Moodorama
Music for Collapsing People
Stereo Deluxe
Here is yet another wonderful downtempo offering from the Germans, this one coming out of the small Nurnberg label, Stereo Deluxe. Moodorama is Martin Sennebogen and Robert Zierhofer, two names fairly well known on the German downbeat DJ circuit. This album, Music for Collapsing People, is their second full-length release together, and is a brilliant fusion of jazz, Latin, breakbeat, easy listening, ethno, bigbeat, deep house and the ever-present downbeat.
The disc opens with “Sinzing Sunset Boulevard,” a track which features vocalist Kerstin Huber (who sounds somewhere in between Cibo Matto and Liz Fraser) and is a very smooth, bubbly track, setting the tone for the rest of the disc. “Loss of Sense” is a very tribal, abstract, downtempo piece, while “Mango Mongo” is a more upbeat, jazzy breakbeat track with hints of live improvisation over it. “Are U Comin’” is a darker, minimal downtempo track, with very sultry, sexy, and uplifting vocals by Roberta Collins, and “My Vibe” is a blunted out, jazzy hip-hop track, with thought provoking rhymes courtesy of Nine5. Other standout tracks include the spaced out trombone and atmospherics of “Jupiter 07,” and the very (and I hate to make this comparison) Portishead-esque sound of “Mono Luv.”
As the genre that we call “downtempo” continues to progress, and assimilate new sounds into it’s wake, I think that the sound purveyed on this album will become more commonplace – but at this moment in time, Music for Collapsing People is ahead of it’s time – groundbreaking in it’s sound, production, and overall vibe. Don’t miss out on this one.
Stereo Deluxe, PO Box 910260, 90260, Nurnberg, Germany
