Desolate – The invisible insurrection (Album review)
I must admit Chillout is a Sunday’s thing, not just because friskyRadio plays it all Sunday long, though it contributes. I haven’t listened to much ambient music since a while now, mainly because I work on Sundays on my personal music projects, yep the sets that you hear on the radio, those ones. So there isn’t much room for anything else, as compiling tracks and sets is a time consuming activity.
So now that I have a day off from compilations and house tracks, I decided to peak at an album that has been lying around my music library for a while, “The invisible insurrection” by Desolate released on Fauxpa’s vinyl-only record label.
Desolate is a German based producer with lots of, huge talents.
This album is a subtle blend between ambient and rhythmic patterns ranging from dub to more atmospheric sophisticated parts. The album transports you in great dimension, and projects you in a world of dreams and unconscious depth of your inner soul. The pads and delayed pianos give the tracks a certain finesse, it’s like seeing water drops in slow motion. In fact, it slows down time around you. The soft rhythm lays in the background as a secondary non intrusive instrument, giving way to a spacial and wide stereo experience. The dub influence gives every tune a contemporary personality leading to a successful marriage of genres.
The opening track “Imagination” starts the journey off with a complex trip hop rhythmic pattern, leading the way to a journey on a hip hill. “Follow suit” blends in and slows down the whole experience and definitely hooks you on board. What follows is a series of dub and ambient droplets, sounds meets lights. “Farewell #2″ is an amazing track bringing you a cinematic experience full of emotions and sensitivity. “Escape” is a breathing like track, with an out of this world bass drop, guaranteed to make your heart beat go as low as ever before! As the journey continues, “Endurance” re-awakes you into a dub rhythmic world with a soft delayed piano.
You would have guessed by now, this album isn’t just a mere Ambient/Chillout album, it is a rich experience of sounds and lights. It is best savored with a very good stereo setup or very good earphones to maximize the “immersive” experience. It’s a lot of feelings and hot/cold sensations. If you like ambient and dub melts, this is your album.
I will surely be listening to it for a long while!
Have a good Sunday.
Silicone Soul – Café d’Anvers presents "The sound of the undergroud" (review)
Quite a huge post title for a huge album.
It all started with a tune Luc Ringeisen’s “Les Trombonnes Du Caire” when I was searching for future track candidates for my next radio set. I was listening to Luc’s release since it was re-released recently when I stumbled upon “The Sound of the Underground”‘s album. I peaked a few listens from beatport, unfortunately it couldn’t give me the whole feel of an album. It wasn’t a problem since I was looking for inspiration and something new to listen to. I bought the album and decided to give it a try one morning on my way to work.
The magic operated the moment I clicked on play and I wondered how the hell did I miss such an amazing album back in February 2009 (Date of its release). Silicone Soul, a duo from Glasgow, had made of this album an amazing work of art! It’s an amazing journey into different sounds, ranging from ambient progressive house to more ranging tunes. It has the ability to make you ignore where you are and how long you have been listening. An immerse experience.
The technique behind the album is absolutely perfect, seamless experience, seamless transitions and a total control of every track’s harmonics. Needless to say I was enchanted by it, even after 15 runs.
So if you’re looking for a gem for your next trip, you know what to do 
Maroon 5 – Hands all over (review)
This week’s “What to listen to” goody is Maroon 5′s new album. Released on the 21st of September, it was well received by the international music press.
To tell you the truth, I stumbled upon it just a couple of weeks ago while watching the band promote their album on TV on the Taratata show. Shame on me. Levine was absolutely, hmmm, lovely, delightful, hmmm, it’s not the point 
Click here if you want to see the video.
So back to the album. After a quick tour on the iTunes library to buy the baby, I test drove it as I usually do for all the albums : Different listening conditions, static and on the move. My first impressions were surprised, a bit lost at first, impressed and then happily surprised. The album screams lots of known references yet it’s unique. It’s a melting pot of Pop and Funk, guaranteed to make you sing along.
To sum it up, the Maroon 5 sound from the last album I heard and the mythical “This love” that I had the chance to cover in my different acoustic gigs, changed! It matured and risks were taken in this multi genre album.
Maroon 5 are all about Pop and they claim it up and high and that’s GOOD. It’s the kind of music that drives people and they are good at creating such hits. Knowing that the AC/DC, Def Leppard producer worked on the album, was a not so useful information to me, since the album poured complex, researched and amazing songs. But props to the team
In depth impressions after heavy listening, made me want to sing along and go back on stage! The songs drive you forward with lyrics that are well written and easy to relate to, Levine did an awesome job talking about love, trust, betrayal and moving on. The melodies are exquisite and well arranged for polyphony and group singing. I had a “Glee” vision at some point with the famous series covering a couple of the songs. But Maroon 5 didn’t want to stay in the comfort of the Pop registry and took the risk to expand beyond this limit into Reggae like, Power rock as well as lots of in depth funk. Moreover, the country/bossa duet with Lady Antebellum is a great success and it brought freshness and sweetness that I’m sure the world is in need of.
I won’t talk about all the songs, since I think all of them are very promising hits. I will just talk about my personal ever bests.
“Misery”, in its original funky version is a Maroon 5 signature (another “This love” hit).
“Give a little more”, an amazing song with amazing melodies and soulful progressions. It’s a successful mixture of Pop and R’n'B (the good kind, that is). I felt it a little early Timberlake like, you could swing to it and smoothly move while singing along. A delight.
“Hands all over” is the sexiest tune of this year. Apart from the fact that the lyrics are exquisitely explicit and yummy, the build up of the song is an absolute perfection. The melody embraces the lyrics in a perfect imbrication. Yin Yan style.
“Stutter” was THE surprise, percussive and risky but quite enjoyable. Levine’s voice gave in to the interesting situation painted with the lyrics. The kind that makes the heart go way off reason.
The deluxe edition features acoustic versions of “Misery” and “Never gonna leave this bed” as well as an Alicia Keys cover “If I ain’t got you” that marries amazingly well with Levine’s soulful voice. It’s another personal favorite.
“Get Back In My Life” is my “Glee” song
Anyways, Maroon 5 won the bet of producing a successful album with interesting and surprising insights. They know what they are doing and they do it with proficiency and assurance. They have found a way to turn mere popular music into musical masterpieces that you could listen to over and over and over, whether you’re happy or sad or neutral
Enjoy it and Happy Music Monday
Grab your copy of Maroon 5′s Hands All Over
Maroon 5 Official website
Jamiroquai – Rock Dust Light Star (review)
Rock Dust Light Star
“Rock Dust Light Star” is the 8th album of Jamiroquai, “home” recorded after 5 years of a needed break (Quoting Jay Kay). Its cover screamed, no genre, no category, no boundary, take the old, remix with the new and play it from your heart. The result is a groovy, funky rendez-vous with Jazz and Rock.
The music flow from track one till fifteen is an absolute bliss and a journey into many worlds. It’s a musical gem to every musician searching for complex yet simple arrangements. It’s rich in melodies, bass lines and techniques, as well as interesting dimensions yet unexplored by the band in any recording yet.
There’s a notable jazz progression in all the arrangements, much more present than the older albums to my ears. You’d tell me it’s funk, yet there’s something more to it that I have to transform into words, and I can’t figure out how. The Rock approach is, to my taste, the cherry on top of this album. It’s like we’re back to the roots of things, well balanced saturated guitars and wild wah’s. Less electro-ish-ism and more acoustic approaches might be a winner combination.
Every track explores new horizons and changes the weather around you in seconds. The funky grooves of “All things in the hood” meets mellow “Blue Skies” and “Never gonna be another”‘s beautiful wavy feel. “Lifeline” combines Lenny Kravitz with a Chicago-Musical-Like big band, who wouldn’t want to jam over that, smiling guaranteed. Jamiroquai’s touch and feel are always here, reminding us of the good old times in “A Space Odyssey”. “White Knuckles Ride” is one of them. “Hurtin” represents exactly what I stated about the Rock part of the album, it’s a minimalistic track that will make you want to sing along and clap your hands to.
I could write million of lines on this album, but I have to keep it short and concise. Overall, this album is just a must get, a must listen to even if you’ve never listened to any Jamiroquai before. It’s a brand new and fresh bowl of beauty that will make you groove, swing and explore new worlds. You’d be missing on a lot if you don’t.
This rainy Parisian day was the best day to write this review, since sunshine warmed up the room! I invite you to do the same and do share what you think of the album.
Grab your copy of Rock Dust Light Star
M.A.N.D.Y – Renaissance, the mix collection – Album Review
(2009)
[Rating:4.5/5]
If you’re searching for groovy techy and uplifing house music, M.A.N.D.Y is your answer.
I hesitated before grabbing this album since I had previous disappointing experiences with M.A.N.D.Y’s live sets. Not that I didn’t like them, but some of their tracks were too cheesy for my ears. House and Electro isn’t much of my cup of tea.
And to add to the suspense, the record store (Fnac at La Défense) didn’t have a the album available for pre-listening. So much to ask myself whether it was wise to spend 21 euros on an album I might not like at all. Then I remembered some articles and interviews about the duo (M.A.N.D.Y is a duo if you didn’t know it). Their big plus is synths and I love synths. Plus having them on Renaissance means that there was major remixing and über nice interesting sounds to listen to. And how can you say no to a cover like this ? So I grabbed the record confidently and went to the cashier.
The album is very uplifting in its ensemble. It doesn’t fit into one genre and I’d be underestimating the work of M.A.N.D.Y if I’d tried to fit it in a category. There’s no track like the other and yet the marriage of all these sounds is coherent. This is what I’d call a great artistic work beginning from the tracklist. You’ll find deep tracks, dub, jazzy, tech house, progressive and Vocals Vocals Vocals too.
Don’t be surprised to find rock acoustic flings here and there, I would have been too bored if they weren’t here. That’s what I was looking for in the end, “acoustic” parts translated by piano solos and hammond pads to state a few.
The album is a masterpiece and commenting on every track wouldn’t be a proper review. In fact, you have to see it as a whole album to listen to and embrace. It would perfectly fit for on a plane/train trip or as an after-afterparty ambiance. It soothes the soul and keeps you grooving.
Go grab a copy and enjoy the beats
