Slow Train Soul is a musical duo out of London self-classified as a "soulful mix of Nu Jazz and Electronica, uptempo downtempo, twilight tales, urban realities and great escapes." It is comprised of Lady-Z on vocals and Morten Varano on production. His beats are dope, and she has a cool raspy voice.
They have two albums out, the first one being Illegal Cargo, released in 2004:
The most recent album is Santimanitay, released in 2006:
Click the picture below to visit their official site for more info. (Note - music starts automatically):
Once again, thanks to Stephane Pompougnac for the put-on. He has featured them on the Hotel Costes series a few times:
I gotta give it up, that Stephane sure has some good taste. Here's another gem from the Hotel Costes series. It's a remix of a Shirley Bassey called "Where Do I Begin (Love Story)" produced by Away Team (which I assume is THE Away Team, consisting of Khrysis and Sean Boog, of Justus League fame):
A groove by French DJ/Sound Designer Emmanuel Santarromana caught my ear while listening to some lounge music this morning. I found it by entering the name Stephane Pompougnac into a Grooveshark query. For the most part, these guys are French house/dance DJs, but Stephane puts out these Hotel Costes lounge mixes full of dope down-tempo tracks. When exploring more of their work, I found that I had to sift through a lot of corny house tracks, but here are some stand-outs.
This is the Emmanuel Santarromana song that I was feeling, called "Metropolitan":
Smooth beats, dope emcees...a magical combination. I am halfway through this record, but so far I am thoroughly impressed with the production, the collaboration choices - in fact, I feel safe putting my approval stamp on it even before I finish listening to the whole thing. How can it be that this came out in January of 2008 and I haven't heard it? I was sleeping...
Anyone else just now waking up can check this album out on Amazon HERE.
Other artists include the lovely and talented Stacy Epps, Asheru, Buckshot, Fat Lip and Tre Hardson from Pharcyde, and more. This is my kind of hip hop.
Their latest effort released in April of this year is called Fruit of the Past and is available to peep on Amazon HERE.
...reminiscing on a lazy Sunday. Without a doubt, some of the greatest in ATL underground music, ever. These guys were around during the same time LOA was doing our thing. Peace to all the true-school heads out there.
Had a really productive day yesterday, we were in the studio from noon - midnight. For the first 6 hours I laid a couple new verses and some additional vocal layers on a few songs...then around 7ish, Richard Jones came over and laid down some dope percussion elements (he is such a talented dude!) on a few tracks that needed a little thickening. I am very happy with the direction the album is taking. We only have a few weekends left until our deadline, so we have to utilize every free moment - and on that note...
It's early Sunday morning and I am going to go listen to everything we did...cut, chop, paste, and play around until it's right...maybe even finish some more vocal ideas. I'll leave you with some Cyne, out of Gainesville, Florida. Some laid back hip-hop for your Lazy Sunday.
(there's a skip towards the end of this rip, but it sounds better than the other version I saw on the tube)
First of all, another happy birthday to my brother TK who turned 29 on the first of May. A seemingly endless well of positivity, I hope he has thoroughly enjoyed his birthday weekend. Today, I spent the majority of the day immersed in my usual internet perusal of cool new music (which is really just searching a couple trusted blogs and branching out from there). The first to catch my attention was a Vietnamese French producer named Onra. (Check him on Myspace.) A tasteful producer with a very Dilla-esque sound, he went to Vietnam back in 2006, and came back with a bunch of vintage vinyl he found while crate-digging on the streets of Saigon. His latest project showcases the beats he made out of the old gems acquired on that excursion, and is entitled "Chinoiseries" (see definition and reference here). I have yet to hear more than a few selections from this project (available along with his other releases on boomkat.com), but what I have heard is really refreshing.
Here's a taste of "Chinoiseries" courtesy of the tube:
The album I have been bumping while writing this is a project he did with another producer named Quetzal on BoBun Records in 2007. It is called "Onra & Quetzal Present Tribute", and it is entirely sampled from classic soul records. It is a very relaxing listen, and highly recommended if you like instrumental hip-hop in the Dilla/Madlib vein. I found a site that had a megaupload link to grab the whole album, click the album cover below to download it while the link lasts.
It looks like they put out a "Tribute 2" in 2008. I'll have to check it. In the meantime, check out this record of Onra's courtesy of LastFM...it's called "1.0.8" and it is dope! The site is okay, not too familiar with it, I logged in and it still made me keep pressing play after each song, but at least it let me listen to the entire album.
Incredible show last night! After the Charlotte fiasco, we all really needed this...Murf was back, the band was in top form, the energy was perfect (speaking of, the new song came out pretty good considering we only practiced it once), and the sound was excellent! In addition to our faithful CE family of fans, I had a bunch of old friends in the crowd, which made it all the more special for me...JT and Arelis were in town from Nicaragua (flying back today as we speak), so it was good to see them, albeit briefly. Austin was also back from Nicaville...hopefully he'll be here for a minute and we'll get a chance to link up. Thorn and Kamilah came out, Sam Dyches and his wife came through, some old LOA days folks...it was so great to see everybody, and have them able to be there for such a fun show! Unfortunately, mom and Louis were exhausted and couldn't make it, but Pops came through, and all the usual suspects were there, like Drew, Brian, and Rock (who had some very nice blessings for the dome), and it always helps to have all the lovely ladies in the front singing along, knowing all the words (Root, Ashley, Bree, etc)...
Bam's mom came out so he stepped up and let the entertainer inside him shine...he didn't have any brain-fart moments during his verses (the ones where he looks like he's getting stung by invisible bees). He was funny, before the show he was backstage making a big deal about not wanting to do his "warm-it-up" dance routine on Strugglin' unless we all plan something together (yeah right), but then he was all over the stage hoppin' and two-steppin' where ever he could...it was dope!
Mudfish was on top of things on the decks, playing some really good music as usual. This song by Cru took us back to 1997...what a dope beat, sounds great in the club...
But on the real, Noot D'Noot really blew me away! Their sound was huge, and they were all over the place stylistically. Very good musicians, the songs on their myspace are good, but do not really do them the justice they deserve. The live show is obviously where they shine! They had two girls running vocals that were so talented and cute, it really brought the whole thing together. It was a perfect match, big ups to Smith's Old Bar for the connection. They have an interesting blog, you can check it here nootdnoot.blogspot.com
Now, I'm just taking it easy on a lazy Sunday...checking out some music on Pandora. Here are some lazy afternoon treats...
So I'm getting this blog started as a way for me to keep track of what keeps me motivated: music, family, friends, art, food, poetry, life. I am intending to post at least once a week or so, but it will probably be more like once a month, so while I am here doing this, let's get started, shall we?
I have been listening to a lot of instrumentals lately (mostly Collective Efforts beats that still need hooks to be written), but also some soothing sounds of Gotan Project, Bobobo, and this group the Jazz Liberatorz that I stumbled across on Pandora. They are a group of French producers that have worked with a bunch of dope artists like Aloe Blacc, Stacy Epps, Asheru, Fat Lip, etc. Check out some tracks on their Myspace page. Here is a little tasty instrumental I found on the "tube":
I also seem to be getting pickier in terms of who I can actually sit and listen to as an MC, often finding that rappers these days are sounding like they are trying way too hard to come across as these "mad lyrical" giants, their words just zipping straight over most of our heads. I mean, we can sit and dissect the rhymes if we take the time, and maybe if I had a walk man, some headphones, and was in 9th grade, that might be something I would consider doing, but as I get older the non sequitur stream of consciousness raps start to bore me. Maybe it's just me getting old. I would rather hear someone speak to me on a human level, rather than lifted up on a pedestal in the usual high and mighty hip-hop god position (which most of us as rappers are guilty of at some time or another). That's why this particular track by B.O.B (an ATL producer, guitarist, rapper, songwriter that T.I. signed to Grand Hustle) really spoke to me when I saw the video. He came across with that simplicity I was looking for, and although the song could have been developed more as a whole, it is a great introduction to an artist I am looking to hear a lot more from.
Until next time, stay searching for that new and true.
