DJ Alex Corton – Good Looking Records

Good Looking Records

Big Bud – Infinity + Infinity 

1999

Plate 1: Side A / B

Our next review will capture another of Good Looking Records supreme artists. We reviewed  3 of his 12” singles on GLR during those 4 months of posts, and then 3 more were on Fabio’s Creative Source label, plus the Earth tracks that we covered. It’s now the first of his two albums that take us into the sacred and mesmerizing world of the ultra talented, Robin O’Reilly. Big Bud. 

    By 1999, Big Bud had already set the tone of his work and provided some incredible pieces of music. I’ve said it before, Robin seemed to churn out so much quality, it was hard to imagine just where his bursts of creativity and studio knowledge, came from in this span of time. This was not just a case of quality, it also a rare case of both quality and quantity, and both never dipped in brilliance for one second of his sound. 

   We are blessed with more outstanding artwork from Nick Purser, using the infinity symbol in a way that crosses the static representation of its form with a sense of movement in its underwater, creature like depiction. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it a garden hose that you used in providing the basis for the art? The back of the main sleeve is fucking amazing too with the refracted images and then the dispersed, submerged drifting of the main symbol. Maybe I dreamt the hose though, but please add your story mate. It’s always great insight! 

   The music on ‘Infinity + Infinity’ takes listeners into some of the echelons of the highest order. The only tracks that do not appear on the vinyl, which are on the CD, are ‘Indian Summer’ which is on Logical Progression Level 4 and the Big Bud ‘Producer 07’ CD. Also, ‘High Times’ & ‘Blunt’ on sides A & B on GLR040. What can’t be denied is the perfect choice of tunes that are on this album.

   Side A is basically one of the most valid reasons why you should own this album. The opening stirrings barber hook your brain in a way that extends the fabrics of possibility. ‘Darker Than Blue’ tunes the molecules that vibrate as sound, placing them with the succulent and expressive tenderness deserved. Snapping beats, an earth drilling bass line and then the pipes and extra layer of beats which take off. The backing loop constantly infects you with a drug so incessant, you’ll never want anything more. Once the breakdown arrives, things raise the game even more. A chilling piano and those pads and sax fracture the mists and gape open the heavens. This is probably one of my favorite tunes of Robin’s. His ability to compose such a moving, haunting, spiritual and magical piece of music cannot be praised enough. Pure fucking perfection. 

  On the B Side is ‘Pure Re-Mix’ which takes the title track off Big Bud’s ‘Pure EP’ from 1999, GLREP006V and revamps it for this album. We have yet to hit the EP’s so it’s seems off reviewing the remix before the original. I always found this version to be a good counter, with its eclectic congregation of rattling beats, monstrous bass, slightly briefer breakdown and sultry dance along the corridors of echoing tranquility and shaking craze of energy. The siphon of plasmic musical gold leaves you mesmerized and chilled. This is one fine plate to get this album rolling. 

   With an album like this we’ll go through one disc a day, as you’d expect to have patience letting the finest wines breathe, so too, the senses clamour the desired effect of this magnificent music. Disc two up tomorrow. 

  My blog is here, under your nose, if you’re interested in reading about the Good Looking posts from GLR 001 up through the singles (minus 75, 78 and 79). More will follow too. 

Good Looking Records

LTJ Bukem – Journey Inwards 

2000

Plate 3: E & F / Plate 4: G & H

We begin another week of reviews, having started today’s album on Friday and continuing this epic journey through the Good Looking Records catalogue. I hope the weekend was one that filled time with moments of value and there-within, music? 

   It’s back to the masterclass of LTJ Bukem today, and the next two discs in his one and only studio album, ‘Journey Inwards’. The artwork holds a magic place with this one too, with Nick Purser designing the perfect visual accompaniment to the music. Let’s slide out the next plate and continue with the rich tapestry of sound, on this wonderful album. 

    Plate three has the Sides E & F for us to absorb. ‘Undress Your Mind’ is a dynamic, coaster that lights up the floor. Snapping snare, funky bass, carrying a genuine drop in the live arena of sound. This one sounds exactly like some of the Makoto material that was flying around at the time. Groove soaked future jazz spreads out across the room and laps up the rhythms and vibes with a twist of the mighty sumptuous. The breakdown at 3/4 way in is such a high level section of the track. Smooth, tantalizing and drenched in the most luxurious bass. One that makes ya bump and grind to the nitty gritty. Big up to Kaidi Tatham on the writing of this tune too. A legendary artist, DJ and remixer who has an extensive history of work. 

    Side F is ‘Suspended Space’ this track was also the title for Bukem’s EP ‘Suspended Space’, released the same year, 2000. The bass line on this has all the blueprints from Bukem with its hypnotic persistence. The tune just ebbs and flows perfectly. You effortlessly drift on your slow current of non-urgent sound, opening up the windows to your peace and filling up the desires of your mind. One that will transport the scratches and dents away from the moment and lift a perfect slate of flat mirrored ice across the visions inside. 

   On the last plate of ‘Journeys Inwards’, we have Side G & H to enjoy. First up, we have the switch to 33 RPM for this plate, which correlates with this G Side having three tracks on it. ‘Inner Guidance’ brings a vibe to his album that adds that cream in the Irish coffee. Andy Ross returns for that sucrose tinted liquid flute, and holy shit is it good. This is one of those tunes that scours out the origins of Bukem’s background. Voluminous and bursting with life. Fucking class. 

   Next up is ‘Unconditional Love (Instrumental Version)’ mixed and by two of the old Intense boys, Dan Duncan and Simon Vispi. I wonder if they had Molly on the sax for this one? Strong possibility I’d say. This is another example of the way Bukem stretched the game and reeled in one of the most complete and expressive future jazz albums in the drum and bass world. His downtempo work always chords with me, such as the tracks on the Earth volumes. This is no different. The sound quality is like nothing you’ll hear. Loud, clear and cut to perfection. 

  Last on Side G is the shortest track on the album, more of a slightly extended interlude. ‘Point Of View’ has the exquisite sounds of Gay Yee Westerhoff on the chello. She performs with a group called ‘Bond’ who take a modern classic approach. The perfect fall into the contentment of ultra high bliss. 

    Side H has a tune which was also released as GLRSIN001V in 12” single format. ‘Sunrain’ is the key vocal tune on ‘Journey Inwards’. The line up of musicians has Andy Ross on both Flute and Sax (not at the same time, although I’d pay to see that). Eliot on vocals, Andy Hamill back on bass and Chris Campbell on guitar. Chris also worked with PHD and the late microphone and music legend, MC Conrad on ‘Presence’ on the Ascendent Grooves label. You can always play this track and feel the warmth and receding chills, turn intoto a blanket of cozy haze. Truly outstanding music! 

   Lastly, we have ‘Deserted Vaults (Instrumental)’ to take us to the imminent extinguishing of this masterful album. If you could tread water with the efforts of a lucid dream, this track would keep you afloat, and raise you up into the safe arms of the angels. Sometimes your life flashes back and reveals stories that remain untold. Then you hear this finale and realize the superiority of such beholden treasures. 

   A truly mind blowing, thought stretching and spiritually unraveling collection of music. Forever played and enjoyed. Bukem. The master. 

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.

Good Looking Records

mSdoS / Arp-1 – Jazin / Westway

2014

Can you believe that we have finally reached the last Good Looking Records 12” vinyl single, that was released, and probably the last one ever to be released. The probability of the label restarting is slim. What we do have to remember is that the vast number of high quality tracks that came from the label, will continue to resonate and expand the mind with their ability to elevate life and bring tears of adulation to so many of us. Whenever there are moments in life that we encounter, you can be sure to find one of the records on this label, to fit the narrative. 

   That my friends is that. Tomorrow we venture down a side road and work our way through another section of the label. 

   On Side A, ‘Jazin’ is one of the ways that Chris was discharging his blend of liquid and jazz with a constant flow of ideas. There’s a fluid, soulful groove within this that clicks. Chris also put in those emphatic high hats along the way that steps up the gears and slams the rhythm into overdrive. Once the track is rolling out and we approach the breakdown, I do start to wonder where we’re going. But it’s the little sample and piano in the breakdown that transfuses the components and then swings a new champagne bottle into the side, launching a return of the full on jazz, swing jam. I do think it could have varied a little more though. It just loops a little too much for my liking. One thing I can always say about mSdoS though, the work is extremely clear cut and sounds top notch. 

  ‘Westway’ on Side AA finalized our voyage through Good Looking Records. From Demon’s Theme on GLR001 in 1992, to this track here, 22 years later, we bridge a divide that many labels couldn’t reach.

  The tune itself, by Arp-1, has a steady, rolling beat and the strings stir a mysterious, chilled air of suspense. It’s not a track I really got to stick on, and for the label to finish with these two tunes, really doesn’t feel right in a way? I don’t use the term much, but they are pretty forgettable. If this was the direction things were going to continue, then maybe it was for the best. The music was so different than those beginnings. 

   That’s it for Good Looking Records and the 12” Single releases. The last 4 months has been a history lesson in atmospheric drum and bass, told by the many legendary and not so legendary, artists on Bukem’s groundbreaking label. The core values of the label shifted around in the managerial corner but the essence of the music always shone through. Through early classics and into the realms of epic story telling, we captured moments in time that will forever hit the hearts and minds of those on board. Good Looking will always hold that unique place. No matter what the opinion, some facts remain. This label is one of the best there has ever been. End of. 

   Tomorrow we move on. We have more from Good Looking Records in fact…you can’t get rid of this label just yet. Time to hit some albums and then the EP’s.. we end the week with a masterpiece of music too. The Good Looking catalogue looms forward, offering you space to place new depths of change. 

Good Looking Records

Phat Playaz / Funkware – Sandy Dance / Walk On The Wild Side

2014

Two new artists appear for this penultimate 12” vinyl single release on Good Looking Records. Phat Playaz is a guy called Graham Barber who actually kicked off his productions with ‘Fashion’ on one of the Looking Good Records Test Presses in 2009. We will be reviewing that one during the Looking Good label reviews. He has also had a good run on Fokuz and been active on Intelligent Recordings and Scott Allen’s, Soul Deep Recordings. Funkware is Bulgarian and has had tunes out on Soul Deep Recordings and sevaral telesses on his own label, Funkstuff Recordings.

Let’s get this disc spinning and let the music kickstart the word banks up to bursting.  

   Side A has ‘Sandy Dance’ by Phat Playaz, knocking a shallow and lightly rippled reservoir of liquid, head nodding goodness your way. What we then experience is something that really does not sound like anything we’ve heard on Good Looking Records. The experimental low end string work of double bass (or chello i think) is fucking seriously nice and the bass is so turbulent that it pushes your trembling molars down your throat. Huge, skull racking frequencies drop down and we get this killer assortment surrounding very simple beats. I haven’t played this one too much, but I really do like it. It has this Alex Reece flavor within it. Groove laden and metronomic in its composition. A really nice piece of music this. 

   On Side AA we have ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ by Funkware, opening up an envelope of beats that hurtle along.  The background, street chaos echoes blasts down the Main Street and the pick up and go really barrels along like a runaway train, pistons pumping, metal scorching and bellowing smoke, retching out the funnel. The bass line fixates you while the horns trumpet in a distant battle cry out across the fields. It’s lively, fresh and belts out a shower of fun. One to bounce around the room too, or indeed leap over the neighbors fence. “Watch the ride there, Mrs. Wilberforce, now try hanging your washing out, here comes the riddim!” Ha ha! Burn those souls in your shoes. 

   Top work on that 12”. On we go. If this blog is something you may find interesting, it’s here. I hope you find it of some joy. Big up! 

Good Looking Records

Rowpieces / Apse & Thiago Pery – Everything Is Fine / Jah

2014

The tunes continue and we reach January, 2014 for the next Good Looking Records release on the shelf. In the 22 year span of the label, the music had moved on with a utility belt of the world we lived in. 

   Side A gives us Rowpieces who turns up for his second release on Good Looking Records. Rob ‘Rowpieces’ had this knack for making tunes with a hook. Let’s see if this meets the mark. 

   The tune flexes its muscles with a choral, siren ensemble which holds a magnetic loop, but it’s that dynamic bass line which shows that creativity. Once the piano starts clinking and the mid section starts to settle, you have to admit that it tends to relax a little. Once the breakdown saunters toward us, you look for a little spice in this, which I don’t seem to find too easily. As tunes go, it rolls out sweetly enough but I’m not a massive fan. Rowpieces has produced a lot more tunes, of a lot higher quality than this. 

  A pretty much, unknown artist called Apse, is joined by Brazilian Thiago Pery, for this next track on the AA Side. Thiago has not been too extensive with his output, but he put some good pieces together with Andreas ‘Greekboy’ in 2016. ‘Jah’ lights the detonators and pushes you back, letting the listener unravel a fine piece of liquid. Of the two sides, this has always been the go-to. That two-step beat and humongous bass are a piece of magic. An absolutely intense section, that then steps into a bustling street carnival of movement, colour, vibrations and full on party extravaganza. The feel good vibe in this is second to none. A real peach of a tune that sweats out the evil of stagnating rot and ignites a fresh condenser of sweet undiluted pleasure. Wicked tune this! Let yourself loose. 

   My blog here, has the Good Looking catalogue on it from GLR 001 up to today. I am missing 75,78 & 79, which can’t be helped, but owning the rest will always fill me with immense pride. It’s all here if you want a read. 

Good Looking Records

Presents / Paul SG – Hustlers Don’t Cry / Chapter 3 Lesson 4

2013

This is the last week of Good Looking Records and the 12” single, vinyl releases, as we reach the closing of one of the most incredible record labels of the jungle and drum and bass world. It was June 16, 2025 that the journey with reviewing this label began, and I have to say that it has been a major highlight for me personally. For all the amazing music we have traveled through, I did think the atmospheric thesaurus would run out. Every time I listen to the tunes though, new chapters and emotions flow, leading to the articles you read. It’s an honor and pure joy to put together. 

    I hope everyone had a decent weekend and make to find some gaps in the rigmarole of life and squeeze in some of those magical musical notes? 

   Today’s plate has another brand new artist to the label, called Presents. I’m sure it is pronounced, as in “proudly presents” rather than “let’s wrap presents”. The artist did not really have any more releases that I’m aware of, which sounds crazy when you get attached to a label like Good Looking. You never know what people go through or how life moves, so there is always a reason. 

  Side A is ‘Hustlers Don’t Cry’ starts with sample from what sounds like a gangsta spool but who knows? The funk splays out here, with a throaty jamming bass, simple stepping liquid beat and a groove twisting funk which really slides a love note of music under the door. It’s nicely produced, masterfully cut and polished. The volume is really cranked up on my headphones listening to this track, resonating that bassline and smoothing out cracks with a filler of decent sound. It’s a bloody short tune though, which sums up the way things were, and still are with a lot of tunes. Sometimes music needs an attention span that works its way into you. Occasionally it doesn’t. If the tune runs out of breath, so be it. 

   On Side AA we have the return for the fifth time on Good Looking, for Paul SG. He did have a release on the Solful label that was a little one off, set up by Bukem in 2009, so I suppose you could say this was his sixth release really. There was also Spacefunk which Bukem set up with about 4 Furney releases at this time too. Again, I did not get any of these but I do know a guy that does..Mr. Bendall. You may have more of the backstory on them? 

    I do wonder where Paul gets the title of today’s track. Side AA is ‘Chapter 3 Lesson 4’ which sounds like it’s about to be preached to the drum and bass congregation. The intro reminds me of ‘Drum Tools’ by Conrad & Furney, with its galloping high end rattles and taps. The crashing and erratic sidecar then ejects off and soothes. Once the beats arrive though, holy shit it gets real. We have a real banging and infectious barrage of drums, all sorts of interesting comings and goings in the background, while we whisk up the dance floor with a vibrant and free styling fashion. The voice that’s sampled in here sounds familiar but I can’t place it..any takers? Paul throws the radiant darts for a 180 right here. It’s a real belter of a tune, picking you up and carrying you right across the plateau of full on liquid brilliance. This is the hands down winner on this plate, a tune that shows a masterclass in elevating the game in a sometimes monotonous world of similarity’s. A massive big up to Paul for this utter beauty. 

Tomorrow we have our next white label in the series. My blog is here too. Just in case you didn’t reach the bottom of any of the last 745,000 reviews….only joking. 

I do want to eventually put all my reviews on the blog, if they’ll fit. I do wonder how it’ll work going back over 3 years..maybe a new section or label blog? I don’t know. I’m taking ideas though as I’m winging this one by the skin of my teeth. Ha ha! 

Good Looking Records

Cosmology & Enea / Sight Unseen – The Funky  2.3 / Expressions

2013

Today, we have two new artists to the Good Looking label. Well, three really. These last few Good Looking Records releases meant that the music was just ducking under the ceiling of the label, before the water level filled up and drowned it for the third time. While that may be the case, it still held the profile of a past that will never be equaled in regard to its content and influence on music. Forever the number one in my life.

   We also reach November of 2013. The year was approaching its end and Bukem was touring more and more with the liquid sounds, and finding a clear divide between the stresses of organizing and operating a record label, and with DJing (with his eyes closed basically). The money was coming in for the latter, more than the costs of cutting and then selling tunes. Even without paying artists, it was a no brainer. We didn’t know the label was coming to its end at the time. 

   Ben Thomlinson is Cosmology, with releases on Soul Deep, Celsius and Liquid Drops. We is joined by German artist, Alessandro Greco, who goes by Enea. 

  For Side A, we have ‘The Funky 2.3’ which I’d love to understand the background behind the name. It may be linked to the guitar that’s featured in the track? I’ve got this from the artist, Ben Thomlinson now, so here it is:

“Thanks for taking the time to make this write up for our track! I wondered if anyone would ask about the meaning of the title. It is just one of the markers in cubase which is what I used to write the track. Whenever I seemed to put an instrument or piece of bass on it, it made the track funky hence the name! Peace 🫶🏼”

Cheers Ben!

   This is a really impressive track, rolling out the amens, the shoreline waves lapping and the sweet electric guitar strings. I’ve not really dug this plate out in a while, as many of the sounds of liquid became monotonous, however tracks like this swerve around a majority and serve up the tastiest scoops of music of the time. There was still a charm within the tune, if you know what I mean? An imaginative and thoughtful piece of music this.

   Sight Unseen lives up to his name as I do not know who they are. Loxy & Gremlinz worked with the artist and he had a release on Digital’s Function Records label. I don’t think we’ve had much output too recently though.

   Here on Side AA is ‘Expressions’. A punchy beat kicks things off, the looped piano and a faint wail from a lady who sounds like she’s trodden barefoot on some Lego on the dark…or something a bit more adult..not sure these days. It’s when the bassline drops that the tune just takes off. A huge heaving bass wallows in and out of the swamp thick waters. The electro techno stab is a fucking killer sound, lifted from the dank caves of the underground pathways below the city. At the breakdown we have the fleeing migration, the search for inner peace, before the tune returns to its deep, hammering dose of musical medicine. A real jewel of a track from Sight Unseen. Any news on future projects?  

   Can you believe that this is the last full week of the Good Looking 12” singles? Four left next week and then this time next week we move onto the next section of the label. 

Have an “absolutely T for tremendous” weekend, and make sure you find time to “r-r-r-r-roll da beats” out. Whatever life throws at you, there’s a tune in there for you. 

EZ all! 

Good Looking Records

Flaco / mSdoS – Waiting For Love / Elements Of Jazz

2013

Good Looking Records hits its 90th release today. You could say it only really hit 86 based on the 4 Test Presses which never officially hit the stores, but it sums up how Bukem liked to hoard tracks away and test the patience of the vinyl hunters out there. Saying that, we have had a lot of those unreleased gems brought out into the open by many of the die hard labels of today. We are the music archeologists, forever searching and foraging for the memories and having them to hand on our shelves. 

   Adrien Smadbeck is U.S. D&B producer, Flaco. He had been producing for about 4 or 5 years prior to the release we focus on on today. This is his only release on Good Looking Records, but it most definitely leaves its positive mark.  

  Flaco is joined on this 12” plate, by Chris mSdoS, who returns for his next release on Good Looking following ‘Dots’. The Greek based producer was becoming more and more established, building his extensive portfolio of work. This will not be his last track on Good Looking Records either. 

   Side A has one of the best GLR tracks, post Millenium for me. Flaco puts together a heart stopping piece of music called ‘Waiting For Love’. While it flows as a liquid track, the work the breathes inside the confines is enough to make you hit the clouds of deep emotion and a feeling of seduced fulfillment. The vocals work like nectar filled raindrops floating down onto your head and the electronic fragments sweep you off your feet and into a thermal of cotton lined vortexes. Adrien really cracks the mold of the music here and gives us a tune that sounds fucking insanely good. From the very first time I heard this tune, I knew I’d be playing it a lot. It shakes your dreams and leaves the bullshit a long, long way behind. 

  Big props to Flaco and a job, very well done indeed. 

    Side B extracts the fibers of the soulful jazz bouquet accentuates the blooms of a moving and steady rhythmic jam from its piano, high ride cymbals, live sounding bass, and then the extra kick of the highest hats to push the heat up in the club to a cooking temperature. It’s the build that forms everything toward the breakdown. ‘Elements Of Jazz’ collects the revolving pods of freshly squeezed, back street flavors and pipettes the pure gold of swing style jazz into the skin of the listener. A jiving and swaying interpretation of classy music. 

   Thats another rung on the ladder of Good Looking Records complete. As we near the top, we can look back at how far we’ve come…mmmm…”how do we do that?” you ask? 

My blog of tunes on GLR may be of interest. I hope you enjoy reading the back catalogue of one of the most influential and important record labels in the history of jungle and drum and bass.

Good Looking Records

EZ Rollers / Madcap & Jaybee – Bikini Beach / Riverside 

2013

As our midweek arrives for the reviews, it’s a couple of big names that enter the arena. The white label series was churning out one release a month and moving toward (what we were hoping) its 100th release. It was more a case of Nigel Mansell in the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix though. Now you’ve got a reference to enjoy!

    Alas, we have these last few discs to relish, and like I say, some big hitters today.

   Back in 1994, it was Alex Banks, half of Hyper On Experience with Danny ‘Flytronix’ Demierre, and Jay Hurron, half of the JMJ & Richie duo, who got together to form EZ Rollers. We did scrape the surface with them while reviewing Droppin’ Science as they gave us the mind blowing remix of Volume 2 on DS 005 where we heard the pure indulgence of their work. Plenty of work is heading our way of course, when we reach Moving Shadow. 

   For me personally, this work today was the first piece of music I’d brought from them since 1998. Between 1994 and the work of EZ Rollers sits on the shelf in abundance. 

     On Side AA we have two artists that have gallons of their own solo work out, and definitely have become even bigger in the drum and bass world since this release. 

   Elliot ‘Madcap’ Payne has to be one of the most skilled producers and DJs on the circuit right now. We went through a fair deal of his info during Creative Wax, but reiterating how incredible his presence is, cannot be skipped. His work for Creative Wax along with his podcast show, provide us with a DJ and producer that brings such passion and enthusiasm in bringing the old school and modern times together, it’s an art form we rarely see on this level. He teams up with U.S. based artist, Jon Jaybee Deacy who has been active in the scene for about 14 years. With tracks released on V, Mars, Soul Deep and Dispatch, he has accomplished a fair deal of admiration for his skills in the studio. This was always going to be a mouthwatering collaboration. 

   Time to get things rolling, let’s spin the disc and crank up the volume. Here, therefore spilleth the words that doth flow out, while the tune playeth.

  Side A is ‘Bikini Beach’, treading effortlessly through the dense tropics, humidity off the chart and the distant sound of water flowing. All the scything of the undergrowth, the untrodden canvas of jungle floor, soon opens up into the reservoir of lucid dreams and sacred dew drops. EZ Rollers always knew how to cast the net out and recoup the golden sounds. Once you hit the baseline in ‘Bikini Beach’ there’s nothing you need to do except stomp/kick as many footprints into the sand as possible. It makes you move, it makes you gyrate and it leaves you feeling like you’ve heard something a little bit special. The extremely high quality of the tune is in itself, worthy of a gold medal. The liquid sound really shines through in an expanse of giant rays. 

   On Side AA we have everything you’d expect from these two (Madcap & Jaybee), oozing out a sharp, invigorating ingredient with ‘Riverside’ and you have to say, it’s one of the most jungle vs liquid tunes of the series. The breaks within the standard liquid beat, push the props aside and allow you to focus on the edgy, raw and sweet descending bass. Those bell loops are a magical touch too. Sometimes there are liquid sets that carry a flat and stagnant sound through them. If you ever want a tune to wake people up to how lively and fucking robust a tune could be in this ilk, this one really does provide something with a pulse and a fat throbbing vein to inject more than enough high power musical notes into your body. 

   A big, big shout to Alex and Jay, also Elliot and John. A huge plate on the label this, and one that gave the white label series a real treat. 

   This blog is for anyone who wants to read through some back catalogue reviews of Good Looking, and some photos of the 12” releases. I hope you enjoy.