NOW PLAYING - APRIL

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life - the history of the disc jockey, by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, is an vastly entertaining book about the history of the dj. Makes you think about what kind of obsession that lies behind the eternal search for the perfect groove. It is much like Nick Hornby´s book High Fidelity, but about real people instead of fictional persons.

VARIOUS ARTISTS:
Riviera Jazz, vol 1. Emotions & Sounds Of Sonora Blue
(Mo Smog Records)
A compilation of cool remixes of jazz classics by among others Butti 49, Gotan Project and Nuspirit Helsinki.

The rework of Archie Shepp´s A Sea Of Faces by Zoil is the groover I have been looking for a long time now, without even knowing it. It is just so cool.

It is difficult to pick certain jams off the album since the overall impression is so good. All jams sound like they could be fetched from any imaginary jazz club in a movie. You know, music that sounds like jazz, but with a touch of easy listening. But on this jams the raw edge of jazz is left intact. It is not essential, it is just charmingly appealing and I like this album a lot.

TROUBLEMAKERS:
Doubts & Convictions
(Guidance Records)
Downtempo and dubby music from the French combo Troublemakers. There are three Troublemakers: DJ Oil (in the funk and downtempo mould), Fred Berthet (who has a more electro and techno approach) and Arnaud Taillefer (an all-rounder who is at ease with electro-acoustic music, hip-hop and filmic references).

The project Troublemakers was born in Marseille, an industrial metropolis on the Mediterranean coast. The city's urban frenzy, the seaport, the sea, and its activity - the milling city, its warehouses, its racial and cultural mix, and its now well-known hip-hop scene - inspire the group's creative work, even if the group do not display any "Marseille" identity. "Our music could have been conceived anywhere", they affirm.

In the vein of Thievery Corporation we get eleven jams in different shapes. The Arabic tinged slow dub monster Awake is my absolute favorite. Works every time. The forceful dancefloor smooker Electrorloge is made to be repeated many times. The rest are basically really cool downtempo jams with filmic references made for the after hours bar or listening pleasure at home. Totally wicked!

SPICE:
69 Overdrive
(Peppermint Jam Records 12")
Spice´s jam 69 Overdrive is produced by the German crew Sounds Of Life. The original mix is OK, but it is the Timo Maas Mix you should go for. It comes relentlessly with Maas´ trademark, that particular driving B-line which causes dance floor mayhem every time a Maas record is dropped. This will be a cool summer record!

SYCLOPS:
The Abdoer EP
(Denise Music 12")
Yummy! Essential percussion house for the discerning dance floor. A Maurice Fulton-produktion. Lovely Sunday comes with multi layered beats, dubby EQ and organ stabs. The Abdoer is sparse and groovy. The house scene in UK still has got some spark left as these three jams truly proves. Don´t sleep!

METRO AREA:
Metro Area #3
(Environ Records 12")
This 12" contains three outstanding deep house jams built on multilayered percussion patterns. First out is Caught Up with long percussion loops. Evidence the second jam on flip opens with funky guitar licks. Metro Area 3 can be regarded as the American "sister record" of the Syclops record. Essential!

VARIOUS ARTISTS:
Off Limits Part 2
(Sonar Kollektiv 12")
Lisa Shaw´s I Think My Heart Is Telling On Me is on side A. Flipside´s Dub Club Track is the one to go for - abstract dub beats from Stereotype & Soothsayer. Different and groovy.

DELTA BLUE:
You Know How I Feel
(Gazpacho Records 12")
You Know How I Feel contains elements from Nina Simone´s Felling Good. The song comes with groovy B-line, percussion and snippets of Nina Simone´s vocals. It is in the same vein as The Songstress´See Line Woman. Ten persons came up and asked me what I was playing when I dropped the Feeling Good remix the other night. Good Music!