DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

Cascade / J Laze / Makoto – Mysteries / Trapezoid /

2001

   It’s another week of Good Looking Records and a line up of top musicians to wet the beak of life. How was your weekend? I hope the opportunity to listen to the good stuff made its way into your days. We get a day off work today, so the early selection plucked from the shelves is the only way to go, if I can shake this bloody cold. Meanwhile…Let’s get back to business and review this second 12” in the release.

   ‘BlackBerry Jam’ brings us Makoto within his inner zone of mid-level music on GLR. The work from him was becoming more live sounding in nature and while it was still just standing on the lip of a barrage of work from him, this one tends to free fall and pirouette between this funky future jazz and momentary freshness, cast out from the depths of Makoto. This style was to become almost a saturation of work from Makoto. The live jazz band mixed with the ever present key change and soul slinging vibes. For the quantity he released, a few worked a little better than others. ‘BlackBerry Jam’ is more middle of the road for me, but you cannot deny its production quality. 

   On Side AA, ‘Voices’ folds and gently creases the edge of your mind, bordering the choral keys and live guitar strings in its intro. The sirens hold the voices and once the break belts in, the whole energy becomes one to enjoy. Of the two tunes on this plate, I’m one who will always veer to this side more than the A Side. While the track still rolls out the Makoto blueprint, there’s a creative and diverse approach to this one that works really well. The bass guitar, which was to become a key part of Makoto’s work as he had the instrument basically attached to him from 2000-2010, riffs a really cool sound. The beats are interestingly arranged too. It’s one that I really appreciate. 

    That’s another double GLR release reviewed. The next one is up tomorrow. Until then, if the urge to revisit any of the label up to this point takes control, the full collection is here. Thanks to everyone that reads and comments on these reviews, it really does mean a lot.