Producer and songwriter King Britt should be sainted. On Sylk 130’s Re-Members Only (Six Degrees) he works with an amazing assortment of performers, many of whom we haven’t heard from in a while, and I am so grateful to him for doing that. First is Alison Moyet whose restrained performance on “Skipping Stones” (which she co-wrote with Britt) is a reminder of why I miss hearing her voice. Martin Fry (former front man of ABC) sounds positively retro on “One And Only,” while Kathy Sledge approaches funky diva status on “Rising.” Twyla and Mark Bell, who each perform lead vocals on other tracks, share space with Grover Washington, Jr. on the slow jam “For Love.” Back-to-back hip-hop tracks such as “Cobbs Creek” featuring Pos and Trugoy (two-thirds of De La Soul) and “’84 Fantastik” with Cee Knowledge and The Cosmic Funk Orchestra are proof that King Britt knows no bounds.
Answering the age-old musical question—”What do club DJs listen to when they want to relax?” Chill Out 2001, V.1 (Nettwerk America) offers music to kick back to while never getting boring. Opening, appropriately enough, with Fatboy Slim’s “The Weekend Starts Here,” the disc gets off to a mellow beginning, and doesn’t let up for a moment. You can almost hear the water licking the shore on Groove Armada’s “At The River,” which features a sample of “Old Cape Cod.” You can’t go wrong with a Supreme Beings Of Leisure track, and “Ain’t Got Nothin'” is proof of that. After working with Sarah McLachlan, Delerium featured the vocals of Sixpence None The Richer’s Leigh Nash on vocals for the song “Innocente.” Dido and her brother Rollo co-wrote Dusted’s “Always Remember To Respect And Honour Your Mother Pt. 1,” while Swayzak’s “State Of Grace” recalled Yaz. As it says in the liner notes, “Here’s to late nights and early morning.”
In keeping with the “chill out” vibe, with Organic (Shakti), Robert Miles has recorded a subtle, yet powerful, blend of beats, keyboards and live instrumentation that shines through the pre-sunrise, post-club haze. Those familiar with the trancey/techno sound of Miles’s 1990s work might be surprised at the down-tempo nature of many of these songs. Electric guitars rip through “Separation” and “Wrong.” The Eastern arrangement on “Paths” (featuring vocals by Smoke City’s Nina Miranda) and “Release Me,” show Miles moving into different and exotic directions. There are plenty of drum’n bass teasers and break beats to satisfy the rhythm addicts. However, if you just want to explore the organic nature of the trance, Miles supplies the soundtrack.
DBC stands for District Basement Collective, and the “district” that their name refers to is none other than the District of Columbia, as in Washington, D.C. You might not expect to find a drum’n bass electro-pop trio such as the DBC within the confines of such a conservative city, but here they are. Vocalist Alexandra Scott and co-band-members Jeremy Beaver (a/k/a DJ Boom) and Drew Kennedy (a/k/a Dex Dubious) all bring their individual talents to Listen (DCide) and the results are as diverse as they are cohesive. Notable tracks include my favorite track “Enough,” the flighty “Bird Woman,” and “Not Another.