#simon ratcliffe

Village Of The Sun is an enigmatic collaboration between UK jazz virtuosos Binker Golding & Moses Boyd and electronic music legend Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx fame. Born out of a shared passion for improvised instrumental music, the new project sees all three of the artists steps into relatively new territory, combining their respective sensibilities to create something all at once atmospheric and danceable. All tracks written by Simon Ratcliffe, Binker Golding and Moses Boyd Apart from ‘Ted' - written by Ted Moses, Simon Ratcliffe, Binker Golding and Moses Boyd Binker Golding: tenor saxophone Moses Boyd: drums Produced and Mixed by Simon Ratcliffe and all other instrumentation by Simon Ratcliffe

"Cesca" by Village of the Sun, Simon Ratcliffe, Moses Boyd, Binker Golding https://ift.tt/U0Ti1lc

The reason I discuss the latest work by many different electronic musicians, remains firmly within my belief avout the specific set of challenges this assemblage of styles has. I mean, ask Basement Jaxx how they feel after their incredible strings of successes during the late 90's and early noughts. True, they continued, because they belong to a scene that does like the chart success, though the participants there don't mind, when their players struggle to reach that, since they have a dancefloor to tend to. Yes, their latest Angel Is Coming can be seen as a soundtrack for your usual party concerts the DJs organize. Still, some of their current pieces could, if you want to hear my opinion, fit well within the contemporary pop travels.

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Basement Jaxx // “Bingo Bango” (Radio Mix), from The Singles

Several current last releases of many musicians, particularly electronic, find them occupying a different place than before. You can notice this fact in the cases of the members of the late 90's electronica boom, because they either went completely commercial or decided to become more niche. Basement Jaxx tend to be more of the latter, their latest works end up being similar to those of Groove Armada, i.e. they both stay within the parameters they established with their most popular pieces, not giving a damn about the reception. Of course, they can afford to do that, their success in the late 90's enabled them to basically run free on their contemporary records. Nonetheless, they could still let themselves be less beholden, to the expectations of what Basement Jaxx should sound like. I mean, wouldn't, for instance, an ambient album by them be an intriguing proposition? They rarely tried anything of that sort on their opus, but they could.

Many electronic music outfits of the late 90's were quite goofy. I think they took their cues from Fatboy Slim, whose 90's LPs had a weird sense of humor with their choice of samples and general vibe. Still, they were nothing compared to Basement Jaxx who were making dancefloor filled with highly colourful anthems that were just pure joy. No wonder they gained their prominence in the late 90's, I believe such music was in the general feeling of the period with its optimism in the mold of things-can-only-get-better. Maybe that is why we still listen to these tunes, they present us with a future that went away due to a myriad of factors, too numerous to mention in here, although you just have to check your usual websites to find them. They are beacons of what could have been. They sound giddy, true, yet they also betray a certain melancholy.