solar moon

solar moon’s trademark downtempo sound is around now for almost 15 years. the producer- and dj collective from cologne / germany actually started out as a “real”, yet sort of modified band outfit, fusing zen like musicianship with minimalistic electronics, laid back beats, dub influenced attitude and soundtrack style sample treatment… ever since back in 1993.
while in the early days the music press reactions ranged from “..this sounds as if pink floyd would be taking a shower with portishead” and “cologne’s sofa surfers” to “like a scooter single on 33 1/3”, the solar moon guys actually couldn’t care less and developed more and more common musical ground in their own territory: refined, song structured downbeats with a dubby flavour. solar moon sound…
cologne electronica heritage, distilled bristol and jamaica influences, good contacts into the vienna downtempo scene of the mid nineties as well as a deep friendship with moog meister / electronic music pioneer klaus schulze paved the way for the first solar moon longplay album “logbook 94_00”, released in 2000 on the latters’ artist label rainhorse records. the “logbook” assembled various recordings from the solar moon “early days” archive and is regarded as a kind of “development retrospective” among the band members. inspired by the release, solar moon recorded a common joint-effort album with klaus schulze (“docking”) for his remarkable “KS contemporary works 1” 10CD box set a bit later and performed a heavily bootlegged improv gig together with the man himself at cologne’s legendary kickzone festival. those events marked a turning point for solar moon just a few months after the “logbook” release.
over the course of the next years, each solar moon crew member bred individual plans. while tom dams mainly concentrated on being 50% of KARMA (the project duo that is regarded as a precursor to all “nu jazz” things) and worked as klaus schulze’s recording engineer, both razoof and george solar focussed on their dj skills and founded their own record labels, nesta recordings and subfrequency. razoof went on to additionally record original upbeat material for prestigeous label imprints like stereo deluxe or jah love recordings, george joined leftfield downtempo projects like CHIN CHILLAZ and RUBBASOL - but the common solar moon ground was still there.
various soundsystem based parties and live performances during chill out events as well as on reggae festivals (like summerjam) re-sharpened the solar moon vision.
in 2003, solar moon released the CD album “guestbook” on ckp records, which showcased a lot of musical friends the band made over the years – the solar moon way of paying tribute to their very own version of “soundsystem culture”. singers like reggae soulman DON ABI, incognito- and waldeck front diva JOY MALCOLM, or berlin based AMÉ TOKI (aka missy moana) were featured alongside guestbook entries by klaus schulze and washington d.c. based love poetry angel JEN. the accompanying 12” vinyl “les vacances” (incl. superb remix contributions by first call maestro CAN7, swiss class act LOUNGECHIC PRODUCTIONS and long time dub house collaborators SALZ) spent a good month in the top 5 of the german club charts in 2004 and got massive support from chief crews like vienna scientists and fort knox five.
after the next wave of individual project albums and common remix work for a.o. vienna based dubster WALDECK, legendary world beat outfit DISSIDENTEN, and fellow solar moon member razoof, solar moon only just recently layed hands on orient expressions’ stand out global lounge track “istanbul 1:26 a.m.” and levthand’s “cadillac track” (the solar moon backseat dub instrumental of that being released on george solar’s COMFY DUB compilation). others might want to check out razoof's DUB ON THE BEACH compilation (out on clubstar) and sense a certain solar moon yearning for balearic summer island vibrations...
lately, solar moon has also produced tracks for the upcoming JEN EP “a taste of mellow dramas” on poets club records (and available at itunes too, of course). the featured JEN / solar moon collabo "asleep" is also included on the infamous POETS DUB compilation, selected & mixed by the mighty 7 Samurai.
distinct sessions for the 3rd solar moon album (possibly called “ black book” by the way) started in early spring of 2007. rumour has it that, apart from other “nice surprise” guests, the longplayer might include tasty collabos with trumpet genius and live cohort christoph titz, US poetry darling JEN and truly exceptional UK singer, miss sarah winton.
meanwhile, tasty new imprint BABY STEPS recordings from new zealand is preparing fantastic remix work for the solar moon track "fe real" from the "guestbook" album, with fresh acts like DEE BANSE (tokio), BABY STEPS label boss THE MORNING STEPPA, OOGUN the dubsteppa from NZ, and PHUNK DUB (sao paulo) in pan dem case. watch this space…
SOLAR MOON played live at NOTP festival @ loreley 18. july, 2008... which marked the 1st concert in 5 years... and got a good vibe!
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