SWELL CHART FEBRUARY 02

From: Andreas Saag (saag@home.se)
Date: Thu Feb 14 2002 - 18:40:43 CET

  • Next message: PMA: "club spots in London this weekend."

    Señor Swell is getting more and more busy! But busy is nice and there's a
    lot of swell music coming up... Expect jazzy excursions and remixes on
    labels like Hollow, Freerange, Hospital, SLS and more. Also expect me and/or
    my swell band to show up the next coming months in various places like
    finland, scotland, US etc. Read more about it below the...

    SWELL CHART FEBRUARY 02

    Compiled by Andreas Saag aka Swell Session

    ARTIST TITLE LABEL

    1. Kabuki - Tempest - Head 2 Toe
    I really can't help loving when broken beat meets drum 'n bass elements. And
    that's a perfect description of Kabuki's Tempest. The Kevin Saunderson
    bass-line really tearing up the floor... yummy. And a perfect match on the
    b-side, At-jazz at their very best; the beats broken and funky, the chords
    clever and sparse. And isn´t that a clarinet doubling the bassline? How
    creative! (and brilliant)

    2. Koop - Waltz for Koop - JCR
    The swedish kings of jazz are back! :-) Well, what can I say, it's been
    around for very long and in my CD-player ever since I got it myself. My
    father was constantly bugging me for a copy for weeks... This is as
    original, beautiful and smart as a reproduction of the blue-note sound gets
    2002. Big up for the Stockholm boys!

    3. Quant - Funkster EP - Hollow
    Two key words: Fat. Funky. Well, this is the mother of fat funkiness and for
    you who have heard Quant before, this is one level up, inkluding som west
    london influences! It's such an honnor to have this guy in the same
    building, in fact not even 5 feet away... this is where a lot of the
    inspiration for my swell session and statless stuff comes from...

    4. DJ Marky & DJ Patife - Sotinha que esi com voce - Movement
    The perfect mix between drum 'n bass and bossa, Marky and Patife once again
    prooving that they're the masters of doing it and Fernanda P giving it the
    perfect vocal touch with her blissful voice!

    5. Buscemi - Midnight Session - Downshall Plastics
    Well, if you haven't come to the conclusion yet: the perfect lounge grooves
    come from Downshall Plastics. Buscemi delivers moody midnight action, the
    title track with a clever chopped up rhodes sequence and the slightly
    groovier Felize Viaje has some african vocal samples, perfectly hidden in
    the background, not breaking the magic atmosphere.

    6. Twitch - Blow your Blues away - Key
    Wow! Don't know much about this but it's sure one hell of a
    afro/sixties/bluebeat/funk groove! And those rambling breakdowns... we love!

    7. Domu - Up+Down - (Archive)
    This, I believe, is the biggest moment of broken beat since IG started it
    all... You may ask me then: is it that original? Perhaps not, but Domu's
    just got a vibe of it's own and we do have a term in sweden for it: "Det
    svänger!". Literally translated it would be "it swings" but I guess the best
    translation is "the groove is there!". And it sure is. The programming of
    the beats is often quite simple for being broken beat but every single
    shaker, snare drum or little twist of the beat structure is totally
    necessary. There is also quite a drum n bass feel to Domu's music. He's
    added all the deep sounds and atmospheres that used to blow our mind when
    that sound was new. To experience the darkest and most agressive track on
    the album "Space Monkeys" at the original broken beat venue, co-op, is one
    of my greatest club experiences. Someone complained about co-op turning into
    a drum n bass club. As long as it sounds like this I really have no
    objection...

    8. Gerardo Frisina- Saeta - Schema
    A sparse piano solo over latin beats. Brilliant! Why? Well, first of all
    because it's good musically, but second: it's got that warm sound that your
    dad's old big band latin jazz records have. Those who were recorded in an
    auditorium somewhere and you can really hear the reverb of the room. Saeta
    has these features as well, but apart from some of the percussion the beats
    are really tight and works well on a dancing crowd.

    9. Briskey - Lovlier Without Makeup/Conchita's Cabin - (Downshall Plastics)
    "My maaaan's gooone now"... It's just stuck in my head! Like a rougher
    enhancement of Saint Germain's Rose Rouge...
    Smooth sparkling latin grooves and a beautiful choice of mellow vocals.
    Conchita's Cabin is a really good example of a song you like playing out and
    most likeley will listen to again when you get home...

    11. Sasso - Black Soldier - (Sing Sing)
    The A-side is best described as any James Bond film score in 2-step light
    version. The flip side takes you back to the the good old acid jazz era, an
    up-tempo funk groove with LOTS of congas and a long solo parts, dubbed with
    vocals...
    The result? So swell I just h a d to play it at again and again for one
    whole day at home... (18 times?)

    12. CALM - Organ Language EP 2 - Revirth
    Uptempo Japaneze atmospheric frenzy on the A-side and a down beat 70's
    synthsolo excursion on the flip. But the track I've played the most is the
    The bonus track Organ language Beats. This is where the live bongo action is
    at. The groove is really there...

    13. Metro Area - #4 - Environ
    #4 is here and though it's not as brilliant as the third one, I believe
    there is a lot of more 80's flavoured tech/house soul
    to find on this one. The A-side is as usual the most dancable track
    (surprise) and the one that I prefer. Really nice and sparse though.

    14. Tweak - Hybrid Organics - (Straight Ahead)
    The best to come out of straight ahead so far? Well, I love the hi quality
    sounds that the swiss label provides us with and tweak is at it's peak (!).
    This album features many different styles and I must admit that the most
    seductive grooves are the ones whith a slight drum n bass vibe. A little
    more jazz and a little less electronic deepness, than I'm used to hear from
    Tweak, but then that's the only kind of track I'd like to hear that's not
    included...

    15. Suba - Samba do Gringo Paulista - Zero db remix - (Ziriquiboom)
    #1 superlatinoknüller! Doesn't get any better for the dancefloor than this,
    I've even heard it in the local cheesy house club in Gothenburg. The acid
    bassline prooves that the Zero db guys are in fact nuts... thank God for
    that.

    As you might see I've reduced the chart to 15 tracks/releases and that's how
    it will have to be for a while until thinngs calm down in the studio... Hope
    you like it anyway.

    So what has happened in the city of Gothenburg since last chart? Well, our
    all time favourite ex-londoneer Cukipapa Alan Brown payed us a visit some
    weeks ago; spinning some great records at the opening of club Mecca at
    Nefertiti as well as participating in our dwell sessions at Café Publik
    (drinking coffe, listening to Stevie Wonder).
    The swell posse enjoyed every minute of the week, and it seemed like Mr
    Brown did too! We love ya boots Alan!

    Also there is an awesome third release coming up on Hollow... watch out for
    Quant! Read more on the Hollow website that's finally up at www.hollow.nu

    There is a very good vibe in the city musicwise right now. Quant, the Plej
    guys working on a 2nd 12, Jol making some new even groovier stuff, Chris
    Berg releasing his groove (and the Koop guys loving it).
    And I've had amazing jam sessions with Jonatan (Ernesto's). We're done with
    his twelve for Hollow, he's recorded vocals on both my Swell Session and my
    SLS stuff... and on my Swell remix on the coming Stateless 12 on Freerange.
    Big up for mr Ernesto! And for his girl Mimi who's also making some
    fabulous stuff... at the age of 17 already. And someone told me I'm included
    in the new generation of producers. I feel old :-)

    Also my dear friend Samuel L Session came back from DJing in Singapore with
    a nice little video-greeting from mr Peterson himself. Big shouts back to
    the king! :-)

    The rest of the time Señor Swell has been in the studio... a lot. Here's
    what to expect in the near future:

    Singles

    * Stateless - Falling Into / Rejected for Life on Freerange. Including my
    own Swell rmx (yes me remixing myself :-) and a Russ Gabriel rmx.

    * Jazz Lesson EP on SLS. Jazz education for the techno heads? For those of
    you who have heard my first twelve on this swedish techno label I can tell
    you that Jazz Lesson will sound like a mix between that and Swell Session. A
    true experiment in the studio but i believe it turned out very intresting.

    Remixes

    * A Swell Session rmx of Ernesto´s on Hollow.

    * A Remix of Total Science's Return of Forever on Hospital

    Compilations

    * A Swell Session track on Companionship from April records.

    * A Swell co-op with Ernesto's on Soul Searchng Part 2

    Yes, the groove is on... and regarding gigs as well!

    Some gig dates

    15 Feb Malmö, Swell Session live at Fusion

    16 Feb Helsinki, Señor Swell spinning at Club Bundolo

    23 Feb Copenhagen, Swell Session live at Rust

    There are also gigs planned in Scotland (April) and the US (May/June)... let
    me get back with dates.

    Take care and keep it swell!

    If you would like to contact me or unsubscribe from this chart, please write
    to saag@home.se

    Feel free to mail stuff to:
    Andreas Saag
    Valenv 1.
    S-430 91 Hönö
    SWEDEN



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