Out of Season is an album by Portishead frontwoman Beth Gibbons and former Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb (under the pseudonym Rustin' Man). It was released in 2002 in the United Kingdom and in 2003 in the U.S. Out of Season is largely a folk album with jazz leanings, with Gibbons and Webb drawing more directly on the influences of Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Nick Drake that Portishead's work in trip-hop only hinted at. Out of Season also features contributions from Gibbon's fellow Portishead bandmate Adrien Utley. 

Anouncement: New Tosca (remix) album: Souvenirs

Picture a comfortable room filled with smoke, some burning candles and two guys sitting, waiting: They are Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber, hosts of the evening. Both have invited their artist friends to bring their versions of the Tosca J.A.C. album tracks. Excitement is in the air- the output of this session is still uncertain...

The first guest to show up is definitely a special one: Burnt Friedman, well known for his works as Nonplace or Flanger, a man who music-wise lives on a whole different planet. He is smiling knowingly as he enters the room in his striking purple polyester suit. The man's got style. We start listening to his great version of John Lee Huber and it's clear that this is an excellent opener for the Souvenirs album. The party has just begun... Frost & Wagner from Germany arrive. They deliver a dub-infused mix of Superrob feat. the legendary Earl Zinger - we like it like that! Suddenly the phone is ringing. It's Plantlife's Jack Splash, who is calling to let us know his Heidi Bruehl mix is on the way. A lush downbeat homage of the original track. "Better make it a fedex express ...no way we can wait for that tune much longer!"

more...

Quantic - Apricot Morning.
One year on from his debut album The 5th Exotic, Quantic delivered his second album Apricot Morning and, as one listen to it will show, the musical future is looking bright for this young producer who was only 22 at the time of completion of this album. Will Holland, aka Quantic, has developed a sound combining influences from jazz, hip hop, afro, funk, soul and breakbeats to forge a style that is truly original. The album has a melting pot of techniques and tempos that has influences from across the world but with an undubitably UK-centred sound. This is no doubt due to the fact that Quantic's production expertise and musical skill has brought the best out of the talented British artists and musicians who he has collaborated with to help push the Quantic musical vision forward.
This album received an incredible amount of positive acclaim from a huge variety of national and international press as well as club and radio djs worldwide. With this album, Quantic further proves that he can make quality music in a variety of styles that has the ability to connect with people from a variety of musical backgrounds, which is surely what good music is about.

Coma - Electrique Fasil. Nice Turkisch downbeat music with some authentical intrumental tracks. Refreshing!

Aromabar's Milk & Honey is a respectable record to file alongside Faithless and Portishead as neo-singer/songwriter pop, slightly clubby but mostly downtempo. Vocalist Karin Steger has an interesting songwriting sense, and her voice is quite bewitching (it's often doubled for an echo effect). Guest Leonard Richards actually takes the vocal highlight, "Come Back," featuring electric piano and softly plucked guitar over stop-time beats. And later in the album, Aromabar draws on much more than the usual coffee table fare: "All I Want" draws on contemporary R&B, while "Cupid & Orlando" is a nice pastiche of 2-step garage. The production isn't overwhelming or revolutionary, but Milk & Honey is a deft marriage of contemporary arrangements with classicist pop sensibilities.

source: AMG

The Lushlife Project - Budapest Eskimo's

They have landed and arrived: in the world of music and with their fans. Zoltán Palásti Kovács and Konrád Pilisi a.k.a. "The Lushlife Project" present an excellent fireworks of music on their CD "Budapest Eskimos", which excites with wonderful, catchy, and easy-going melodies. Joie de vivre, fun, enjoyment, and dreaming - Lushlife! Whoever finds their bodies moving to the rythm, just a bit at first, then more and more: Don´t panic. This is what every listener experiences. Just go on dancing or melting away.

more...

fipo

This blog is intended to highlight (new) downtempo albums.