Night Time Stories Organic Grooves 5 Items

Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin’s debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool. The Texan trio is formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums.

‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was recorded at their spiritual home, a remote barn deep in the Texas countryside where their first rehearsals took place. The band listened to a lot of different types of music on the long drives out to the country but their favourites were 60s and 70s Thai cassettes gleaned from the cult Monrakplengthai blog and compilations of southeast Asian pop, rock and funk. This had a heavy impact on the direction of the band, the scales they used and the inflection of the melodies; which coupled with the spaciousness of the Texan countryside culminated in Khruangbin forming their exotic, individual sound.

Repress on black vinyl in regular sleeve.

Limited numbered edition of 1000 copies on colored vinyl!

Ash’s production output is similarly exploratory: his journeys have taken him far and wide, from tunnels under the river Thames to recording local percussionists in the Atlas mountains of Morocco. Inspired by a deep dive of sounds from artists including Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, King Tubby, Bo Diddley, 4Hero, J Dilla, Pete Rock, Curtis Mayfield, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich; his first two albums, ‘Augmented 7th’ (2015) and ‘Echo Chamber’ (2016) gained attention from the likes of BBC 6 Music DJs Gilles Peterson, Don Letts, Gideon Coe and Clash Maga- zine, XLR8R and MIMS.

‘Aquamarine’ is a projection and culmination of all he’s ab- sorbed. A cosmic explosion of sound and colour, rhythm, shape and patterns. The arrival of an unassuming dreamer now projecting his unique flavour of expression. ‘Aqua- marine’ is the take-off of this audial spaceship, a sound discovered in the grooves of thousands of records, united in one. A meditation designed to inspire good energy, Ash hopes to bring a sense of calm and tranquility to the listener amongst the chaos of life. Recorded at home with the freedom of time and space, it combines analogue with digital, and a fondness for normally unwanted shapes and textures such as fuzz, hiss and crackle.

“My previous albums have felt to me more like ventures on land. This one feels more like a deep sea voyage into the subconscious. Living to dream with visions of gran- deur. Manifesting a beautiful path to walk on. It was inspired by everything around me, from friends and family to art and design, engineering and architecture, move- ment and how we use our five senses. I love to try and push my own boundaries of what I perceive to be right and wrong, seeing mistakes as innovations, and obstacles as inspiration.”

Highlights on the album include ‘Under The Sun’, ‘Time’ and ‘Finishing Touch’, all of which feature the smooth and silky voice of Laville. Themes of metaphysical exploration and transportation re-occur in the cosmic jazz of ‘Brave New World’ and the smoked beats on ‘Come With Us’. Also featured across the album are trumpet and flugel- horn genius Yazz Ahmed, bassist Marc Cyril (Keziah Jones, Jr Walker & The All Stars) and renowned musician and producer Jonathan Shorten.

Having already graced the stages of some of the biggest UK festivals as well as as The Jazz Cafe and Rich Mix, The Ash Walker Experience is a formidable six piece live lineup. Ash has collaborated with Ezra Lloyd-Jackson to turn each performance into a vibrant, multi-sensory experience combining live reactive projections and carefully crafted frequency complimenting fragrances.