DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

Makoto – Eastern Dub Pt. 2

2007

The scarecrow looms up quickly through the windscreen, the barnyard doors are crashed through and then Old Man Peabody appears blasting his shotgun at you after seeing his beloved Pine Trees (bred by his own insane hands), flattened by your time traveling pod on wheels. 

   We have leapt to a new time. Good Looking had been sitting dormant for a couple of years, but now it was time to fit a new battery in and start this engine up again. 

   Many of the artists that we’ll visit over the next block of the labels operations from GLR067 in 2007 to GLR079 (which is a TP I don’t have) in 2009, are new to the label, with a few names you’ll know of today, and some that continued right through from the earlier days. 

    Today’s release is a return to Shimizu Makoto, a guy who was turfing out tunes like a malfunctioning tennis ball shooting machine. It was actually Part 2 of his Eastern Dub track, which featured on his Good Looking album ‘Believe In my Soul’ from 2007. 

   I’m not 100% sure on the idea behind the black and white sleeves/labels, which I do really like, but Levi Phillips designed the Makoto album cover ‘Believe In My Soul’ which we see advertised on the front sleeve. Levi is also the drum and bass artist, Blade, who we reviewed during Black Reflections, Criterion Records and Expressions. I did not have any idea that his artwork was a part of the history of Good Looking Records. 

    Let’s place the vinyl on the platter and get this era up and running. The age of liquid drum and bass was truly up and running and the vibe was faster, cleaner with a flip side of repetitive, formulaic and on mixes, a little “this beat has sounded the same for the last 30 minutes”. It also, to me, lacked a lot of new ideas. Some tunes did raise the attention periscope though. We’ll be sure to dip and rise on this trip through the tunes. 

    Makoto follows on from his ‘Eastern Dub’ track with Side A and ‘Eastern Dub Pt.2’. This one rolls out superbly from the get go. While it remains liquid in nature, there’s a flow and coolness in here that harks back to the 90s in a vibrant and refreshing style. The vocals add that soulful lens, the electric bass softens up the edges and we absorb the pure happiness that rattles along. Makoto had such a vast amount of work pouring out on GLR, that the label must have felt like he was camping in the office there. Pure smiles all round with this one. 

    On Side AA, Makoto has A. Kaneko AKA DJ Inza working with him on this. Not only do the two collab on this tune, it’s also received the remix treatment from one of the most flamboyant and passionate lovers of drum and bass, Marco Antonio Silva. He is that life of the party that everyone needs at their party, DJ Marky. The Brazilian who was spotted by Bryan Gee during a tour of Brazil in 1998, has not just an extensive knowledge of the history, having hooked into the early 90s rave scene, but compiled mixes that showcase skills that grabbed the attention of the jungle and drum and bass fraternity, putting his energetic and pinpoint mixing together for all to witness. The beats on this side fly a flag of distinction and as it spins, the angels flock, twirling above you, raising the horns of the supreme. The bass on this one turns down the frequencies, drops in those sweet vocals and keeps the party rocking until the dawn pours onto the horizon, bathing you in the new days tidings. 

   This plate is well worth spinning again. A perfect couple of tunes to not only make you feel good but appreciate, prior to the tsunami of all too familiar sounds. 

     That’s the first of the new batch of plates. It’s the Black & White series up and running and it’s already Friday tomorrow! The review is a fucking gem tomorrow too. Until then, the GLR blog is ticking along. You’re on it!