Saturday, May 2, 2009

Compost Dishes

Artist: Various lights of the Compost record label
Title: Compost Community
Released in: 2001

In the early aughts, I was obsessed with a German record label called Compost. They were at the center of the jazz-house or downtempo-house movement, which is known to most people as the music played at swanky lounges. The music is smooth and has a groove, but can be a little inoffensive and background-y. Many of the artists on Compost resist this tendency towards the bland, though, and this compilation is a serviceable representation of the diversity and energy of the artists.

There are four stand-out tracks.

1) Truby Trio - A Go Go (video edit)
Latin jazz makes nice with some breakbeats. The video, though, is some of the worst footage of dancing I have ever seen.

2) Minus 8 - Badman and Throbin'
Hideous title, amazing song. A crazy female vocalist goes through some dramatics above some latter-day funk. See below.

3) Kyoto Jazz Massive - Eclipse
A lovely fusion of jazz and house -- the paragon of the genre.

4) Syrup - Chocolate
A pitch-perfect straight-up funk track. The horn kicks alone are priceless. Go ahead -- push play and listen to it. I bet you $5 it'll make you happy.