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Artist: JAZZANOVA
Title: REMIXED
Label: Jazzanova Compost Records
Link: www.jazzanova.net
Root: Germany-Various/Broken Beat-Jazz-Electronica
Tweak and treat, the pumpkin colored double CD abounds with both. In this pro-tools wet dream come true, Jazzanova (the famed underdog Berliners responsible for unleashing broken beat onto dance floors world wide), get the remix treatment from friends, peers and like-minded syncopation junkies. Taking the deep groove layering and jazz texture further still, the additional vocals and production take familiar tracks to new heights of experimentation through the finger play of King Britt, Vikter Duplaix, Jazzy Jeff, Madlib, Stereolab and The Kyoto Jazz Massive, as well as 17 more whose name may never emerge from the obscurity of their studio. With these adventurous innovations taking the music closer to hip hop, house and Detroit techno, jazz remains at the core of each reconstruction, preserving Jazzanova’s high-art signature sound with density, creating another flawless milestone in an otherwise disposable arena.

Artist: PLACEBO
Title: SLEEPING WITH GHOSTS
Label: Hut Recordings/Astralwerks
Link: www.placeboworld.co.uk and www.astralwerks.com
Root: UK/ Rock
Marking Astralwerks’s sharp new turn towards a more rock oriented horizon, Placebo’s 4th release charms with the emotional candor of a sweet sixteen ballroom debutante,and infects every vital organ with the virulence of a pandemic. At the core of this sulfuric cocktail served with velvet gloves is singer Brian Molko, whose androgynous demeanor serves as a launch platform for conflicted tales of love, lust and redemption, while struggling to define his own identity, stuck somewhere between Bowie and Bauhaus as a 21st. century Ziggy. With a production crafted by the hands and ears of Jim Abbiss (DJ Shadow, The Music, Unkle), electronic textures and metal guitars mesh to build an industrial landscape perpetually destroyed by human emotions and vocal onslaughts, only to grow back like a metastasized matrix. This duel for survival stirs the music from hard to sweet, somehow finding balance in between, unleashing its head-banging fury with melodic gothic splendor.

Artist: CAIA
Title: THE MAGIC DRAGON
Label: Guidance Records
Link: www.33rpm.com
Root: UK/ Downtempo Electronica
It seems Andy Cato is turning himself into the most prolific producer in Britain these days. Not content enough to churn out a new Groove Armada record every 12 months, then creating the musical frame for the phenomenal Weekend Players debut, his seven foot + of groove savoir faire now has him moonlight with Japanese composer Maiku Takahashi. Dropping a demo here and there for the past two years has created an intoxicating buzz feeding on anticipation. Now finally revealed, Caia is the essential Balearic chill out manifesto, the record that takes you to the realm of dreams and happy memories by way of lush keyboard sounds and grooves that roll like waves on a beach, the lyrical soundtrack to a blissful summer. The Magic Dragon builds up through deja vu. Borrowing from every sound, texture and progression of downtempo and trip-hop of the past 5 years, it is both a nostalgic and vanguard production dedicated to building the right vibe and let it flow. Two pre-vocal versions of Weekend Players tracks connect the dots between Cato’s various ventures, offering a glimpse into his seemingly endless creative process. Put on repeat till Autumn.

Artist: VARIOUS
Title: FLYING GROOVE
Title: FLYING FUNK
Label: Bluebird/RCA
Link: www.bluebirdjazz.com , www.flyingfunk.com , www.flyinggroove.com
Root: US/ Funk-Soul-Jazz
The Flying Dutchman catalogue re-mastered is a reissue so polished it could have been produced today. A label created in 1968 by a Bob Thiele, John Coltrane’s legendary producer during his Impulse! years, with the vision to bring jazzier records to the then commercial world of soul and funk. The perfect way to rediscover tracks both familiar and obscure by artists like Nina Simone, Gil Scott Eron, Lonnie Liston Smith, The Gil Evans Orchestra and Gato Barbieri, to name a few, both collection put a cultural movement back in historical perspective, and allow to measure how it influenced every aspect of music, from disco and house, to hip hop, by way of sound or sample. This level of musicianship his hard to find today, and makes the preservation of this heritage essential, so it can inspire a younger generation to reconnect with its roots, and carry the torch further. Go to the websites for full biopic, and to your stereo to get your groove on.

Artist: D:FUSE
Title: PEOPLE_2: BOTH SIDES OF THE PICTURE
Label: System Recordings
Link: www.djdfuse.com
Root: US/ Downtempo-Progressive House
Those in search of the perfect Ibiza vibe will find the full clubbing experience packaged in this 2CD set. A unique approach to the mixed format, CD one, “People Chilling” explores gorgeous ambient landscapes infused with Dub bass lines, echoes drowned in infinite repeats, creating a weightless environment for those who survive the late hour to meet the dawn. CD two, “People Clubbing” is a unique Progressive House mix, part pure energy, part journey with enough bounce to ensure your feet won’t touch the ground too often, and if you’re not that brave, it’s ear candy enough to get you off whether your under the headphones or on a highway. The only thing left from his native Texas might be his trademark cowboy hat. With residencies in NY and SF and a growing worldwide reputation, D:Fuse represents the next generation of US DJs taking over the scene from the deflating careers of their UK counterpart, which may be why wiseman Paul Oakenfold asked him to open his next Perfecto tour. Which DJ set will be more memorable to the audience has yet to be determined.

Artist: RICHARD DORFMEISTER PRESENTS:A DIFFERENT DRUMMER SELECTION
Title: A DECADE IN DUB 92-02
Label: Different Drummer
Link: www.diffdrum.co.uk/home
Root: Various/ Dub
Birmingham’s premier Dub label celebrates ten years of bass infused dub plates, and has chosen Richard Dorfmeister (K&D, Tosca) as a master of ceremony. His 13 tracks selection weave a thread through the years, painting the bigger picture: the legacy of a label dedicated to the smoked out flavor of downtempo flavors. A testimony to the endurance of a genre born in the 70’s in Jamaica from the mind of audio collage pioneers like King Tuby, Mad Professor and Lee Scratch Perry, reborn in the cut and paste pro tool era, A Different Drummer has unified artists worldwide under the dub. The original remix, the reggae b-side, has evolved from musical underdog to notorious lounge soundtrack, building the careers of producers like Dorfmeister and filling the chill-out hours with positive vibration. A Decade In Dub proves that a message of peace and harmony never gets old.

Artist: GHOST CAULDRON
Title: INVENT MODEST FIRES
Label: !K7 Records
Link: www.k7.com
Root: Germany/ Electronica
Ghost Cauldron’s musical landscape knows no boundary. Playing off cinematic antics to an imaginary film adaptation of a gothic novel by Edgar Alan Poe, Modest Fires explores Machiavellic themes with a patchwork of style so dense that its genre can’t be defined. Following in the trail of DJ Shadow’s audio montage, Ghost Cauldron’s opens the path to an inspirational journey, exploring the darkest corners of the human experience as it seeks enlightenment. Hailing from Berlin, DJ Kaos (formerly of Terranova) and lab partner CE-EL, accompanied by other alchemists, MC’s, vocalists and guest musicians, brewed a seductive potion equal to the sum of its parts, as hip-hop, as it is progressive rock, electro, orchestral and ambient. The fantasy then becomes a metaphor for reality, juxtaposing hope with a sense of impending doom, only to be resolved by individual choice. The Cauldron’s magic created a concept album with great artistic merit, an hallucinogenic trip down the rabbit hole, into a world of tweaked out studio wizardry.

Artist: DJ SOUL SLINGER
Title: ECOSYSTEM-THE BRAZILIAN JOINT
Label: Unity Production
Link: www.ecosystem3.org
Root: Brazil/ Samba-Drum and Bass
Imagine tens of thousands of people celebrating music love and life under an august full moon in the Amazonian rain forest. Ecosystem, in association with Greenpeace, is a 4 days festival dedicated to raise awareness to protect the Brazilian rain forest from development practices. For those who can’t take the journey but still wish to contribute, Brazilian born and famed NY Drum and Bass producer Soul (Carlos) Slinger has selected for this mix the finest batch of new Brazilian producers, mixing native roots with urban jungle rhythms. With the shuffle on the upbeat and more Samba based than its UK and US counterpart, the merging of both styles feels like a natural progression, a new hybrid shaping up the new Brazilian music scene. And if the music wasn’t enough, every buck spent on this release goes to the Ecosystem foundation (details on the website), a healthy way to invest in your future. Pass the word.

Artist: SIDESTEPPER
Title: 3 AM (IN BEATS WE TRUST)
Label: Palm
Link: www.sidestepper.com
Root: Columbia/ World-Electronica
At the turn of the century, a chance meeting between a globe trotting British DJ and and the singer of famed Bogota (Colombia) act, turned latin music on its head. With their fusion of traditional Colombian folklore and Drum and Bass, DJ producer Richard Blair and singer Ivan Benavides had a transformed clubbing worldwide into a spicy beat boosted ass shaking fiesta. Known as Sidestepper, the combo rekindles the passion with a more organic production, including Cuban and Jamaican influences by way of salsa, dub and reggae, and a great number of guest singers and musicians recorded in Bogota, La Havana and London. 3 AM has a more laidback feel than More Grip, its predecessor. Scorching and sexy beyond sweat, daring without ever making a false move, Sidestepper avoids gimmicks by staying true to form, while bringing the heart rate closer to the dance floor’s BPM. More than a World album, 3 AM stands as a great Latin music album finding its place on the global music scene.

Artist: RY COODER & MANUEL GALBAN
Title: MAMBO SINUENDO
Label: Nonesuch Records
Link: www.nonesuch.com
Root: Cuba-US/ Mambo-Jazz-Blues
Revisiting a time of latin music craze, when avant guarde Cuban influences started their fusion with American pop-jazz, Mambo Sinuendo recreates a musical landscape stretching from La Havana to Vegas, merging the talents of Ry Cooder, the all American blues man and world music pioneer, resuscitator of the Buena Vista Social Club, with Manuel Galban, the guitarist, pianist and arranger of Los Zafiros, Havana’s most celebrated doo wop quartet of the sixties. The sextet playing two electric guitars, two drum sets, congas, bass and an occasional organ, is composed mostly of Buena Vista Social Club players, including Ry Cooder’ s own son, Joachim. Exploring a more electric fusion of style, the music is a futuristic leap in the past, a badass lounge set with attitude, high octane Cuban roots served with a desert twang.

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT:
Artist: GEORGE SARAH
Title: OSSIA
Label: Transistor Recordings
Link: www.dungeonkids.com/GEORGE and www.transistorradio.com/tr_label.htm
Root: US/ Chamber Electronica
Electronic artists that raise to notoriety, if not fame, are few and far between in Los Angeles. George Sarah slow and steady climb from the independent music scene to become the score composer of hit TV shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer hasn’t affected his artistic judgment with complacency. Ossia , his debut album for local label Transistor Recordings, is made of outakes of a score for a Discovery Health Channel program called Plastic Surgery: Before And After. Not only had the show’s producers enough insight to hire Sarah in the first place, but also to allow him to construct musical schemes that never feel like they were made for TV. On content, his compositions are tighter, more refined, with the string trio providing the emotional uplift from the ambient electronic texture. As for any conventional chamber music , Ossia’s arrangements are intimate and contemplative, drawing from classical music’s quasi spiritual powers. Live, Sarah doesn’t hesitate to toss in a little Bach, integrating a 300 years old baroque excerpt in his set, creating the perfect marriage between artificial intelligence and classical tradition.