Label: Obscura
Country: United States
Release Date: 2010.10.05

Morgan Kibby captured hearts and eardrums as the beautiful, spectral voice on M83’s LP, “Saturdays = Youth”, and she now unveils White Sea with a newly completed EP, “This Frontier”. White Sea emerges out of Kibby’s creative endeavors with French electronic-pop guru M83. Having started as a co-writer, including the runaway anthem “Kim & Jessie,” Kibby went on to contribute vocals and synthesizers on stage, stepping into a more collaborative role and soaking in all there was to learn in her rousing setting.
“While on tour with M83, I was exposed to so many new things,” Kibby explains. “When I returned home, I sat down and taught myself Pro Tools, and how to produce. I’ve really spent the last year figuring out what music I’m excited about making.”
Conceived, recorded and produced nearly entirely on her own, “This Frontier” embodies the multifaceted nature of Kibby’s cosmos, which draws inspiration from disco bass lines, ’60s spaghetti westerns and the envelope-pushing work of Ennio Morricone’s soundtracks. The five-song indie-pop EP explodes with cinematic crescendos, tinkling chimes, shining harmonies, dramatic bass lines, party beats, tempered synthesizers, all threaded by Kibby’s unmistakable, angelic voice. Fused in layered textural complexity and cascading vocals, the scope of material defies categorization other than anthemic, dancey, and rich with harmonies, proving Kibby to be entirely more than just a pretty voice.

Label: Phazz-a-Delic
Country: Germany
Release Date: 2010.04.09

The prolific De-Phazz was a jazzy, lounge-oriented downtempo project led by German-Austrian producer Peter “Pit” Baumgartner, who surrounded himself with a shifting cast of collaborators that featured vocalists Barbara Lahr, Karl Frierson, and Pat Appleton, as well as drummer Oli Rubow. Albums like Detunized Gravity (1997), Godsdog (1999), Death by Chocolate (2001), Daily Lama (2002), Days of Twang (2007), and Big (2009) explored various terrains of 21st century lounge music, much of it balancing samples with live instrumentation, with innumerable cross-sections of jazz, soul, easy listening, and Latin music.
“LaLa 2.0” is the 8th De-Phazz album to date, showcasing a vast amount of international vocalists stemming from the ever expanding musical universe of one of the best selling lounge outfits out there.

Label: Couch Records
Country: Austria
Release Date: 2009.04.24

“Music Matters” is Dzihan & Kamien’s 3rd studio album. After “Freaks and Icons” (2000) and “Gran Riserva” (2002) as well as the live recording of the dZihan & Kamien Orchestra, “Live in Vienna”, they are challenging our musical senses again. Recording for this album started about 3 years ago in San Remo, Italy, followed by sessions in the extraordinary Saal 4 Studios in Berlin and was completed at Couch Studios in Vienna in December, 2008. On this album they went into exploring songs and the melodies. The recordings were basically made in a “vintage” way- quite the opposite of the previous records, “Freaks and Icons” or “Gran Riserva”. On “Music Matters” they’ve been collaborating with the outstanding vocalist Helgi Jonsson. They perform and play almost all of the instruments by themselves, intentionaly avoiding the techniques of the past, whether it be sampling, cutting or editing. This gives them a brand new and almost atypical sound, but their uncompromised and well-know “finger print” is always there! (by soul seduction)

Label: Ki/oon Records
Country: Japan
Release Date: 2007.03.21

Yoshinori Sunahara is a Japanese DJ and club programmer, particularly prominent in the Shibuya-kei and chillout scene. He was born in Sapporo, Japan, on September 13, 1969. His style consists of a mixture of funk, bossa nova, Shibuya-kei, and 70’s music. He is known to be infatuated with airplanes, as several of his albums have to do with flight.

This collection proves, if anything else, that Sunahara’s production talents are just as important to his career than any of his original compositions. I’ve wondered what he’s been doing since his last studio album Love Beat in 2001, and this collection provides some answers.

CD1: comprises of 11 tracks covering his four studio albums. All of the tracks are in their original form except for “Elegant World,” which has a different mix and which has the orchrestral intro and outro cut out as well as the girl speaking (thankfully). These tracks have been remastered. Apart from the standard audio punchup you get from a remastering, I also noticed more of a separation in the mixes. This clarity is more striking when you listen to the tracks through headphones. Perhaps this was the more pressing need for the remastering since we’re dealing with albums that were released fairly recently.

CD2: comprises of his remix work of various artists (most of, if not all, are Japanese) from 1995-2005. As expected from a compilation like this, the quality can be all over the map. I don’t like everything on here, but I liked more than I thought I would. The chillout style is most prominent on this CD. As the songs and years progress, the styles switch. At the end of the CD, you’re getting a Japanese hip-hop song and remixes that sound like they came straight from the early-to-mid 1980’s. There are various sound elements that Sunahara fans have heard before– electronic bleeps and bloops, steel drums, and musical and spoken-word breaks that were used in prior songs.

Label: Emperor Norton
Country: Chile
Release Date: 2000.07.04

Upon the American arrival of El Baile Alemán, the first record from Señor Coconut y su Conjunto, listeners were forced to contemplate the notion that a traditional Latin group from South America had organized a tribute album to Germany’s favorite futurists, Kraftwerk. Even given the comparatively close ties between the two regions ever since World War II, it’s a ludicrous proposition and turns out to be the work of Frankfurt native Uwe Schmidt, who has recorded his Atom Heart material in Chile since 1997. El Baile Alemán is that rare humor LP that succeeds on its musical merits as well. Beginning with a short vocal intro on which Señor Coconut himself introduces the record with appropriately comic English, El Baile Aleman presents remarkably faithful covers of Kraftwerk classics (“Showroom Dummies,” “Trans Europe Express,” “The Robots,” “Autobahn,” “Tour de France”) with the stark percussion and effects of the originals replaced by just slightly less rigid Latin rhythm presets. Latin music can be a surprisingly precise genre of music, and Schmidt walks the verge between Latin and techno with a special genius that would be practically impossible for other electronic producers. Far more than just a novelty record (though many will see it that way), El Baile Alemán accomplishes an excellent Latin-electronic fusion. (all music guide)

Label: Tru Thoughts
Country: Norway
Release Date: 2005.05.10

Espen Horne the producer behind the Kinny & Horne project is a man of many talents. He has studied fashion design resulting in him selling dresses to Bjork (one of which she has wore in a video) and him getting a job at Dolce & Gabbana, before deciding that the fashion industry was not where his heart was. He happened to play as a professional goalkeeper for Wigan Football Club whilst studying in England, and now has settled with a day job involved with Graphic Design. Thankfully for Tru Thoughts his passion for music is something that he continues to pursue. Having previously recorded as Bobby Hughes (whose music has been licensed to well over 100 compilation albums as well as the soundtrack to Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), he decided to embark on a fresh new full sung vocal album project after meeting Caitlin Simpson aka Kinny in his homeland Norway. When Tru Thoughts A&R Robert Luis heard a 4 track demo he was straight onto the phone to Espen, and when they met up it was agreed that the K&H sound really needed to be given an album deal. Kinny is half Jamaican and half Native Indian and was born in Canada. She is a classically trained Opera singer, but her love for reggae and jazz always came first and touring with a reggae band resulted in her visiting Norway and deciding to live there. ‘Forgetting To Remember’ is an album of great songs combined with great production and musicianship with influences from soul, jazz, funk, reggae and hip hop fused in a unique way. The sound has been influenced by Espen’s many years of DJ experience and Kinny’s passionate voice and personal lyrics. We don’t want to pick out individual songs, so please take some time to listen to the album and enjoy it…it will be worth it.

Label: Men of Business
Country: Dominican Republic
Release Date: 2005.10.04

The sophomore album from this group is impeccably amazing. The incorporation of both Spanish and English tracks breaks cultural boundaries. That in addition to the musical mashing of genres is what makes this group stand out. Putting together genres such as electronic, jazz, Latin and that’s of an orchestra is beyond the unthinkable and definitely unexpected. The title track “More Shine” offers some infectious jazz tunes, and exceptional lyrics. The addition of some powerful violin and funky percussion simply adds to its enjoyment. “Agua” is a brilliant electronic track and adds in some use of running water. The track is completely in Spanish, and whether you know Spanish or not you’ll be entrapped in the musical bliss. A percussion heavy “Karma” has so much rhythm and melody to it its almost overwhelming. The beat is so funky and fun backing the beautiful vocals the album is an instantaneous hit. (by geoff dellinger)

Label: Six Degrees
Country: Algeria
Release Date: 2008.02.11

Algerian born electronic adventurer Cheb i Sabbah has returned to India for his seventh album on Six Degrees. His last album, 2005’s La Kahena was the result of a visit to Algeria and Morocco, gathering some of the most unique vocalists and musicians from throughout the Magreb and uniting their traditions with his more electronic dance orientated concerns. What was incredible about La Kahena was the subtlety of his integration. Make no mistake this was world music fusion, of which there are numerous manipulative, at times positively colonial train-wrecks, yet this was not an addition to the pile. Sabbah’s electronics seemed entirely consistent with the spirit and the traditions of his sources and the music was positively joyful. Devotion unites Hindu, Sufi and Sikh traditions under one umbrella. His approach is consistent with its predecessor, gathering incredible vocalists and instrumentalists from across the subcontinent. His focus is on the vocalists who he often allows to begin a piece, gorgeously recorded wails, often in isolation before the instrumentation begins. When it does Sabbah’s focus is on percussion, often building upon the percussion and integrating electronic percussive elements as a means to take the piece into a more beat/ dance orientated realm. The pieces invariably begin untreated and move into a more electronic realm, though discovering just where and how this occurs takes some investigation. Unlike La Kahena there’s a certain sheen to the music, the kind of impossibly lush production that is entirely too prevalent in world music, where everything is heavily reverbed like it’s occurring in a large hall. This kind of perfect production really impacts on your ability to connect emotionally with the music which is a real shame because Sabbah is an incredibly interesting producer and there’s no doubting his own spiritual and emotional connection, it’s just a shame that his techniques have distanced it somewhat for the rest of us. (by bob baker fish)

Label: Phazz-a-Delic
Country: Germany
Release Date: 2008.04.21

Tales of Trust is not a De Phazz album! It’s a solo album from their producer and mastermind Pit Baumgartner, who has been an influence on Lounge Pop music like no other producer, and adds another chapter to his “electronic organic music” biography. Tales of Trust ties in his legendary album Detunized Gravity and thus marks a new stroke of genius. Performing world wide, from Lisboa to Moscow, Copenhagen to St. Tropez, Montreal to Tokio, you’d think he belongs to the „music establishment“ and could settle back. But espacially this is the reason why Baumgartner carries on with different music styles, setting music to soundtracks, earbooks, documentaries or „just“ re-mixing the international music jetset (e.g. Ella Fitzgerald, Yello, AHA…), and producing this solo album. (by Amazon)