Various Artists  - The Sound

 

 

The German label Ozella Music is a brainchild of the musician Dagobert (Dago) Böhm. He is well-known in Germany by his new age / chill out music, cultivated in albums like Sound of Wood (1982), Acoustic Moods (1987), Morning Flight (1993), Acoustic Unit (1998) or Sounds For A Blue Planet. On his label Ozella Music he also offers releases of numerous artists like Stephan Bormann, Hands on Strings, Roger Matura, Shunsuke Mizuno, Guido Ponzini, Michel Sajrawy, HenschkeSchlott, Karl Seglem, Streif, Gerold Kukulenz, Trio Bravo and more. Ozella Music also releases compilations like Morning, Noon, Evening, Night mediating a good survey about the program of this label.

A special section of Ozella Music is Ozella Lounge showcasing musical genres like Lounge, Downtempo, Chillout and Electronica. The first compilation of Ozella Lounge is The Sound (2007). The album starts with Stardelay's Earthlight. Stardelay is a project of multi-instrumentalist Carsten Mentzel. Friends of Fender Rhodes will love the clean sound of this piece with a catchy melody and a dynamic rhythm. His upcoming album A New High Fidelity Tripout is scheduled for release fall 2007.

Pianist Reinmar Henschke, who is performing with sax player Volker Schlott since 1999, performs brilliantly on the piano on Ein Neuer Tag (A New Day). It's a moody chill out tune with dream character. In contrast stands the following tune Evil Was Her Name featuring the cool voice of blues minstrel Pete Alderton. Sophisticated like JJ Cale the U.K. born singer convinces with his authentic vocals.

Space Walk is taken from Gerold Kukulenz' album Miles High. The right title for a mixture of guitar and electronic music underlayered with a deep bass. The rhythm is based on a very dry snare.

Andreas Leitfeld, who passed away one year ago, called his project Natural Frequencies. The tune Hurikea was taken from the album Ornamental Journey. Spacey music with a Japanese voice on a syncopated beat.

French Pool is a reminiscence to a French café perhaps in Paris. A time of relaxing during a billiard play. It's reminds at a movie score of a film noire during the time of Humphrey Bogart. The tune was taken from the album Cafe Thiossane by HenschkeSchlott.

Shan Qui (Mountain Energy) is the project of the Chinese bamboo flutist Wu Fei and the musicians Guo Yue, Helge A. Norbakken, Guido Ponzini and Giovanni Amighetti. Avalon is a legendary island somewhere in the British Isles, the place where King Arthur shall be buried. The mystic charm of this island is encompassed in Shan Qi's song revealing the beauty of the flute in all nuances.

After this journey into world music Stardelay's Still Humming brings us back into the cool area of chill out. Some musician are able to play on a saw. This weird sound is nicely introduced into this genre.

Reinmar Henschke's Schlechte Nachricht (Bad News) is another collage of environement-sound mixed with electronic mediums. Bad tones creep clandestinely into the sequence of mundane music.

Dagobert Böhm's Far Away is a short interlude performed on a romantic guitar.

Reinmar Henschke's Unterwegs (On The Way) is a combination of floating light piano music based on a earthy percussion beat.

The only vocal song on this album is Stardelay's It Could Be Sweet. The liner notes of the album don't reveal who is the female singer of the tune. She has a timbre and attitude comparable to Sade.

Finale tune on this unique album is Stardelay's Why It's Warm. Elegant tones on electronic piano are fading in the air.

Ozella Music's new creation The Sound is airy and contemporary Lounge. Germany has a tradition in such electronically music since the time of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze.


 

 

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  • Title: The Sound Vol. 1
    Artist: Various Artists
    Year: 2007
    Length: 0:58:53
    Genre: Lounge
    Label: Ozella Music

    Tracks:
    01 Earthlight / Stardelay [3:02]
    02 Ein Neuer Tag / Reinmar Henschke [4:35]
    03 Evil Was Her Name / Pete Alderton [3:38]
    04 Space Walk / Gerold Kukulenz [5:32]
    05 Hurikea / Natural Frequencies [5:21]
    06 French Pool / HenschkeSchlott [4:33]
    07 Avalon / Shan QI [4:36]
    08 Still Humming / Stardelay [5:10]
    09 Schlechte Nachricht / Reinmar Henschke [4:47]
    10 Far Away / Dagobert Böhm [2:40]
    11 Unterwegs / Reinmar Henschke [7:01]
    12 It Could Be Sweet / Stardelay [3:52]
    13 Why It's Warm / Stardelay [4:05]