DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

Paul SG & Altitude / Rowpieces – Stay Strong / Share The Vibes

2013

   On our return from the weekend we now venture onwards with the next five Good Looking Records. Bukem’s legendary record label was flowing along nicely, and the artists of the era were getting a pretty strong push forward having their names attached to the Good Looking Organization. On the flip side though, they might not have received any pay for the music they made. The label may have been a good associative tool, but it didn’t put food on the table. 

   Luckily, we were in a strong position with the music that was around in this period. Paul SG was back with a collaboration featuring a real talent, Ali Taher, who is Altitude. He has had releases out on Celsius., Prestige and also Warm Communications. The B side has a chap called, Robert Schmidbauer with his first release on Good Looking. We featured a super EP by him on Fokuz Recordings, paying odes to Future Engineers, Intense and Artemis with his Recollection EP. He is known as Rowpieces. 

   Let’s get the platter that matters rotating and push that volume into the balance of brut force and clear cut clarity. 

    ‘Stay Strong’ unties the carabiners of brass band spirits and guides the listener to a liquid roller that buzzes with bass, nods your head and has that ability to float in this tranquil yet busy pool. While it’s not much of a stand-out release, it catches the long term memory bank with the hook “you..stay strong..let your spirit free”. One that you’ll have in your head for a long time after. 

   On Side B, the extremely talented Rowpieces holds open the palms of his hands and beckons the gods with a delightful piece of music. The bass guitar sound is filtered and manipulated in such a unique way in this tune. Nothing fancy with the beats, but just check out the work and harmonies with the pads. ‘Share The Vibe’ stretches the imagination, filling so many variations within the tune. You actually forget the bog standard beats and it’s all about the numerous instruments that dabble fresh emotions and feelings within. The saxophone and piano coil around each other and hug those pads with tender and expressive warmth like no other. 

   Two decent tracks on here, one that sticks in your mind and the other, an open and creative slice of talent. Big up to Paul, Ali and Rob “Row”. 

Onto the next white label in the series, tomorrow. Have a great week.