Delicate dub pulses and sensual grooves, served on a rich and diverse plate of exquisitely crafted dreamy electronica and moving spacey ambient waves. Perfect for deep and atmospheric nocturnal listening or for sunset times at the beach, while drinking a cold beer. A multilayered album with intelligent laid back yet groovy downtempo structures, warm cozy basslines, glitchy frequencies, some quirky and crisp idm patterns, liquid textures and flows of stunning silky crystal clear, yet elusive, motifs. Echoing and sometimes swirling, the soundscapes are so vivid and so well produced, like skillfully clean sounding embroidered tapestries.
Simon Heath aka Krusseldorf is a musician, producer and sound designer from Sweden with a very captivating sound that simply lights the room with atmosphere. Simon has released 14 full length albums in many genres over the years, so this guy has been around for quite some time now. I discovered Simon's music only recently and very happy that I did. Simon has definitely developed a strong unique signature sound and style over the years but he is constantly evolving and diversifying, and with Bohemian Groove he managed to deliver a couple of things that are very important in a chillout album that contains dub and psychill flavours nowadays- freshness and originality- within the music itself and the production.
Though there are some familiar elements of dub, lounge and psychill/psybient within the dynamic and sometimes epic compositions of Bohemian Groove, Simon made them sound fresh and innovative, while avoiding cheesy clichés. He's taking beautiful familiar and sometimes overused elements and turning them into something new and different by using his rich interesting sound designs, clever genre-fusing, intricate yet catchy harmonies and of course a lot of soul and thought. Bohemian Groove provides a fantastic unique journey. Simon's beautiful melodies are light, airy and touch the soul deeply. They sometimes make you feel like you are on a fluffy cloud, floating high in the sky. This is a mysterious voyage into beautiful unknown territories but with a nice scent of familiar places.
While the first two tracks are nice, they are not as good as the rest of the album and they do not contain that freshness and originality which the other tracks have. The real magic starts in the third track, Inbound, and it lasts until the end. The designs just don't sit together very well on Forest Fever, and while Insectoid is well designed, it is a bit dry and gets interesting only towards the end. Like I said, the rest of the album is excellent and these two tracks are simply an exception. So when I'm listening to this album I start to listen from track 3.
All in all, Bohemian Groove is filled with colorful creativity. It contains both emotional and psychedelic depths and both beautiful gloomy and strange joyful moods.
Bohemian Groove' was released via the Israeli record label - Beats & Pieces which is the new creation of DJ Shahar, one of the founders and owners of the well known and brilliant Israeli record label - Aleph Zero. So, take this fact and add to it a creative artist and what you get is a high quality album, the first release of Beats & Pieces, a journey that will illuminate your mind and and soul.
When the magic starts, this album flows smoothly from track to track, creating a very peaceful and atmospheric stream of sonic delight that is just enough for keeping you awake, hypnotized and bouncy, but can also put you to sleep peacefully, transferring you into a beautiful world of dreams. Calm as a river flowing quietly in the middle of a city at night with all the lights of the buildings sparkling around and reflecting on the water, but groovy as two people making love. |
