Chronique Hilly Dilly

Portland’s Sapient is responsible for representing a progressive new angle to hip-hop production that keeps hip-hop moving in a interesting direction. His percolating synths and melodramatic guitar chords woven into his instrumentals are instantly recognizable. All the best producers have developed their own “sound” and Sapient is definitely one of those producers. Tusks! is the first volume in the Eaters album series. The plan is to release a string of albums with each volume having a different theme. The theme for Tusks!, in Sapient’s own words “is an ivory-wielding instrumentalesque giant”. Tusks! is mainly full of instrumentals but does however feature a few tracks with vocals on them. The instrumentals showcase Sapient’s ability to articulate elephant sound effects, movie excerpts, pitched vocal samples and enough other various sounds within his peerless production to keep the attention span of a 3 year old.

L'addition : Une Bombe ! Ce jeune producteur blanc de l' Oregon est un Beat Maker de génie. Après avoir fait une demi-douzaine d'albums bien tassée, voilà qu'il nous pond un album à 90% instrumental. Premier d'une série de plusieurs albums à thèmes, Eaters volume one : Tusks ! est une petite boucherie pachidermique qui vous conduira certainement à gratter dans sa discographie solo, en duo (Debaser) ou avec son crew (Sandpeople). Régalez-vous.

Line-up Officiel

“Power Bossa” is the introduction to Fab Samperi’s definition of a boombastic jazz style. Fearlessly and creatively picking up inspiration from the golden decades of classic rhythm & blues, latin, hip-hop and soul Sicily’s most prolific producer releases his first full album.
Growing up in Catania during the late Seventies and Eighties Fab Samperi was born into a household full of funky grooves. While his father was a serious collector of jazz records, Fab got to know his brother’s soul collection inside out when he was treated to all night vinyl sessions. Over the years Fab started to travel the world, living in Japan as well as Australia and learned his trade by playing a genre-bending mix of funk versus afro meets hip-hop on stage with the Outbound collective.
Returning to his home country by the turn of the millennium Fab Samperi released his first solo tunes on Record Kicks and Afro Art. Using the The Samp Brothers as his alter ego the “Alcoholic Drinks” 12inch vinyl still enjoys something like a cult status among the more eclectic DJs around the world. This was a fresh sound transferring the best of Acid Jazz into the new decade while keeping a true soul spirit alive. Think of Dream Warriors and Gang Starr with Young-Holt Unlimited as the backing band. And we do not disclose well-kept secrets in revealing that Fab Samperi is the mastermind behind The Captain’s highly productive output of vinyl singles.
Now we have “Power Bossa” and what a powerful statement it really is. Fab Samperi recorded the album in as many as six countries. While kicking off with “In The River”, playlisted on the BBC and sealed by Craig Charles featuring the man Samperi himself on flute (yes, he is a well-studied multi-instrumentalist playing keyboards, drums, guitars and brass!) the mighty John Turrell from Newcastle England puts his distinctive northern soul voice on “Everyman”. Samperi’s close connection to Smoove & Turrell is no coincidence. With their organic approach to the music they love this is a natural connection. Bella Wagner from Vienna, vocalist on “Stand Back”, already recorded with Patrick Pulsinger and Bahama Soul Club. Jonnathan Molina on the other hand is a new face on the block. His voice for “Listen Up” keeps the fire burning with an authentic soul twist.
“Red Bossa” is a liaison with Mattew Rasbash aka Spasmo, an English producer with an incredible knowledge of cinematic jazz, dramatic bossa and obscure jazz-rock. Holding the pace but adding a breathless rap flavour to “Brand New Day” Joelistics aka Joel Ma of the Australian TZU crew takes us back to the age when hip-hop was what it all was about: lyrical vitality, an open mind and pure energy. The instrumental version of “Alcoholic Drinks” is a trip way back into Fab Samperi’s history, but it still sounds fresh today. It blends nicely into “Jazz Di Mezzaluna”, an authentic piece of Mediterranean Jazz featuring a solo by Andrea Beneventano, one of the national top players on the piano. Rounding up this jazz intermezzo on “Power Bossa” is “Spaghetti Samba”, Samperi’s early single on Record Kicks featuring the vocals of Igor Gazatti aka Zion from Recife in Brazil. Soul brother John Turrell makes his return on “Heaven Sent”, again this was recorded with Smoove at his Ashbrooke Castle studios in downtown Newcastle.
“BB Funk” kicks in with a haunting bass line courtesy of the man Fab Samperi himself: “People think there is a lot of sampling in my music, but it is not. This bassline, for example, was played and written completely by myself.” And while Samperi is not only an expert musician himself, he is also busy remixing tunes for other artists. The French freakbeat of “Papillonne Sur Moi” is an example of his recent output, commissioned by fellow Italians Montefiori Cocktail & In-Grid.
Closing the album Samperi reunites with Andrew Donikian aka Diamond Poet and revives the Outbound era with “When I Wake Up.” The music may have evolved since then, but the message in Fab Samperi’s music has not: “The message behind it is that I believe in a multicultural world, where people can live their lives in peace, with no racism, and no war.” This statement is as simple as it is true: Peace, love, unity and having bossa!

L'addition : Encore un très bon album d'un rital elevé au bon son.  Un père collectionneur de Jazz, des voyages aux 4 coins du monde et une bonne dose de sueur pour apprendre à jouer de nombreux instruments, tous les ingrédients étaient réunis pour que Fab devienne un jour un artiste, et un bon. Incroyablement frais, "Power Bossa" est une vraie réussite.

Chronique Dusty Groove

Amazing, simply amazing – and a record that's way more than we were expecting! The Roots team up here with legendary Miami soul singer Betty Wright – in music that comes from a film project, but which really stands up brilliantly on its own – as a record that may well be Betty's best recording in decades! Questlove helped Betty with production, and the sound is a brilliant update on that 70s Miami Funk mode that first brought Wright to fame – lots of lean, snakey, TK-styled grooves – played by Roots members with a slight ear towards contemporary modes, but a damn keen appreciation for 70s soul all the way through! And although the set features a few famous guests – Snoop Dog, Lil Wayne, Joss Stone, and Lenny Williams – it's Wright who really blows our mind here – a hell of a singer after all these years, nestled in a perfect set of tunes to make her sparkle all over again. Titles include "Old Songs", "Real Woman", "In The Middle Of The Game", "Surrender", "Grapes On A Vine", "So Long So Wrong", "You & Me Leroy", "Look Around", and "Hollywould"

L'addition : Bon petit album d'une diva de la vieille (Betty Wright) accompagnée par The Roots que l'on ne présente plus et épaulée par quelques featurings de renom. Si quelques morceaux peuvent apparaitre un peu R&B guimauve, ce n'est pas le cas de la grande majorité des plages de cette BO qui nous laisse un très bon gout dans l'oreille interne.

Chronique Gogoyoko

Highly acclaimed labels like Favorite, Big Single, Rotax and Heavenly Sweetness have collected their forces in order to present "Patchworks Remix Book" a fine section of remixes. For the first time, Patchworks' best remixes come in a special bundle featuring the ones you should never have missed! From jazz to soul and from funk to deep house, all those mixes present the producer's remixing skills with his very special vintage touch!

L'addition : Pas grand chose à rajouter si ce n'est " Foncez" ! La crème des remix de Patchworks réunis sur un album. On y retrouve d'ailleurs le remix de Modo Solar "Natural" (l'expresso ci-dessous). Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas encore l'animal, attendez-vous à prendre une bonne grosse secousse fonky.

L'addition : Un petit bijou tiré du nouvel album de Lack of Afro. Enjoy...

Chronique TheFunkStore

He lent his vocal and keyboard talents to some of P-Funk’s most classic jams. As a member of the original version of P-Funk AllStars, he was right up there next to Bernie Worrell when George Clinton kicked off his 1983 comeback roadshow with Atomic Dog and is now the main piano man for the post-millennial line-up of the group.
It obvious from listening to his debut solo joint that over the years he has absorbed and been influenced by all genres of music. Whether it’s the techno-house jump of "Dance (nujack ‘04)" thru hard pounding funk ("Overload" and "Ghost Lover"), Mr. Rodgers neighborhood is full of inspirational grooveallegiance to the world stage of sound.
His vocal style is somewhat coy (but in a good way), heavily influenced by both GC and lead vocalist for the funk mob, Garry Shider. Wispy yet powerful at the same time. Rock and Gospel intersects and collides with a variety of cool synthesizer effects and straight up old skool piano playing.
The production is crisp and phat over a colossal background vocal presence. Although George makes an appearance on the record along side a few of the current AllStars (Steve Boyd, Kendra Foster, etc), this is uniquely a Jerome Rodgers recording.
Funkateers will here the voice and immediately be taken back to Parliament tracks like "Long Way Around". To me, Jerome has always been basically a keyboard player who can sing. Goes to show what I know. Jerome shows off some pretty impressive rock guitar chops on cuts like "PMS Monkeys". This CD has been coming for some time, I am glad it’s finally here. Enjoy.

L'addition : MMMmmmmm ! Une petite tuerie pour cet artiste que les amateurs de P-Funk connaissent bien. Jerome Rodgers, l'homme au long pédigré p-funkesque a attendu 2005 pour enfin nous pondre un album solo (ou presque..). Le moins que l'on puisse dire c' est qu'il nous a mis une bon gros coup de funky gourdin bras tendu derrière la nuque et qu'on prie pour en prendre un autre !

Topic Officiel
 

Since 2002, Laid Back connects creative minds from all over the world to help develop their art and get the word out. In every project we involve our audience by documenting every step of the process and generate interaction. For this compilation, we broadened our collaborative spirit even further and asked our community to make this project their own by funding it. The CD you are holding is the result of our supporters joining forces to make this happen. It was Pierre de Schaetzen who came up with the concept end of 2010 and we launched it early 2011 when Oli-B brilliantly reworked the Laid Back logo for the cover. Over 25 musicians and producers (from 9 different countries) immediately jumped on board and shared their latest tracks with us. Each of them has a long history with Laid Back. Growing side by side over the years, we're proud to hear how they raised the bar for what will be remembered as an important milestone in Laid Back's evolution. We hope you enjoyed this journey and the music we compiled for your listening pleasure. Stay Tuned, Pierre de Schaetzen, LDBK compilation project manager Julien Mourlon, Laid Back founder Laid Back is a collaborative Content Production & Communication Agency http://ldbk.eu http://twitter.com/laidbackradio http://facebook.com/LDBKradio

L'addition : Cette compilation est tout simplement excellente. Le collectif "Laid Back" oeuvre depuis des années en toute indépendance pour répandre sa vision et sa philosophie de l'art musical loin des sentiers battus et des grosses écuries. Rares sont les compilations de cette qualité. Merci à staxo pour cette découverte.
 

L'addition : La bonne vieille recette du lifting sur un bon vieux morceau Soul, mais pas de quoi être blasé surtout quand c'est TM JUKE qui s'y colle. Attention secousse !