Heavenly Sweetness France レコード& CD

Review: The latest release on ever-crucial French jazz outpost Heavenly Sweetness welcomes the work of Bardainne Jaumet, a collaboration between accomplished French saxophonist Laurent Bardainne and Versatile regular Etienne Jaumet for four musically rich excursions into cosmic disco, Library music and the golden age of European synthesiser exploration. This is perhaps not what you might expect from the pairing of these two artists, or indeed the label, but the sheer compositional power and production of these two is simply undeniable. Grandiose statement pieces from two incredibly talented minds meeting on the same astral plane with a well-appointed studio as a vessel.

Review: "The dampness of the rainforest, the hostility of the mangrove ultimately did not suit him. So he left his natural environment for the tranquillity of a freshwater body". So goes the (translated) back story of this new EP from Laurent Bardainne. The 'he' in question is a Tiger who ventured across Europe, Asia and America and apparently picked up various musical styles along the way. Whatever you make of that, the tracks here are gold: "Marvin" is smooth jazz fusion with percolating drums, "Porsche 944" has a joyous lead sax and more crisp boom bap drums, while "Aout" is a soaring bit of heartfelt soul Daptone might put out. The Drop Vibes rework of "Porsche 944" features a vocal roller and closes things in fine fashion.

Review: This special hand-stamped 12" from Heavenly Sweetness offers up unreleased remixes By Sergie Rezza of Cotonete's "Layla" track. The first is a slow motion groove with heavy electronics but a blissful set of chords and filtered vocal sounds bursting through the heavy clouds to bring moments of sheer pleasure. The no kick mix strips away the chugging drums to make for an ambient track that is almost as rhythmic thanks to the lead synth, and the final In Heaven mix is cast utterly free from this world. It leaves you drifting amongst the clouds, with slivers of melody gently drifting by.