Search - Layo & Bushwacka :: Night Works

Oxymore of the year: intelligent house...

Takis Tz. | InYourHead | 09/15/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The reason i dont go to clubs that play "house" is because most of it is unintelligent and monotonous uninspired music. Plus, exactly because it is easy to make everyone does it. You know what Clint Eastwood has said about a certain part of our body and how everyone "has one". Well, same goes for house records, everyone makes one.
But then comes along "Layo & Bushwacka" to throw my theories to the trashbin. This is an intelligent album! Most of what "happens" in it, from the beats to the riffs to the strings has a subtlety about it. And that is exactly what makes "Night works" stand out from the rest.
I dont claim to be an expert on house, nor would i want to be, but i think it would be fair to say that to label this merely "house" would be an injustice to the music offered here.
"Night works" is a beautiful, at times imposing and intimidating, work of music. Its atmosphere keeps expanding on you as you listen to it, the music functions like water, it occupies the space it is played in.
There many ideas finding their place in the LP, all as i said happening in a "not-in-your-face way".
As far as "dance" or "club albums" are concerned this is easily the most interesting release i have heard so far this year.
I read somewhere that Layo and Bushwacka are veterans of the "house scene". If so, this shows in a very convincing way."

Drifting on the Electronic Highway

50miles | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 05/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Layo & Bushwacka, first heard of by name only, till I got the chance to online listen to a live-set. Superb... These two guys are innovative in a sense rarely found. Most of the time, producers keep milking the same cow. None of that here. NightWorks keeps surprising, being accessible but also deep and stimulating to undergo. This disc brings summer from the speakers, offers fun and warmth, uptempo and relaxing. L&B use groovy, indeep basslines with light drum+bass, congas and a high flying melody. In order to get a good picture of the album, listen to "Let the good times roll". Okay, it's the best, but the rest is though diverse, the same level.. Fantastic..I scale L&B in the same order as Sasha, for both go beyond constructed boundaries. If you like Sasha, LTJ Bukem, Thievery Corporation, Morcheeba, David Holmes or Orbital: get this one.. It's a keeper you won't regret, nor bore. Let the good times roll!!"

Sonic Sonnets

Sagan Lazar | In yo monitor | 05/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this album is, as opposed to epics that some mixes aspire to be. And what an exquisite collection of sonnets this is! A collection of discrete, queer instrumental "songs" that provoke curiosity and evoke a sense of mystery. Each track leads into the next without a break but it is clear that a different idea is being presented. But this tightly juxtaposed catenation of songs has an uncanny quality that is to be found neither in a mix nor in a traditonal format where each song is separated by a 5 second silence. This delightful music presented here --taken as a whole -- refuses to be named by a known genre, and for that reason it is all the more enticing in its whisper of things to come. Reminds me of those little dragons that Leonardo da Vinci used to make out lizards and animal parts (talons, wings, fangs, whiskers, etc) for the amusement of the King of France."