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(Groovescooter)
A label that you’ve liked in the past is usually a safe call, so when I heard a track from the latest Groovescooter release on the radio I knew I had to hear more. Plus with remixes from the likes of Deepchild, Don Meers and Beat World it was sure to be interesting. Groovescooter is a Sydney label gaining respect all over the place for it’s sweet take on electronic/pop sounds, but they seem to have taken a little bit of a step away from their core with this release by Melbourne jazz crew Amphibian. The group made of double bass, piano/keys and drums have had one prior release which gave them their oceanic name. While I was initially drawn to ‘Adventures…’ by the call of the remixer and the label, it was the mellifluous groove of tracks like ‘Orphan’ that have kept me in rapt attention.
That’s not to suggest that the remixes are worth passing up, Deepchild’s wonderfully titled ‘Woomera Breakout Re-Funk’ mix of ‘Empty’ is the sort of dubbed out funk that we’ve come to expect, just with a slowed down tempo and Natalie Gray’s plaintive vocal. While Lava Musique’s remix of the same track has the sort of acid squelchiness that made Mr Finger’s best stuff so gorgeous and ENS remix is just crazy percussion madness.
But compared to the lovely atmospheric jazz and off kilter soul of the album proper they just can’t compete. Tracks like ‘Tentacle’ manage to travel all over the place with oddly syncopated piano keys and skeletal drum’n’bass rhythms padding out the back, while mournful bass lines drown in the background. The warm sound of the Rhodes pads along smoothing away the stress of the day in a whirlpool of soulful grooves, while on ‘Bedouin’ Mark Spencer’s contemplative flute carries the melody in a sound that is so smooth and wonderful that it’s easy to become caught in the rhythms and soulful sounds which seem to conjure up forgotten dreams and flights of the imagination.
‘Adventures…’ is the story of a fictional archeologist Dr Norris on her journey northward from the Nullarbor Plain. The spacious mood is made up of subtle breakbeats, textural bassy grooves and sax squeals, which easily conjure the rough feel of desert winds and the rare sight of a treasured oasis or the trickery of a mirage. Renowned jazz label Verve look like picking this up for international distribution, so get in and check this out before it’s completely out of control.
