HomeLabel lgm105: Karen Gibson Roc - "The Cool Of The Day" (September 21st 2012)
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lgm105: Karen Gibson Roc - "The Cool Of The Day" (September 21st 2012)
Karen Gibson Roc – „The Cool Of The Day“
If you ever
heard Karen Gibson Roc singing, you know about the jaw-dropping effect her
voice and her way of performing has. This lady got style, she got spirit and an
enormous portion of love to share. This chick has the gift. Her new album
"The cool of the day" is eagerly awaited. The gap of 4 years, since
her highly valued debut called "Touching the soul" got released, was
filled with nothing less than the challenge of motherhood. But the flow of
rhyme didn't stop, it got even more inspirational through this little being
growing up beside her. When Karen sings "I find my destiny in poetry"
she is revealing her inner most being. Poetry is an essential of her life. It
is an urge, an unstoppable force like a wellspring, that never runs dry.
Therefore it appears simply logical, that the Jamaican-born lady calls her
music "spoken word performance poetry music".
Karen's background beats
range from Lounge music to Acid Jazz and so many variants in between. To bring
this idea to life, inquiries of different producers asking for collaboration
were very welcome during the process of the new album. Even though the album is
floating along organically, each track is adding new aspects with variations in
instrumentation and style. Mats Samuelson of Glam Sam and his Combo from Sweden
flavoured his productions with bits of Soul & Funk. The Lemongrassmusic
masterminds Roland & Daniel Voss contributed 3 tracks. They do what already
worked very well in past collaborations by focusing on melodic Downtempo
grooves, leaving space for Karen's voice to captivate us with her grace.
Another 3 outstanding productions come from Nadjib aka DJ Boulaone of BanBella
Jazz, widening the boundaries of what modern NuJazz means. On "Wake
up" he throws in a very cool scratchy groove, which Massive Attack would
be proud of. Johannes Huppertz aka Newton is contributing two productions. One
is the beautiful ballad "Destiny in poetry". Also Karen's old buddy
DJ Hen Boggie has joined once again. Not to forget iëlo from France with a
laidback tune, helping to turn "The cool of the day" into a beautiful
amalgam. Both live instrumentation and samples got used by all producers,
giving the album an organic, soulful appeal. Karen Gibson Roc's "The cool
of the day" sounds fresh and inspiring but at the same time it is evoking
the golden age of Acid Jazz with Jazzmatazz, US3, Galliano, Urban Species and
others.
"Don't you wanna know who you really are?" is the refrain of
"From the inside". It is a question, Karen keeps having a focus on
for herself. Day by day it is her mantra. It is an expression of her spiritual
approach ever-present in her lyrics. Reflecting herself, the meaning of god and
being true down to the bottom of her heart. Good to leave you -while listening-
with Karen's liner notes: "I hope this quiet yet powerful album finds its
way into the hearts of those who crave something interesting to listen to. At
times I strayed from my comfort zone to places that made me take a look at who
I am as a human being on this journey through life. I used my voice in new ways
and tiptoed into melodic places. The musicality of the work shines through and
I am grateful to have found myself in great company."