"With its dynamics, remixes and extended versions, the 12inch is the king of DJ's format. One that no other can compete with when it comes to getting the dancefloor moving and keeping the dancers in action even though their bodies tell them to stop or, at least, slow down.
Two close-up eyes on a red background and a central cutout revealing the puck and its precious information: it is on these unchanging specifications that the graphic identity of the Pura Vida Sounds series of 12inch vinyl was built.
This artistic carte blanche offered by Heavenly Sweetness allowed me to release the music that makes me vibrate by bringing back an essential element: spontaneity.
No long creation process, no visual proposals to approve, no schedule to follow, or promotions to set up. A desire? An idea? A remix that can't be left in a drawer? Recording, mixing, pressing, the music almost delivered out of the studio, as in the best hours of reggae, rap, or house. Unequaled flexibility to match the artistic desires of the moment as closely as possible. Of course, mine and those of my musical "family," because some of its members responded to this invitation.
Pat Kalla & le super mojo, El Gato Negro, David Walters, Izem, and Souleance, went to the studio to leave in the microgroove an exuberant engraving, funk, electro, full of life, envy, brass, guitars, irrepressible rhythms… As many nuances as they are artists, all linked by a dominant Afro-tropical color. A direct echo to my DJ sets in which all these 12inches have ended up finding their place, one release after another.
It was only once the series were over that I realized that there was another common denominator that brought the EP together: despite the musical and cultural mix, all tracks were sung in French or Creole. No calculation, no reflection to get there, just spontaneity, the desire to immortalize a crush, a musical dazzling.
After playing on the turntables and making the diamonds vibrate, the five Pura Vida Sounds 12inches are now bond together in the form of a single compilation, so that they can finally be listened to in one shot free from the DJ’s referential dictates and moods.
A compilation that will also most certainly be part of a future series ... "
Pura Vida
Guts
credits
released November 13, 2020
DAVID WALTERS
Returned to music after a televisual break, David Walters remixes his title "Mama" and leaves his friend Patchworks to do the same. David entrusts operations to rhythmic and digital elements that transform the original maternal sweetness into a boiling west indies sound system. Patchworks is planted in a jazz-funk setting. Swift drums and enveloping bass, the Fender Rhodes initially in support, becomes soloist under the vibraphone's hammer blows. Finally, producer Déni-Shain and his sidekick Mister Francky revisit the original in a West indies twist, live and direct from the legendary Debs studio in Pointe à Pitre.
IZEM
From Portugal, IZEM stole "Ekolo" from the Smith Brothers and Guts "L’origine du monde." It dresses the afrobeat of the first with jerky rhythm, brass jewelry, and an irrepressible Afro-tropical guitar groove. For the second, he pulses the bass drum all the time and raises the afro-funk's temperature. Like female voices, the flute follows orders that call for comfort in a call and response full of promise.
EL GATO NEGRO
In his natural musical environment variegated with Latin rhythms, percussions, flutes, brass, and electro, El Gato Negro is a feline who shuns contact with men. Unable to capture him, Guts managed to steal from him "T'aimes Pas Ca" and "Toca Y Toca", two tracks from the cat's latest album whose potential he exploits here. By redistilling, cutting, remixing, lengthening some moments, and re-energizing others, for edit versions.
PAT KALLA & LE SUPER MOJO
The voice of Voilààà Sound System with whom Guts crossed the funk on his "Philantropiques" album. Long groove, acid synth notes, and precise guitar riffs, despite its lyrics' bitterness, the "Canette" restores funk strength to the numbest legs. Adorned with a colorful toghu, Gainsbourg's "Requiem Pour Un Con" swaps its dark and hypnotic martial groove for a polyrhythmic Afrodisco production, surrounded by a swift bass. A real diversion.
SOULEANCE
Soulist + Fulgeance = Souleance. With drums, cowbells, and underground bass whirring, the duo-fusion crushes and punches Sulette's innocent "P'tit Courage" to make it a tribal and warlike hymn at the same time. Another bass drum story that stuns the temples of Dominique MINGUI & Dera RAKOTOMAVO's Disco Sega and pushes the sliders into the red for a muscle-bound remix.
ARTWORK by MAMBO
DESIGN by Jean-Louis DURALEK
SELECTED by GUTS
Brand new work from this Guadeloupean percussionist and trumpeter who mixes traditional gwo ka with avant-jazz, soul, and reggae. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 7, 2018
