Blogarhythms

For a long time I’ve wanted to visit cold-weather countries like Iceland and Sweden. Both nations are home to some awesome musicians, and I’m sure the people are great, but it’s really the chilly weather and unfamiliar, pastoral landscapes that I’m attracted to. Well, that and sexy Swedish Indie chicks. But I digress… I see the Jukkasjärvi Icehotel, which is located north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, on television travel shows all the time and always wish I could visit and experience it’s ice-coated spectacle. Somewhat paradoxically, I’m markedly unhappy that the streets, sidewalks and everything else around my neighborhood are currently encased in a similar layer of ice. I mean, I don’t mind cold, or snow, and I still totally want to visit the Icehotel, I’m just not psyched at all to have it visit me!

With such Tundra-like conditions holding sway outside I’ve resigned myself to the fact that trudging around the city listening to (and singing along with) Hot Chip’s new single “Ready for the Floor” as I discussed yesterday is probably not that wise an activity. So, in an effort to save myself from ice-related slip-and-fall injuries I figure relaxing to the sounds of some warm, crackly “Turntable Soul” is the next best thing to reclining by a warm, crackling fire with some hot cocoa, which is what the media would have me believe people do when the weather outside is in fact frightful. Luckily I happen to have a copy of Turntable Soul Music, the new Tru Thoughts debut from London-based trio Belleruche holding down the fort in that respect. Even luckier, I get to share it with you without having to set foot to icey sidewalk. Thank you internets!

Comprised of Kathrin deBoer on vocals, and Ricky Fabulous on guitar, backed by the beats, samples and scratches of producer and turntablist DJ Modest the group is likely to cause flashbacks to the heyday of Trip-Hop with their moody mix of cigarettes-and-coffee tinged Jazz and Soul influences, gritty Hip-Hop breaks and vinyl loops, and sweet female vocals. Their bio likens them to Sarah Vaughan produced by Cut Chemist, which caught my eye and was the impetus for me copping the album. While comparing oneself to a Jazz legend is a little ballsy for me, and in this case may be a bit beyond the pale, the jazzy influence is evident, and I can hear the Cut Chemist likeness in Modest’s beats. I also hear a little bit of Portishead (though less melancholy, and more uptempo) myself, and could see fans of other Tru Thoughts acts like Quantic and Alice Russell, New York’s Wax Poetic, L.A.’s Bitter:Sweet, and a number of other Trip-Hop and Nu-Soul groups digging on Belleruche.

I’m particularly fond of “The Itch,” which reminds me a lot of old-school soulful Rock outfits like Cold Blood and Ten Wheel Drive with it’s heavy breakbeat, tremulous bassline, vintage organ, whining guitars, cowbell and sassy vocal.

Listen to “The Itch”

-El Keter