DJ Alex Corton – Vinyl Reviews

Good Looking Records

LTJ Bukem – Journey Inwards

2000

Plate 1: Sides A & B / Plate 2: Sides C & D

For the next 2 review days, we enter into the realms of the Good Looking head honcho, Danny Williamson. Mr. LTJ Bukem. The talk of him releasing an album had always been bandied around, considering the volume of his work, an obvious label to release it on and by 2000, it was seemingly about time. 

   It was building up toward this album, with the ‘Mystical Realms EP’ in 1998 and then ‘Suspensed Space EP’ in 2000. Sweep in the GLR038 in the double 12” release from Bukem & Bjorn, and the output had prompted that this album was pretty much there. It was also a perfect time to add in the down tempo tracks that slotted in wonderfully, based on Bukem’s, Earth material and the success of the artists on the Cookin’ Records side label. The album is an absolute masterpiece in my view, as we get the inner workings of a guy who by this stage, had pushed his ideas to the limit, to match the experience of his own music making brilliance.

  Three tracks feature on the CD that don’t make their way onto the vinyl package; ‘Rhodes To Freedom’ (which you can find on GLR038 with ‘Watercolours’), the snare breaks, downtempo radiance of ‘Our World’, and one I wished had been on the album, ‘Viewpoint’. Both those last ones can be found on Bukem’s ‘Suspended Space’ EP on vinyl, which we’ll review soon. 

   The sound quality is something that still leaves me breathless. The tracks on here are mostly engineered by Simon Vispi from Intense. Dan Duncan (another 1/3 of Intense). does engineer about three of the tracks too. It goes without saying then, that the clarity and precision of the recording is fucking beautiful. 

   It’s not just the sound that provides this package with its all round satisfaction, the artwork compliments this music in a way only this artist can. Nick Purser. 

    Nick recently posted a little back story to this cover, catching a photo of Danny sitting on his record box and then filling the inside of the main cover with pictures related to Danny and his influences along with moments with the GLR team. I really love the font used for this album design two, reaching an electronic/modern style, on the contrasting yellow and black colours which work so well as the main GLR logo colours.

   Please feel free to add any other details Nick. It ls always good hearing your backstories of the pictures and how they came to be. 

    This was catalogued as GLRAA, in the roll call as an artist album on Good Looking, but Big Bud takes the first slot as an artist on the label with his 1999 ‘Infinity + Infinity’. The artist albums that were not Bukem were catalogued GLRMA (presumably for Good Looking Records Main or Master Artist?) I do wonder why there were AA & MA albums. Let’s get these discs on, two today and two on Monday. 

   Side A opens this ‘Journey Inwards’ by setting the standard for the highest level of musical experiences. ‘Close To The Source’ takes the radiating heat of friction out and lets this mellow roller jam out with this live bass resulting in total ecstasy. That end bar of bass where the frequency sinks way down into the trench of low end absorption, leaves me mesmerized. There is a major degree of magic in this track. Adrian Ross on the flute delivers the deft and wispy breaths that skim across the surface. 

   Side B is a track we reviewed on August 15 during the 12” single reviews. ‘Watercolours’ stretches the canvas and washes the hazes and mists across the texture, while cotton dabbed clouds burst open and plume across the expanse. Distant mountain tops pinch the sky 

   This track contains that serene and high end mix of soul and jazz culture, along with the pace in its step to dip the shoulders one side and switch up the other. It’s a mover, a musical spa treatment and one that raises the game in the sound of the time. I still can’t quite believe the tracks on here are twenty-five years old. Music that defies time, moves you through space and realigns the stars. A true beauty! 

   ‘Feel What You Feel’ encompasses the true meaning of the title in Its formula. This is how you interpret your own expressions and feelings out in the open. Take this tune out and tell me again how fucking ludicrously brilliant this track is! The tempo falls, the beats just cascade over you like an avalanche of morphine soaked pillows. Mr. Ross is back on flute duties and lays out a spiritual session, working with a bass that lights up the jazz fuse by coming within a one mile radius. Pure scintillating heaven crashes over the wall and saturates your mind. This is how good music sounds. One that brings the unrivaled ideas and life journey from Bukem’s world. 

   Side D sees a taste of Bukem’s love of the deep house sounds with the title track, ‘Journey Inwards’. The powdered rust like sand settles and as the wind picks up, lifts the loose grains high into the invisible conveyor belt of breezes. Temperatures fluctuate and the music turns ambient and spiritual with that locked hypnotic groove. Andy Hamil from Flying Fish is the bass player on here, taking us into this warm, easy frame of mind. We also get a certain Oliver Lomax on mixing duties. One that typifies the diversity and retrieval of Bukem’s path so far. 

    Having just played disc one and two of this album, I already feel like I’ve fallen I love with this album yet again. It’s the soundtrack that I put on every Christmas when setting up decorations and it’s a tradition now. We will venture across the gatefold on Monday. Until then, have a great weekend and find time for the music. 

I hope you get the chance to revisit some of my reviews on here, sifting through the Good Looking label. More to add, and plenty more great pieces of music to cover.