belooped (MPS Remixed) De-Phazz

• 1 Wave (belooped RMX) 04:15
• 2 Both Sides Now (belooped RMX) 03:38
• 3 This Girl's in Love with You (belooped RMX) 03:57
• 4 Shelda (belooped RMX) 03:44
• 5 Love & Happiness (belooped RMX) 03:27
• 6 Bass-Ically (belooped RMX) 02:54
• 7 Feel Like Making Love (belooped RMX) 04:23
• 8 Do I Have To? (belooped RMX) 04:06
• 9 Capricorn (belooped RMX) 04:00
• 10 Continental (belooped RMX) 02:48
• Total Runtime 37:12

Info for belooped (MPS Remixed)

“Loop Your Idols”: De-Phazz remixes jazz gems from the legendary MPS archive on their new album belooped.

Villingen meets Heidelberg, analogue meets digital: with “belooped”, De-Phazz and Germany’s oldest jazz label, MPS, bring together what belongs together. For this extraordinary project, De-Phazz founder Pit Baumgartner has been granted access to the archives of MPS. With a keen sense for grooves and melodies, the sound architect has carefully restored the work of global stars such as Ella Fitzgerald, Monty Alexander and George Duke, bringing it into the contemporary sound. The result is a musical collage that combines the “Most Perfect Sound” of the 60s to the 80s with the electro-organic vibes of the lounge pioneers, proving that timeless jazz and modern dance floors are no contradiction.

MPS and De-Phazz. Two musical institutions. Based in southern Germany, at home all over the world. belooped finally brings together what has attracted many hipsters to e dance floors of Hamburg, Honolulu, Munich and Miami over the past decades. On the one hand, there is the tongue-in-cheek playfulness of the lounge export hit De-Phazz, launched in Heidelberg in 1997 by Pit Baumgartner, with its millions of streams on Spotify & Co. On the other hand, there is the archive of the record company MPS, which is cultically revered by DJs and rare groove hunters. Old meets new, digital meets analogue. What remains is the unique atmosphere. As well as the unmistakable sense of grooves and wonderful melodies that connect Brunner-Schwer’s productions recorded between the 1960s and 1980s with the electro-organic vibes of De-Phazz.

For music collage artist Baumgartner, it was, in his own words, a ‘ticket to paradise’ when he was granted access to over 500 recordings from Germany’s first jazz label – records featuring world stars such as Ella Fitzgerald, George Duke, Monty Alexander and Sun Ra. Recorded with the best equipment available at the time.

Since we’re among friends here: Of course, Baumgartner had used MPS sound snippets for his clever sample montages before, perhaps not entirely legally, but in any case, the statute of limitations had expired. ‘I didn’t know what was happening to me, suddenly stepping out of the shadows of criminality and being allowed to officially get my hands on the MPS gems,’ jokes the De-Phazz founder. He immediately follows this up with an unusually serious remark, saying that he definitely felt the pressure of responsibility given the label’s magnificent history.

That’s why the Heidelberg native doesn’t refer to his careful reworkings of MPS gems such as Ella Fitzgerald’s “This Girl’s In Love With You”, Monty Alexander’s “Love and Happiness” and the choral poems of Singers Unlimited as remixes or reworks. Rather, they are restorations, according to Baumgartner. Like a sleek vintage car that still runs great but could use a little polish and a little more pressure on the tyres. So that driving it is really fun again. And also gets people on board who don’t usually have much to do with jazz. In practice, this means that Baumgartner, a savvy retro-romantic who has already had the opportunity to thoroughly overhaul Bert Kampfert’s oeuvre with the family’s blessing, provides colour intensification in the bass, fresh filters and some modern bridging. He also doesn’t shy away from adding new components here and there.

Is something like this even allowed by the ‘jazz police’? Baumgartner has found a good phrase to defend himself: “Loop your idols” instead of “Kill your idols”! This means that you show your heroes and heroines the greatest admiration by using contemporary production methods to open up a future for them beyond the usual jazz crowd.

De-Phazz

De-Phazz
German engineering has always been appreciated worldwide. It is innovative, technically sophisticated down to the smallest detail and makes life more beautiful. Attributes that also fully apply to the band De-Phazz founded in 1997 in Heidelberg. Created by the diligent sound collector and sample architect Pit Baumgartner, the „Godfathers of Lounge“ are the most reliable and pleasant German export commodity since the VW Beetle, and the most musically charming invention since the Fraunhofer Institute in Erlangen invented Mp3.

A pronounced sense of style, bone-dry grooves, tons of soul and purring irony – these are, quite frankly, un-German qualities that have made De-Phazz the most famous, unknown music export “Made in Germany”. In 2018, the band celebrates its 21st anniversary with a new album (Release Date: May 2018) and offers the prospect of thrilling concerts for head, belly and soul. It’s a blessing that De-Phazz still exists. Because in this age, more than ever, there is a genuine need for poise, humour and good music.

With their first album „Detunized Gravity“ De-Phazz became the darling of the German television editors, who liked to put the retro-electronic sounds of the band on heavy rotation under lifestyle and news articles and thus enveloped the whole nation in aesthetic sounds. Many samplers like „Buddha Bar“, „Café del Mar“ or „Hotel Costes“ brought songs like „The Mambo Craze“ to the whole world. De-Phazz songs wandered around the globe, whether to the backpacker hostel in Nepal or to the dissident meeting in Novosibirsk. From Argentina to Cyprus: everyone heard De-Phazz!

The name has always been a bit heavy on the tongue. Many still know the music better than the name of the band – and hardly anyone knows that the band – founded in 1997 by Pit Baumgartner – originated in charming city Heidelberg. Thus, De-Phazz is indeed a successful export „Made in Germany“, but probably the most famous, unknown band in Germany!

10 albums have meanwhile been released by De-Phazz and are an open project that will be performed impressively live by the two vocalists Karl Frierson and Pat Appleton. The concerts of De-Phazz, on the other hand, take their audiences worldwide into a fantasy world, the performances are total works of art made of strong voices and beguiling live and electronically generated music.

This album contains no booklet.