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BEATS OF LOVE

15. Find Another Breeze (Gallo Tropical Hinterhof Remix) By J-Walk

Machu ebbs and flows a bit like me. One time I see him and he's all fired up with positive vibes and the next time unravelling a little. He's guested at the Devil's Jukebox, which was when I first met him. Because of that, I had the pleasure of hearing him jam with Leo (Almunia). Memorable is an understatement.

It was an absolute joy to see a short video clip of him DJ at Backyard Balearic's shindig last weekend and really revelling in it. He was also equally great when he did the Antoine show for me, but I was too preoccupied to soak it all in. 

He is a fine musician in the singer-songwriter tradition and Newton Le Willows' own answer to Terry Callier. I have a great tune he sent me that he felt was let down by his voice. I disagreed but was too low a voice, as others, notably label owners, had already expressed their doubts too. 

I bought records from Martin in Fat City and, like everyone, loved J-Walk's Soul Vibration. Up there with the all-time best still. Because of its success, I'm guessing my expectations became too high and only French Letter from that period also hit the spot. I was far more locked into J-Walk's later incarnation, minus Martin Desai, on the long-player Off-Beat which transported me back to lounge-listening and the amazing records he often sold me over his counter. Vespucci one such record, in fact, which he covers superbly by adding lots of atmosphere. Lounge-listening actually makes more sense now as I age and quite often need a sit down.  

Machu contributes his fretwork to a couple of tracks on its follow up Limelight, and notably rhythm guitar, here. Martin had figured out the parts for his imaginary band and possibly came up short himself on a few of these. Most obviously, female vocalist. I was a little indifferent at the time it first surfaced as I was eagerly awaiting the Torn Sail debut on Wonderfulsound but was told Huw wasn't happy with the wait time on the label's roster and decided instead to self-finance it. The fact this surfaced in its place was a little disappointing. I'm over it now though.   

My favourite track was the opener Aimons Toujours, which is top-drawer. However, here, as the incandescent sun blazes, flickering through the blinds, and my feet loiter on the pouffe, in some sort of synch with the music, this remix is now sounding like sheer zoned out heaven. I'm sort of forever mystified why more people aren't locking into tuneage this good. It loosens up everything, the way so few things in life manage to, and is nothing short of a liberation in sound.    

I'm sure that one fine day both me and Machu will meet again when we're both on top of our game.