 4-tracker seems to be focused on DJ Patife's captivating
dancefloor smash, "Sambassim." But "Carnaval" is an equally delightful, piano-led
excursion into Brazilian drum'n'bass.
Compost's 100th release is a generous double-CD of all-new material which reasserts
their prominence in the field of future jazz. Sure to please Compost fans everywhere.
David Moufang (aka Move D) compiled this excellent downtempo selection from mostly-unknown
artists, and thoughtfully provides links to many of their websites.