DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

The Funktastics / Peyo – Wild Willy / Old Times

2008

For our review today we have new artists to the label, based out of France. The drum and bass world kept exploding in countries all over the world and GLR were scouting for fresh faces and studio tinkerers to bulk up the label. The only other artist from France that I can dig out the pulp within my head is Redeyes. Let’s roll out the artists for today though and unfasten the buckle on the briefcase to withdraw the musical fairy files to begin our day at the office. 

    The Funktastics consists of Paris based drum and bass artists, Lionel Cardoso and Silvain Canaux. This tune is one that I think crosses into the Cookin’ Records circle as it encompasses a lot of the future jazz ensemble and essence of the artists tracks from the label. 

  ‘Wild Willy’ has the components of a movie soundtrack that jams out an abundance of incredible variety. It gets gritty, funky, (Funktastic by name), 70s detective series and Steve McQueen car chase all in the duration of the track. The bass line in this dampens your ear drums with that feather pillow bass. You get the full barreling of the breaks trundling along like a runaway pilgrim cart. I also think that this is probably one of the shortest tracks that GLR had released up until now. The tunes began reflected the times and the attention spans, and the DJs were starting to cram in 50 tunes in an hour. This tune is actually one that I think works pretty well though, for a shorter tune. It has this burst that makes you think “that ended at the right time” just based on the way it’s made. It CAN work. 

   On Side AA we head the 420 miles south to Toulouse to the producer Peyo Almonecil. If there’s a tune to compliment the A Side with that movie soundtrack vibe, then this is the one. You get a fucking beautiful tune here with yet another bassline to smash the shit out of the system. It breathes out a cloud of fresh, serene and lucid dreams that balance the busy beats. There’s a pinch of The Avalanches in this track, taking sounds that don’t seem to fit, but twist a ripened fruit of ideas into the glass, for a damn fine cocktail of originality and creative bridges. I really do admire the way this tune just breaks the mold of the norm and goes headfirst into the expressions and destination of Peyo’s song writing. Absolutely love it!

   This release was distributed through Nu-Urban Music which was via Basement Phil’s set up in Newbury (I think), from 2000-2012. I’m not sure if all the 2007 onward releases up until 2009, were through Nu-Urban, I seem to think that was the case as the rare TP’s (GLR077-079) were also linked to them as distributor. 

  My blog has all the GLR catalogue up to today’s, so plenty of reading if you fancy diving back through the last 16 years of the label.