St. Germain

Description

The self-titled long player further builds on Germain’s deep house roots, incorporating a soulful collage of blues and jazz samples with his trademark hypnotic electronic loops and vocal samples. Much of the album was recorded live with the participation of African musicians on traditional Malian instruments. Opening track, “Real Blues”, is a fiery, percussion-driven track layered with the smooth vocals of blues legend Lightnin’ Hopkins and gorgeous kora tones, while “Sittin’ Here” works a Malian vocal around burnt out chords and intricate rhythms. Downbeat cuts “Hanky Panky” and “Voila” drop the tempo and swap the 4/4 for broken rhythms perfectly suited to their jazzy keys and African guitar licks. Over on the second disc, “Family Tree” keeps things classy with its subtle combination of sophisticated jazz, desert mysticism and smoky vocals, while “How Dare You” blends blues and broken rhythms into a bass heavy house roller. Over into the D-side, and the hip hop influenced “Mary L” and “Forget Me Not” (a superb reprise of “Boulevard” closer “Forget It” swaggers in to get heads nodding and spirits soaring. Ludo keeps things classy from start to finish on a sophisticated return.