Aurgasm

chilled electro // synth-dance

Observing a healthy balance between pop appeal and experimentation, the German duo Booka Shade concoct unusual blends of modern 4/4 sketches and timeless listening titles. They emerged as an electro-house outfit, but their latest CD, Movements, takes a more measured, deliberate approach to electronic music, reminiscient of Sasha’s excellent work on Airdrawndagger. My fave from their new LP, “Body Language”, has this round bass from the keyboard dials intermingling with a surgical precision with a guitar sounding like its strings are wet bamboo. A remixed cut of the track won the last “Ibiza Track of the Season” award. “Mandarine Girl” features heavier synth chordal progressions posed against a four-to-the-floor bass beat.
Considered musical taste with mass-appeal sensibility.

Booka Shade – Body Language (interpretation)
Booka Shade – Mandarine Girl (album version)
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urban // equatorial

Una Mas Trio define their irresistible upbeat harmonies as boogaloo, a fusion of Cuban salsa rhythms and American soul. The project was born when a member of the Juju Orchestra teamed up with composer/producer Christian Schilgen. Together with the enigmatic poetess/singer Bajka they fused dancefloor-friendly jazz and contemporary beats. In “Clear As Water”, due to be released in March 10th, Una Mas Trio blend urban grooves, catchy up-tempo energy and world music traditions. Bajka’s tone and phrasing provides perfect vocal flavor to the track.

Modern grooves mixed with world rhythms.
Una Mas Trio – Clear As Water (Mo’Horizons Restyle)

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alternative rock

Of all the songs I love with endless feeling or thought attachable, Kinnie Starr‘s “Friendship and Creativity” goes beyond; joining core values of who I am. Her confrontational statements unsettle then affirm as she slides between tranquil and stern, with music swelling among concerns, confusion, and vehement frustration. It’s her direct, lively, and personal manner that resonates viscerally in me, and this hasn’t been matched since discovery in 2000. She speaks to and of humanity; tying her honest desires into one simple, nakedly exposing wish. (thx, Nelly)

My favorite song.
Kinnie Starr – Friendship and Creativity
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motown soul // northern soul

The music from Motown was the only stuff that could speak your soul and to your dancing feet. We all know Edwin from his classic protest song “War”, so much that Jackie Chan quotes it. Great song; this one’s even better. He recorded it a year earlier in 1969. The driving percussion feels like bullets shot at your toes (dance, sucka!) and the hard baritone sax and horns grab your shoulders into a solid groove. It’s a classic inescapable tune that got a little too forgotten. Revive it.
Throw down for a hot funky soul-filled number. Grab the big beat remix if ya feelin’ it.

Edwin Starr – 25 Miles
The 3 Amigos – 25 Miles 2001

deep house // downtempo

Tropically warm, upbeat and blissful; exactly what I was looking for to start 2008. Teaming up with Sebastian Arocha Morton, aka ROCAsound, and San Francisco based OM Records, Samantha James‘ debut is a soulful unison that her honeyed voice must have been made for. Embracing any surrounding with its aura; whether in a bedroom, out for a drive, or steaming up a club, Rise will sustain its essence hovering all around and inside you. A bossa nova flare from Aurgasm alum Celso Fonseca adds a wonderful touch.

OM grooves lift spirits to continue onward.
Samantha James – Rise
Samantha James – I Found You ft Celso Fonseca
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worldbeat // global fusion

Soothing diversity. 1 Giant Leap was a project formed to “capture and weave together a unique fusion of sound, image and spoken word from some of the world’s most happening musicians, authors, scientists and thinkers.”[site] The album showcases music from Senegal and Ghana and features incredible collaborations. (Baaba Mall, Speech, & Revetti Sakalar).
The Cinematic Orchestra reworked this global feel into a tasty groove that ranges from calm and serene to aurally engaging and complex.

1 Giant Leap – The Way You Dream (Cinematic Orchestra Remix)

quirky soul // electronic

Kinny is a dame with personality & soul, originally from Canada, she now finds her home in scandinavia. Trained as a classic vocalist, she released Forgetting to Remember with electronic music producer Espen Horne in 2006, showing off the match between her unique vocal stylings and Horne’s original production. A few years later Kinny saw her debut solo album Idle Forest of Chit Chat produced by a multitude of producers (Quantic, TM Juke & Diesler, a.o.). With that album, the seeds were planted for a new collaboration with production duo Souldrop. They produced two tracks on Kinny’s first, of which the Darondo sampling ‘Water For Chocolate’ is included below. After battling and overcoming a severe OCD-induced breakdown following a traumatic incident, Kinny has now released her second solo album Can’t Kill a Dame With Soul produced entirely by Souldrop. ‘Up/Side/Down’ is a good example of what you’ll find on the album, showing how she deals with her OCD through musical and lyrical expression.

Unique Soul with OCD (meaning Obviously Cool Dame).
Kinny – Water For Chocolate
Kinny – Up/Side/Down
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classical // operatic

Do you recall the beat of Busta Rhymes’ Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See? Now imagine a man and woman singing operatically over that beat in Italian, with a gently plucked classical guitar and accordion filling the air. If you’ve seen Volkswagen’s Big Day commercial, you’re one million miles closer to what’s in store with this adventure. So take a trip with a thrift shop warrior and hear what happens when a not-so-average Josh takes command of an 85-piece orchestra as only part of his medium.

Evocative soundscapes with lush, orchestral backdrops.
J. Ralph – Mi Ricordo
J. Ralph – Thrift Shop Warrior (Instrumental)
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1960’s jazz // saxophone

You’ve undoubtably heard the classic song “Take Five” performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Though Brubeck’s name gets the glory, it’s musical genius Paul Desmond that crafted the exquisite tune. Desmond wrote the delicious “Take Ten” in the same 5/4 (or 10/8) meter, hence the curious song titles. It features his refined and poignant alto saxophone again, along with the guitar stylings of Jim Hall and the lush bassline of Eugene Wright.
Let Desmond’s delicate phrasing and butterfly tone enliven your desire for love.

Paul Desmond – Take Ten

indie pop // experimental

Josh Ottum, a Seattle-based musician and songwriter, has been making his tiny-bedroom-music for 4 years before composing his debut album Like The Season (2007). To put it in his own words, Like The Season is a twelve song journey into the hallways, bedrooms, dining rooms and garages of popular music. Josh’s “The Easy Way Out” evolves from sweet, coherent and easy-on-the-ears harmonies to a rhythmically driven complex production. With layered arrangements of multiple drums, repetitive piano, catchy horn lines and quirky phrasing Josh builds “The Easy Way Out” to a charmingly dynamic indie-pop song.

Whimsical songwriting, complex instrumentation.
Josh Ottum – The Easy Way Out
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