|
Presenting a debut full-length album from Berlin's house institution and Suol founder, Chopstick & Johnjon. This is an album in the classical songwriting sense. Fortified by house predilections taken from the musicians' obsessively detailed and intoxicating dancefloor beats, the album presents its own clearly compacted and self-contained realm of sound. It's an album which, besides the collaboration with Boston's E-Funk wizard Tanner Ross on two songs, mainly arose with the cooperation with the English singer and musician Chris James. James, who has released tracks with his band Stateless on Ninja Tune and !K7, among other ventures, greatly contributes to the strength of the album. His warm voice and intuitive vocal arrangements blossomed immediately under the concepts of both Berlin producers, resulting in 11 tracks on Twelve which were developed by the trio. A decade has passed since the masterminds behind the Suol label, Chi-Thien Nguyen and John B. Muder, set out as Chopstick & Johnjon with a clear mission: to blaze a trail through the international house and techno scene. Those 10 years seem to have passed in the twinkling of an eye. Both as joint label managers and as a production team, they've come a long, long way. Techno, electro, house, hip-hop -- during their early years in particular, the duo set about exploring electronic music like kids in a candy store. Fearless and bold, they surrendered themselves to the moment, but with the Suol label they seem to have found their spiritual home for the time being. Suol's forerunners, Criminal Records and Baalsaal, were important stages in allowing them to hone their profile and gradually acquire the necessary know-how to develop an internationally successful label. We learn from our mistakes, as the saying goes, and all those diverse influences crystallized aesthetically, too, as they gradually created a collective sound concept, which is based on their shared experiences. Over time, their collaborative tracks started to become slower and more organic. What is today commonly known as slow house was for Chopstick & Johnjon a natural outgrowth of their passion for hip-hop and groove in particular. The creative pair compliment each other perfectly -- both in the studio and behind the decks. Thien, the classically-trained "muso" and John, the former hip-hop DJ with an ear for tight, compact arrangements. The chemistry is just right: tracks like "Clear Eyes" from their Friday Night Lights EP, "Keep on Keepin' On" with label mate Fritz Kalkbrenner on the microphone, or their biggest hit to date "Listen" are all proof of that. And as DJs, Chopstick and Johnjon are consummate experts at bringing the party to a boil at 116 bpm.
|
|