21.6.2010 von mk.

With his 4th studio album „Impassive Skies“ Patrick Pulsinger draws the attention to the dancefloor. After his highly acclaimed adventure into jazz with „Easy to Assemble – Hard to Take Apart“ and the classic „ Dogmatic Sequences Series“ comes an album that extends the unique combination of electronics and recorded instruments even further: synthesizers and hand played drumboxes, not sequenced by the computer, carefully fitted into the musical performances. All the beautiful irregularities of the human groove with its switches and bleeps of the analogue bubble bath melt into a sound scape that reflects both the history of dance music and today’s production techniques. All eight tracks on the album show great diversity in style and musical approach. The analogue recording and mixing process and the wide dynamic range give the material a continuity that makes Impassive Skies such an intense and visionary listening experience, fostered by the original release in double vinyl format. Several guest musicians and vocalists played an important part in the development of the album. Their involvement in the early stages of the compositions allowed Pulsinger to give room to their performances in the arrangement and shape the electronic sound around the instruments. Opening track „Grey Gardens“ revolves around trumpet and improvisation genius Franz Hautzinger, whose narrative performance inspired its sambaesque feel, playful drum sequencing and Detroit style synthesizer chords. In „Future Back“ and title track „Impassive Skies“ the outstanding sound scape of guitar experimentalist Christian Fennesz set a perfect background for Rhodes, Grand Piano and Organ played by young jazz talent Martin Knorz, as well as modular synthesized drum patterns and polaroid sampling by the legendary Sebastian Niessen of SND. There is a certain cosmic feel in the 2 tracks that feature the human clockwork Elektro Guzzi as rhythm combo. „Thong“ is filled with tom tom breaks and deep driving bass. „Blame it!” features the voice of Abe Duque of Hollis, Queens in New York City, in line with straight forward, dubbed out disco catching a glimpse of vibraphone and vocoder. The guest vocalists bring elements of pop, new wave and punk to the album. „Rise and Fall“ is best described by singer G.Rizo herself in the song: „It switches, it clicks“. The song was recorded shortly after Pulsinger’s remix for G Rizo’s 12inch “I wanna see you“ on Gigolo Records years ago. It needed some time to give the song the right twist and movement to accommodate her great vocal performance into this flickering dance track. The Japanese CD version will feature an alternative dub version of that song. When the track “A to Z” took form Teresa Rotschopf, of Bunny Lake fame, gave the song the desired new wave feel and the cold glimmer of a future pop classic. Live shows will feature several guests of the album and transfer the playful production process onto stage. Be prepared for some serious instrumentalism!

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3.6.2010 von mk.

Home Sweet Home. Following Tim “Love” Lee, Nouvelle Vague and Nightmares On Wax, another big name in contemporary feel-good electronica recently shared with us a sofa, headphones and a good stash of vinyl.
Florian Seyberth and Peter Heider aka BOOZOO BAJOU need an introduction only in the rarest of cases. With three instant classic studio albums under their belt – “Satta” (2001), “Dust My Broom” (2005) and “Grains” (2009) – the two Nurembergers have long since successfully established their unmistakable signature sound… and they ranked from the get-go among the absolute darlings of international trendsetters and crème de la crème DJs. Anyone who’s familiar also with (and hence appreciates) the BOOZOOS’ so lovingly compiled Juke Joint compilations can be in no doubt that their “Coming Home” sequel album similarly gets to the heart of the matter.
But please note: although BOOZOO BAJOU’s engine tended until now to tick over at low revs, the octane rating this time is considerably higher than on previous albums. Put that down, not least, to numerous DJ gigs all over the planet plus a close friendship with DJ luminaries such as Francois K. (formerly of Studio 54, NYC), which left behind distinct audible traces – and led just recently to an extensive DJ tour of the USA and Asia. Logically enough, such experiences broadened their musical horizons. Yet only a fool could imagine BOOZOO BAJOU subsequently abandoned the state of mind that has consistently defined their work. Coming home this time around simply incorporates a new dimension of sound into the far-reaching BOOZOO spectrum: deep outernational eclecticism is in the House. Genre concepts such as House, Techno or Neo Disco have never been strangers for BOOZOO BAJOU, but now their influence can be felt more strongly.
“All that interests us at the end of the day is really good tunes. When we played with Francois as part of his Deep Space club night in New York, what always impressed us most was this tremendously diverse range of styles that one can go to town on there,” comments Florian Seyberth. “And for us, in a sense, that’s nothing new. It’s normal that the musical focus shifts over time, and moves towards a more club-oriented sound. And therefore, it was time to document those shifts”.
Framed by real BOOZOO BAJOU classics like “Fürsattel” (here in a wonderfully drifting Idjut Boys remix), the dancehall smash-hit “Killer” (with legendary Top Cat on the mike) and “Divers” (in a hot off the press Jay Haze rework), we thus find in the mix twelve exceptional first-class tunes from the duo’s record collection. And as the sum, here too, is once again greater than its individual parts might initially suggest, the sound melts beautifully in a graceful and nothing less than euphoric homage to the grandiosity of good music and a neat swing of the hips… in which the divergence of genres, continents and bpm runs wild to the extent that it can – if at all necessary – be totally and justifiably read as purely incidental.
With rare, sometimes exclusive and thoroughly club-influenced refinements from the hands of maestros such as Henrik Schwarz, Soulphiction, the Motor City Drum Ensemble or Move D, this nonchalent duo from the south of the republic goes in the truest sense of the word for some deep insight – and adds a further highlight to its own discography, as if by sleight of hand.
Florian puts it in a nutshell: “It’s actually simply a matter of bringing the right sound at the right moment. The music of Sarah Vaughn is perfect one moment then has to be followed the very next by a track from Move D!”
When, let’s say, in a decade or so, the most sublime selections from all the sound archives and record collections in the universe are up for an award, it could well be that these here are also in the running. Because knowing hands and two wise pairs of ears dispatched them on the fast track of musical history… in a motor primed by good taste, and with deliberate disregard for any seasonal fashion trends or flash in the pan Pop hype that might be cluttering up the rear view mirror. Typical BOOZOO BAJOU, in a word.
That’s just how good “Coming Home” can sound. One simply needs to know how to get there and, of course, just where “home” lies. And there’s one thing we can be absolutely sure of: the boys from BOOZOO BAJOU know that “home is where the heart is”… in their case, bang between the coffee table and a twirling glitter ball!

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