"Sound Of You (Deep Session by Riccicomoto)" - Gushi & Raffunk

Song of the Week - September 29, 2013

Gushi & Raffunk- a tale of two artists who came together with their love of music to make music. Gushi & Raffunk's story relies solely on their ability to craft goood songs- one being the "Sound Of You (Deep Session by Riccicomoto)". With a little assistance on a remix by Enrico Regini also known as Riccicomoto, they have created a chilled, dreamy house track that has topped the Jazzy Lounge Top 25 charts for a total of eight weeks since April, 2013.

Initially appearing on Gushi & Raffunk's Sound Of You - The Remixes EP, it was included on the compilation Deep House Dreams 6. To match the mood of the compilation, the kick beats are soft which helps give it an ambient chill effect.

Riccicomoto uses many production elements to create a very dreamy house track- echo, reverb, phasing, plus vocal sampling, synths and string ensemble. The remix is 8:27 minutes long and he uses a one note string ensemble to "train" the ear to follow it through the length of the track while Gushi's soft and mellow vocals dart in and out of the song effectively.

This remix would work great for opening a house set in an Ibiza related atmosphere.

A mainstay on Jazzy Lounge, it first entered the playlist on March 9, 2013. As of this writing, that's nearly seven months of daily airplay.



Big "ups" to Gushi & Raffunk!

Label: Lemongrassmusic

"The Race" - Malika Madremana

Song of the Month - July, 2013
A strong characteristic of reggae and house music are the positive messages many of the songs exhibit- words that encourage, motivate and uplift. Even more frequent in reggae music than house are the socially conscious lyrics that remove the cataracts from events we've shielded ourselves from. Such is the song "The Race" by Malika Madremana. It's an eye, ear and mind opener. Exceptionally crafted lyrics using double entendre throughout much of the song, she juxtaposes humankind (the race of man) against the events in a race or sports activity. A very thought provoking song that invites you to listen to every word as you begin to visualize every major point she expresses. Nothing feels forced. The lyrics and melody flow well together.

The opening of "The Race" shares the true reason why man was created and then quickly focuses on the fallen or sinful nature of man using parts of the day as a measure on how evil and greed can progress. Segments of the lyrics provided below.

1st stanza
"From the dawn of the morn Man was born to live in love
Cooperate and create and to Jah be thankful of...."
"But by noon we were doomed.....some just could not get enough
Unjustified evil pride divided and tied us up...."
2nd stanza
"As the day turned to night man grew colder than he was
Filled up with hate and impatience he forced himself to run...."
3rd stanza
Well the earth was made by God for everyone to share
But the way man carries on it seems he just don't care...."

It's the chorus, though, that bridges this song together.

"Red flag, whistle or something
Referee ain't saying nothing
How can we catch up with something so far?
We're trying so hard
 I'm crying false start
Stop and restart the race
Hearts can reset the pace
Don't you know haste makes waste
Trip and end up flat on your face
You're disgraced
Cheaters never take first place"

To get the full effect, you must hear the entire song. It's the strongest song on the album in my opinion. "The Race" has also had a great impact on the Jazzy Lounge listeners. The track landed in Jazzy Lounge's Top 10 four consecutive weeks reaching a peak at number 4 two weeks ago. It's definitely in the running for Jazzy Lounge's song of the year for 2013.

(No audible media links to "The Race" were available at the time of this writing.)
Rating: 5.0/5.0 stars

Label: Big Cup Music