Downtempo

[Music] Kruder & Dorfmeister – 1995

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Have 25 years really passed so quickly? I can still remember working at Aron’s Records with some of the best music buyers in Los Angeles at that time, getting introduced to artists like Aphex Twin, μ-Ziq, and all sorts of Acid Jazz compilations. Then came Kruder & Dorfmeister’s G-Stoned EP.

My first reaction was based on the record cover, naturally. I though, “Meh, a couple of clowns aping Simon & Garfunkel.” The reaction may have been caused by actually listening to Bookends just a few days before. Thankfully, one of the buyers insisted that I hear it, and it left me blown away. It opened a world of music genres I had heretofore never had access to. Trip-hop, drum & bass, downtempo, the horribly-named electronica… All of this was new, exciting, invigorating music, and these two lads from Austria seemed to be at the forefront of these movements.

The boys never lost their touch. They would continue on remixing so many classic albums, even going mainstream for a moment working with Madonna herself on a rather fruitful track collaboration.

2020, this most weird and horrible of years, ends with a very pleasant surprise. As it turns out, a lost album managed to turn up. It is, to no one’s surprise, titled 1995, from the year the album was probably recorded and then forgotten about.

I have heard only one track from it, called Johnson. It sounds like a great continuation of that G-Stoned EP mentioned earlier. It’s rich, meaty, dark and chilled music. For those of you who pine for the days of early trip-hop, your fix has arrived.

You can enjoy a track from 1995 called Johnson below:

Consider purchasing the album here, or wherever you feel most comfortable buying your vinyl or digital downloads. For those interested in the track list, here you go:

1995 tracklist:
1. Johnson
2. Love Hope Change
3. Swallowed The Moon
4. Spring
5. Dope
6. King Size
7. Holmes
8. Don Gil Dub
9. Stop Screaming (only available on physical copy)
10. Morning
11. White Widow
12. In Bed with K&D
13. Ambiente
14. One Brake
15. Lovetalk

[Music] Various Artists – MUSIC FROM THE SONOTON LIBRARY 1969 – 1981: RARE PSYCH, MOOGS & BRASS

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As lounge music and easy listening were massive during the 1990’s, library music seems to be the rage for today.  So many labels are releasing wonderful compilations that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with what’s coming out, and what belongs on the top shelf.  Buried Treasure Records seems to have come out with the year’s best library comp, which also happens to be available on vinyl and CD.  Check out these tracks by no-name artists who deserved a better fate than to be forgotten for so long.  All the material is brilliant!

[Music] Kryshe – Hauch

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Experimental music can sound beautiful at times.  Kryshe makes gentle, pensive music.  This came as part of a package of free releases from Serein Records.  From his Bandcamp page:
After the release of his album March Of The Mysterious for Serein in 2017, Kryshe (Christian Grothe) returns with Hauch – an album of eight nocturnal pieces that will ease you through the winter months ahead.

Hauch began life shortly after Christian had moved home. With all of the chaos that entails, Christian sought a means of maintaining a daily practice with his music. The goal was to create and record something new every day in the most economical way possible, so Christian turned to his iPad microphone and tape recorder.

Phrases and fragments of sound were recorded and looped on an iPad and built upon gradually with piano, voice, guitar and more. Output from the iPad was recorded directly to tape for the warmth and natural compression analogue tape brings. The result is an album of immediate allure, musicality and soul. Gently looping piano phrases emerge from blankets of hiss and granular textures, swaths of guitar and washes of low vibrations envelop and submerge the listener.

It’s impossible not to give in to the soporific effect of listening to Hauch, especially with the nights closing in ever faster – undoubtedly an album for open fires and woollen blankets. Just listen.

 

[Music] Quantic & Nidia Góngora – Curao

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This is one of the most difficult pieces of music I’ve ever had to classify, as well as being a gorgeous release.  Will “Quantic” Holland collaborates with Afro-Colombian chanteuse Nidia Góngora in an airy collection of danceable tunes and Colombian folk rhythms underpinned by Quantic’s typical fine production.

From Quantic’s Bandcamp page:

“They have combined to produce something magical” – THE GUARDIAN

The culmination of a creative partnership that has been sparking for the best part of a decade, ‘Curao’ is the full LP from world-renowned British producer Quantic and Colombian folklore singer Nidia Góngora. Out 12th May, the record brings a new and highly original interpretation of the unique, rich and mystical musical traditions of the Colombian Pacific Coast.

“Nidia has a very special story, and as a singer she embodies the spirit and ancestral treasures of her origin”, says Will “Quantic” Holland, of the singer who has lent her unique energy and talent to some of his most popular releases and live outfits. Considered one of the foremost artists of the typical marimba music of the South Pacific region, and a guardian of the oral tradition, Nidia Góngora fronts leading regional outfits including Grupo Canalon and plays a key role as a big sister and counsellor to younger groups. Now based in the city of Cali, Góngora was born into a musical family in the remote river village of Timbiquí, an Afro-Colombian community whose location and cultural contrasts provide endless inspiration.

Will “Quantic” Holland first became familiar with Góngora’s voice through the wall of his home in Cali, where he lived from 2007 for several years after visiting on a musical discovery mission and falling in love with the place. “My neighbour used to play a song from a Grupo Canalon CD on repeat”, he recalls. “From that moment, I realised how special Nidia’s voice was; then I got to know her compositions and lyrics, which are always incredibly beautiful.”

That magnetic voice and captivating songwriting combine with infectiously danceable beats and forward-thinking production on ‘Curao’, a collection of original tracks with the addition of two traditional pieces from the region’s rich songbook. Treating the stories and rhythms of Pacific music with utmost reverence, while forging a new and vital sound for today’s dancefloors, it reflects the distinctive yet diverse nature of the Pacific Coast itself – an area brimming with beauty and creativity but also shaded by conflict, affected by the work of mining companies, private militias and the drugs trade.

“You have to be very careful to keep a balance, so that this music will not lose its feeling and significance”, “but by performing songs from the indigenous and ancestral style, and recreating them through modern and dynamic sounds, I feel I can expose this musical proposition to a global space.” – Nidia Gongóra