DJ Alex Corton – Good Looking Records

Good Looking Records

Eveson / Syncopix – Food For Thought / So In Need

2009

Following our first jump across a catalogue number, we now get to the last full release on the black & white series of Good looking Records. Two new artists arrive to the label, both with a decent set of tools to graft out some polished tracks.

   Alex Eveson has his only excursion on Good Looking today. His work was being championed by many of the top names around this time. This was his period of atmospheric indulgence prior to his dig back to the hefty, raw and nostalgic flavor of his work. Alex is of course still taking things into the realms of high quality music with his Dead Mans Chest alias which began in 2014, and operating the label Western Lore. During the late 2000s, it was more of this liquid vibe under his Eveson name which brought attention to the masses. His work has always carried a pinch of the classic 90s vibes, put together extremely professionally. I’ve got a lot of time for his work and how he’s built up not only his own portfolio of first class work, but championed many upcoming artists on his label. 

Let’s get this plate on the platter.

  ‘Food For Thought’ is a track that not only bridges the breaks and liquid effortlessly, it showcases Alex’s knack for laying down a track with substance. Like lot of simple, quick melody tunes within the liquid field, this has a catchy hook, but it also stirs in something a little old school. The bassline stretches the frequency levels and that piano flurry perches with prowess. This has an energy, a pick me up and a floatation of mystical pads that engulf you as the listener. Eveson let the music do the talking. In all fairness, this was only a taste of the capabilities of his talent. A big shout out to Alex and the continued dedication and skills he provides the music world. 

  Syncopix had been making tunes for about 7-8 years prior to this,his first and only release on Good Looking. By this time I don’t know if the magic allure was still there with the label, but I’m sure having a tune out on the label still held a proud moment for most artists. Roland Bogdahn is the German producer who goes by Syncopix. Here we have on Side AA, ‘So In Need’ which begins with an enticing beat and really addicting synth sounds, keys and bubbling cauldron of ideas. The frantic and busy vibe that flows through the tune has nothing but the summer sounds bursting from within. There’s elements of groove, funk, jazz and a connected harmony with the way that bassline moves around within the web of the track. You can’t help but nod your head and tap out the rhythm when this tune plays. The breakdown softens up the surface with its perfectly placed piano, before the gears drop down again and it’s all systems go! 

   Roland bangs out a real belter here. This is one that frees up the creaks of any rust in the crowd and has things shifting around with freedom and ease. Go lose it to the music! 

    For now, that’s the last main release of the black & white series of Good Looking Records. Tomorrow we have one of the batch of Test Presses that the label had just prior to another halt in output. 

Good Looking Records

Smote / Specific – Genteel Poverty / Time

2009

It’s another week sieving through the goodness of Good Looking Records, as we come to a stage where we’ll miss a few stepping stones on the label. The label was about to hit another era of uncertainty and basically mismanagement, but we will try not to slow down on the momentum of things. 

   How was everyone’s weekend? I hope that whatever you did, you had the chance to absorb some musical drugs into your system?  

  Today we have a couple of extremely impressive tunes, from Smote and Specific. Let’s get down to business.

    Smote is Thomas Banary. Thomas hails from Slovakia and I believe is still based there. For starters, I absolutely adore this tune. Out of all the black and white series, it’s the one I played more than any other on that series. I still do. ‘Genteel Poverty’ on Side A is one of the most magnetic and beautiful tunes that spirals your focus and caves walls around your being in a deep, raw and gravitational way. The hold this has is one of majestic brilliance. While the liquid scene was simmering along peacefully, you had the occasional lightning bolt like ‘Genteel Poverty’ to split the air with an intense and everlasting neutron explosion. The way the tune breathes in the acrid atmosphere and bellows out tender sprits, remains one of its prime attributes. It growls, murmurs and holds you down like the death roll of a raging croc. Once you get rolling though, it’s one of the most exhilarating and rewarding rides of your life. Smote produced a tune here that will always hit some of the highest levels of musical fulfillment for me. It burrowed inside and nests with your mind for eternity. Superb work! 

    Neil McIlwraith is the artist, Specific who made music from around 2005 to 2016. It’s a tough one to follow to be honest, after that sublime A Side. Neil does the side justice though with ‘Time’. There’s a throaty double bass pluck which works as majestically as the bubbles rising in your champagne glass. The tunes breaks trundle along, the distant vocal serenades the background wash, its riff lends a catchy enough hook, and as the music on the label continues, things behind the labels operations were taking another difficult time into the history books. 

   Today’s release is quite a major deal for me. It concludes a consecutive run of 74 releases on Good Looking as we come upto our first gap in the label. We all know the deal about GLR075 and Bukem’s ‘Atmospherical Jubilancy’ and its test press only stage of development. Calibre had the flip side covered with ‘All One Call’ which would have been his only venture on Good Looking. It was also rumored to have been possibly released as the 100th GLR track during the white label series, with hints at a picture disc..the label didn’t make it that far either. For myself, it remains elusive. We therefore move onto GLR076 tomorrow. Unless anyone wants to send me GLR075 for me to review?…no?…worth a try.  Ha ha!

I want to dedicate today’s release, in memory of Skotty Man “ Skotty SK Mannerz” who sadly passed away on Friday, Oct 3. A true devotee of the music, and a real gent. You will be very sorely missed. 

   I’m also dedicating this to Lee ‘Topsy Turvy’ who left us in Sept last year. You are not forgotten! 

R.I.E.P. to you both.

Good Looking Records

Greg Packer / Furney – Peoples Music / Life Begins @ 40

2009

For our last tune of the week, we have the return on Good Looking for Australian producer, Greg Packer. By this stage his work was well established and here he strides out on the esplanade with a real diamond of music. He is joined on the flip side of this plate, by Furney who unveils one of his blueprint tunes that seems to roll along as expected. It’s one of his more solid tunes I think.

   On the A Side, Greg Packer dishes up a track that many may cast the mind back to, as Bukem’s opening track on FabricLive 46. It was a pretty decent set of tunes on that CD but it was a long way from the classic ways that Bukem used to nurture and develop his epic journeys of sound. ‘People’s Music’ cracks the shells of the liquid pods and while the beats work up the lather, it’s the way that piano and fuel injected, soulful shade of jazz groove falls into the realms of the underground that plants this in the blooms of the garden. Greg slams a crisp and steadfast rollout here. While the city lights flicker across the ripples of the town lake, the heat from the heart of the city pulses strongly with this one. Massive shout to Greg! 

   Furney takes us onto the AA Side with a mosaic of mystery and memories. I really like this track from him. It has a calming and flare for the avant garde traveller that pits the retro style sample up with a full on bass, some catchy vocal wails and a pretty welcoming free flowing looped chord. Furney drops a top track here, putting one of his best on GLR out, in my view. ‘Life Begins @ 40’ collects the peak trail along the mountain spine of his work and shows us why Bukem found a pocket under his wing for him. Now, does life really begin at 40? Different paths and different journeys. 

  That’s another Good Looking plate reviewed. We have few gaps in the label next week, which is such a dent in proceedings, but we’ll truck on and who knows, maybe one day they’ll fall out the sky or grow on a tree in my garden. I’m not kidding anyone here am I? 

   Have a good weekend! I was exhausted last weekend but I’ll be spinning some tunes early tomorrow morning before life begins for everyone else in my house. It’s the music that moves me and forever will. 

Cheers all!

Good Looking Records

Tayla / Tidal – Turn It Around / Impressions 

2009

We reach our next installment on the legendary, Good Looking Records with a real belter of a plate. It’s also a very welcome return to the label for one of the original dons of the label. Having released GLR 002 way back in the early days of the label, and then teamed up with Rupert Parkes for the breathtaking ‘Bringing Me Down’ & ‘Soul Searching’ not forgetting his Nexus label productions and signings through the GLR network, Russell Tayla was back with a bite. 

    He is joined on the plate, by Wayne Hay who is Tidal. This is his debut on Good Looking. We reviewed a couple of years back, a piece of his work on Criterion Records, which kicked off that label with ‘The Box’. His notoriety had, by then, become well established as it was 4 years after today’s release. Wayne certainly deserved to share a 12” plate with Tayla right here.

   This is the promo release, as you can see it has the Yellow box with ‘Promo Copy Not For Resale’ on the A Side and the “P” at the end of the catalogue number. 

    Side A begins the music for today’s review (obviously), with ‘Turn It Around’ by Tayla. It’s a galloping beat workout and puffing bass to get this one rolling. Tayla takes this manic horror movie strings section and shackles you in for a fierce shuttle along the rails of the ghost train, pelting you with a wall of thunderous bass and relentless meteor shower of music. Even at the breakdown, you barely have time to cry out for help as the signal lever falls forward, and the tracks click you onto the next corkscrew of high energy drums and nail biting suspense. It’s a tune that rattles the bars, pounds the blood and leaves you drenched in full on musical bliss. One to swan dive off the board and into the pool of GLR rollers. Russell is back out DJing and I love the clip of one of his forthcoming tunes, that he played out at Sun & Bass 2025. Eyes and ears out for that one. Big props as always Russell! 

    Tidal moves the base of the velvet seat down from its upright position in this theater of the label, and lets you recline with a soft and delicate piano riff intro that then loops and drifts out to the luscious and rich beats. The snapping snare and a creamy bass poach the forefront as the waves of pads garnish the air with reservoirs of soul and ambience. ‘Impressions’ harks back to the true art of liquid and lets the ladle of ideas spill out and feed the outstretched minds with incubated musical poetry. A sweet piece of music here. 

   Tomorrow we dive into our next Good Looking Records release. Whatever your take on the way things were developing, it is, at the end of the day, all a matter of opinion. 

My blog is here (as you’re reading it), so if you feel like rolling back the years, each Good Looking track so far has been covered. I hope you enjoy them!

Good Looking Records

Soulmatic / Furney – Self Belief / Distance

2009

This is the first Good Looking Records release of 2009. The year that we saw 9 releases from the label before another lull. Five of the nine releases were officially released, and the other four only hit the Test Press stage. Next week we will go over the ones I have on my shelf but we will have our first gaps in the label, which is a tad frustrating, but I just couldn’t afford (or was quick enough) to bag GLR077-78. Maybe one day they’ll find a way in. 

    Soulmatic is Daniel Carlsen, and his debut was with Utah Jazz in 2006. He was making music until around 2009 under the Soulmatic name and then teamed up again with Luke in 2010. I wonder what Daniel is up to these days? His work was always well produced. Side A provides ‘Self Belief’ taking those early liquid strands and entwining them with a sumptuous chello string and the layering of the beats, up to that first breakdown. This is how quality liquid drum and bass should sound. “Heaverrrrrn”. Then we get that drop, and a bass line that fills every molecule of the around you with a generating rocket launch. Soulmatic rolled out one flaming slab of nitrous power with this tune. It makes you want to move and dance during every second of the tune. Having such a simple ascending riff in this tune, giving us this classical music meets drum and bass construction of sound is one impressive piece of music. 

    Furney is back on GLR next on Side AA with a track ‘Distance’ that provides us with Furney doing what he does best. This liquid groove is one off the Furney carriage of work that pushes the last review off to the side (Pipez…ugh), and drops the hand perfectly back into the glove of normality. ‘Distance’ takes the picturesque road by the coast line and absorbs the ocean winds while bursting the setting rays of the sun into your skin. You close your eyes (stop the car first), and let the inner eyelids give you that red lens to release the lighter moments of the journey this tune gives you. For me, it doesn’t reach the levels of the A Side but in the bigger picture of the millions of liquid tunes that are floating around, it’s got a wicked break and plenty of percussion to enjoy rather than the standard minimal work of a lot of tunes in that field. It’s one that keeps the dance floor bubbling anyway. 

    That’s another GLR plate down. We have the next one up tomorrow. My blog is here with each GLR so far. I hope you get to read a few. 

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.

Good Looking Records

Furney / Utah Jazz – Pipez / Leap Of Faith

2008

Welcome to our umpteenth release of GLR releases and yet another week of the black & white series. I hope everyone had a superb weekend and plenty of tunes are still ringing in your ears. The music always finds its way in making life feel better. 

   The label incorrectly states Side A as Furney’s ‘Pipez’ and is etched as Side A too. However, it’s Utah Jazz that occupies the side. Thank goodness there is a cracking slice of music on this plate. ‘Leap Of Faith’ whispers the choral harks through the sea mists. The jam and funk in here is electric. Life bulges out with veins popping, blood hurtling and a heartbeat going like the clappers. Luke Wilson had originally been a student of the legendary Alex Reece behind the studio doors, and it’s clear to hear his love of jazz funk in this tune. It’s clean, crisp and lends its aura of quality into our world. Luke had polished up his work a great deal by the time he’d released this one, having spent about 8 years producing before ‘Leap Of Faith’. A hugely talented producer and one that was to go on with many more, including another GLR down the line..which was only out as a TP that I don’t have. 

    For today’s release we also have the return of James Fearnside onto the label. Now, I have to get this out my system and it’s not really how I wanted to start the week. The track on Side AA here, when I first heard it, made me extremely uncomfortable. I also know that the original release, which I bought on release, on Smooth Recordings by Hedgehog Affair (Ron Wells and Spencer T) is PT. 5 of their Affair, called ‘The Pipe’ from 1994. The Hedgehog Affair releases gave us some major influences on the music in the years to follow, starting from 1991 (with Drakey at Purple Heart) and then tracks such as ‘Oh My God..’, Don’t Just Stand There’ and ‘Heaven Sent’ on Basement Records, from 1992. Here, they championed some of the greatest electronic music, paving the way to the music of today, that we’ve had the privilege of hearing. 

    The needle dropped on ‘Pipez’ and I honestly thought “There’s a major mispress here…what the fuck am I hearing? I already have this tune from over ten years ago?” 

  Now, I am very aware that Ron Wells never gave anyone permission to lift this amount of work, that both Spencer and he created. Not only did it take the piss, but it also made me wonder what the label had come too. I knew that behind the scenes, it hadn’t been smooth sailing, but the tunes had at least maintained a level of dignity. 

  For all the negativity though, it does sound well produced. Way too fast though. This track would have been held in higher esteem though if; A) there’d been a good old permission slip passed to the originators of the track, and B) The tune had been stated (if allowed) that it was a remix of another artists tune, or at least credited with the people who made it. Having “written and produced by Furney” on the label is crazy to me. It doesn’t sit right at all. 

   If you want my action plan, I just play the Utah Jazz track and will never play ‘Pipez’ out of principle, except to hear it just now which made my stomach turn. Side A is a really solid tune and it’s well worth bagging this plate for ‘Leap Of Faith’. Side AA can leap off a cliff. 

   Let’s start the week with more positivity tomorrow..Big up Utah Jazz though. Big respects.

Good Looking Records

LTJ Bukem / MC Conrad & DJ Furney – Switch / Drum Tools

2008

This week has flown by, and we get to Friday in style, with a very impressive 12” release today, from the first one on GLR from 2008. Not only do we have the mastermind of all things tranquil, atmospheric and the labels innovator, LTJ Bukem on one side, we also have our first release by a Mr. James Fearnside who around this time was getting a lot of air time and support from Danny Bukem. 

   As if that wasn’t enough, MC Conrad was in the studio again and working with Furney on Side AA. It was tunes like this, that took away the mic and showcased just how fucking good Conrad was in the studio. Don’t forget he had releases on Ascendant Grooves, Looking Good and then his own ‘Logical Progression a Level 4’ out on Good Looking. One thing was certain. He was a musician of many talents. 

    Side A has the Bukem tonic, running rings round, ju..just like Sonic…you know the drill. Bukem had been quiet since his Journey Inwards album in 2000, some seven years prior, at least on a drum and bass tip. I think it was around this time it was not only beginning to feel that Bukem was not actually working on another album, (even though it was hinted at on the sleeve of this release), more so that he was earning more money touring as a DJ than producing. Understandably, and for the far flung future, his name will continue to keep that dough flowing in, when he steps behind the platforms of DJing. 

   ‘Switch’ is for me, one of Bukem’s best post 2000 tunes. The jazz-swing orientated veil that you view through signifies this modern day twist on the fence that split the weight of those golden 90s days and the newer age of the music. Bukem composed this magical transportation across jagged peaks and flatlands all with a live and metronomic skeleton of sound, linking it all together. Volumes of double bass, brush stroked snares and clinical beats, while the groove spreads like a raging virus inside. This is Bukem taking his hypnotic groove into overdrive. The vocal “must come through..put you down” the little trumpet bursts and the round of applause, congregate into this room of brilliance. The breakdown slides open the curtains for a wash of warmth. “I want you baby” and the fading back into the main section, return you into the twists and turns of the real deal. This is a brilliant piece of music. It would have been a great way to kick off a new album but alas..

     Side AA is one of those tracks that stands out as a very unique piece of work. If you heard it and had it to give it a name, you may well have ‘Drum Tools’ enter your train of thought. Luckily for us, it was named as such. If Joe Bloggs came up to you on the street and  said “the whole track is just a drum workout”, you may think…hold on. A tune with just beats? Mmmm..anyone could make that! So what is it about this track that makes it so fucking brilliant? 

   Conrad & Furney slammed down something truly incredible here. It’s catchy, fun, incredibly addictive and holds such a unique and well thought out idea that clicks. Those beats send all the feels out. The little timpani bongos are the icing on the cake too. “We better go on..I think he really knows his stuff..what kind of stuff? I don’t know exactly, but we think it’s worth finding out” I wonder where that’s taken from? 

   There are small brass bursts on this one too. Rough beats and they just roll and roll. This plate has two very different tunes, and it was releases like this that rewired and pushed forward the label, into a territory that kept the wick lit and the adrenaline pumping along. The atmospheric sound was a different gravy now. 

Have a good weekend, the Good Looking Records journey continues next week. Big up all! 

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!

GLR066–12

MC Conrad & Makoto – Golden Girl

2005

Today marks the last of the Good Looking releases for the time being, as we reach the end of the first block of releases from Good Looking. Twelve years, 66 releases and memories to last a lifetime. 

The label had even passed off some of the distribution work to the German company ZYX / Benz which also had a hand in distributing Earth Volume 7 and Progression Sessions 10. All these were helping Good Looking survive for one last breath before it sank beneath the waves temporarily until 2007. The promo of this release had the Good Looking style of black and white label, but it was still ZYX and Good Looking Holdings that were behind this.

   Things will return though. Luckily for us, that means tomorrow. Let’s roll this classic out though. 

  The timing of this review seems to have happened at a very poignant time. Makoto has released a re-recording of Golden Girl and provided a great story behind it. It meant so much just reading his words that I felt like I had to put them here. It goes as follows: 

“Thank you so much for all your love for re-recorded version of Golden Girl. I just wish Conrad could see this✨

Conrad was a true artist. Many people think he was only the vocalist on Golden Girl, but he also co-produced it with me. He always wanted to show he was just as great in the studio as behind the mic.

In 2003, while I was in the UK after releasing my debut album Human Elements, Conrad invited me to his studio. What started as an instrumental quickly became something special. He already had a razor-sharp Amen break chopped up (we called it the “Golden Girl Amen”), and I brought in a string sample. While I was sleeping, he chopped it like crazy, and when I woke up, I created the riff you hear through the track.

We added a Conrad’s 808 bass, layered with a DX7-type sound. One note came out wrong, but it made the bassline bouncy in a way we loved, so we kept it. After finishing the structure, I felt it needed vocals. At first, Conrad wasn’t sure if he should sing, but I encouraged him. Then the melody and lyrics came out of him instantly, like they had been waiting all along.

That’s how Golden Girl was born—just two days in the studio, back in 2003.”

(Makoto – 2025) – Priceless background and included with many thanks!

    Side A has ‘Golden Girl’ with the iconic and unforgettable voice of MC Conrad. 

   The tune smears gallons of love, emotion and sunshine into the lives of everyone  that hears this tune. Makoto teamed up with the legendary MC Conrad for probably one of the biggest post millenium releases on the Good Looking label. Conrad was the true driving force behind making this tune, and quite rightly deserves the credits to this tune as a music producer, not just lyricist. 

    Now..the commercial aspect is clearly more present here than many previous releases and with the label about to drop anchor and sit stagnant for the next couple of years, it holds more of a swan-song, and then the heartfelt remembrance regarding the loss of one of the finest MCs to ever grace us. 

   A musical testimony to the voice of the music. 

Forever in our hearts – RIP Conrad. 

   The flip, AA side has the same tune but is ‘Golden Girl (Instrumental)’. The amens roll, the usual tools cast out from the A Side but without Conrad..? Hearing it is actually harder because I can picture his microphone on the stage just lying there without any sign of him emerging with that swagger, through the smoke and lasers, picking it up and doing his thing, as the song plays. There’s a really respectful duration of musical mourning where I just get a lump in my throat without his voice in this tune, as though this where we now are.

   Conrad Thompson had that presence and gift to elevate the air and space around him. Nothing will ever be the same without him, but the music carries us all toward the memories and cherished times, filling our lives with music he gave life too. 

I need a new hanky now…. 

    That’s 2005 and the doors to GLR close…for now. Luckily for us, we don’t have to wait two years to reopen them. Tomorrow we move onto the next plate and fast forward to 2007.