Two aspects of this album are remarkable, and it is their combination that makes it one of the outstanding releases in 2011.

First, there is the sound of this trumpet. Often dreamy and sentimental, sometimes lively and frisky. It’s incredible how much soul and character this instrument has, creating profound emotions and a very strong feeling. There are also other classic instruments, a Spanish guitar and a Thai seung, played no less skilfully. All together these acoustic instrumentations lend to the music a jazzy moment of timelessness and a feeling that can simply not be accomplished by synthetic sounds.

Second, there is the aspect of electronic rhythms. Their variety is huge and again, they are arranged masterly. Reaching from classic Psychedelic Chill Out and Downbeat structures to well-done Jungle and Dubstep rhythms to four-to-the-floor beats and a hovering Ambient track with barley any percussive elements, there is an amazing variation from title to title. Elements from the genres just mentioned are carefully quoted, yet the musical moment is clearly based on the acoustic instrumentation.

French producer Lakay manages to combine these two aspects in an amazing way, a way that could probably be described best as jazzy. While there are undoubtedly quite some elements from this genre, it is also the open-minded approach on intelligent, profound music that is reminiscent of the original idea of Jazz. Enjoy People was released on Hadra Records.

 

lakay - chillom (radio edit) by Lakay - Enjoy People