Customer Reviews

Budapest Eskimos

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Lushlife Project is a collaboration between two Hungarian DJs: Zoltán Palásti Kovács and Konrád Pilisi. Their debut album combines mellow, clubby beats with sounds they collected or imported from here, there, and everywhere. "Budapest Eskimos" sits comfortably in the "downtempo" or "trip hop" category, although some cuts are almost housey, and others border on ambient.

It's hard to listen to "Budapest Eskimos" without thinking of other popular producer/DJ teams. If you know stuff by -- for example -- Thievery Corporation, dZihan and Kamien, Gotan Project, or Tosca, then you already know "Budapest Eskimos" without even listening to it. Which isn't too shabby -- creating music that fits nicely on a playlist with those top-notch outfits takes real flair.

What's more, although "Budapest Eskimos" doesn't really break any new ground, it does have a personality of its own. Compared to Thievery's cool mysticism or Tosca's nutty repetitiveness, The Lushlife Project sometimes comes across with happy optimism. This can make their music slightly naive -- at times almost too innocent for my taste. But at other times, their cheerfulness mixes very well with their heavy doses of hip-inspiring basslines, offbeat sound effects, and international flavorings.

The Lushlife Project -- two Hungarian DJs, Zoltán Palásti Kovács and Konrád Pilisi -- are apparently dabbling in just about every kind of electronica imaginable.

Their debut album "Budapest Eskimos" includes all sorts of chilly, delicate, almost upbeat music, from straightforward house electronica to electro funk to airy soundscapes. It suffers a bit from having no personal "sound" yet, but most songs are good individually.

It opens with a funky beat and some robotic notes, and as "Soul Reservation Morning" gets underway, it settles into a solid downtempo tune with swooshes of smooth synth. watery sound effects, and a crystalline beat. But it doesn't lose that funky sound -- call it alien space funk, if you like.

But they drop the funk with "Popular Secret," a sparkling house track, as well as the watery klezmerish "Wurlitzer," and discoey "Mashroom Man." The title track is the only one of these dancier, harder-edged tracks that doesn't quite work out -- despite its airy edges and pan pipes, it's all very mundane.

But they also dabble in less ordinary fare -- the eerie "Essence of Our Origins" with its "ooooooo" voices, church bells and hollow pan pipes,as well as electropop flavoured with splashing noises, sensual beats, gypsyish melodies, and futuristic swooshes and croons of "spacephone!"

"Budapest Eskimos" sounds like the soundtrack to an avant-garde sci-fi movie, with its earthy instrumentation to ground the chilly electronica. There's even a twenty-second clip of a music box playing, which fades away as the rippling wurtlitzer kicks back into play.

It has the usual spacey, cold beats, deep grinding tones, and waves of rippling, shivering synth, put together in surprising ways -- and the melodies don't get repetitive. Sure, it helps to dabble in different kinds of electronica, but Lushlife Project doesn't wait long enough for the music to get monotonous before throwing in odd ripples and twists.

The mellow, watery synth is grounded with more earthy instruments -- hints of piano, some solid basslines, and those pan pipes. There are samples of water splashing and phone conversations, adding to the slightly surreal feel of the music, as well as soft vocals from an unnamed woman, and growly announcements from a man.

"Budapest Eskimos" is a charming first release, fitting into a space similar to Thievery Corporation -- which is a pretty hefty comparison to make. Mellow, cheery and spacey.

The Lushlife Project -- two Hungarian DJs, Zoltán Palásti Kovács and Konrád Pilisi -- are apparently dabbling in just about every kind of electronica imaginable.

Their debut album "Budapest Eskimos" includes all sorts of chilly, delicate, almost upbeat music, from straightforward house electronica to electro funk to airy soundscapes. It suffers a bit from having no personal "sound" yet, but most songs are good individually.

It opens with a funky beat and some robotic notes, and as "Soul Reservation Morning" gets underway, it settles into a solid downtempo tune with swooshes of smooth synth. watery sound effects, and a crystalline beat. But it doesn't lose that funky sound -- call it alien space funk, if you like.

But they drop the funk with "Popular Secret," a sparkling house track, as well as the watery klezmerish "Wurlitzer," and discoey "Mashroom Man." The title track is the only one of these dancier, harder-edged tracks that doesn't quite work out -- despite its airy edges and pan pipes, it's all very mundane.

But they also dabble in less ordinary fare -- the eerie "Essence of Our Origins" with its "ooooooo" voices, church bells and hollow pan pipes,as well as electropop flavoured with splashing noises, sensual beats, gypsyish melodies, and futuristic swooshes and croons of "spacephone!"

"Budapest Eskimos" sounds like the soundtrack to an avant-garde sci-fi movie, with its earthy instrumentation to ground the chilly electronica. There's even a twenty-second clip of a music box playing, which fades away as the rippling wurtlitzer kicks back into play.

It has the usual spacey, cold beats, deep grinding tones, and waves of rippling, shivering synth, put together in surprising ways -- and the melodies don't get repetitive. Sure, it helps to dabble in different kinds of electronica, but Lushlife Project doesn't wait long enough for the music to get monotonous before throwing in odd ripples and twists.

The mellow, watery synth is grounded with more earthy instruments -- hints of piano, some solid basslines, and those pan pipes. There are samples of water splashing and phone conversations, adding to the slightly surreal feel of the music, as well as soft vocals from an unnamed woman, and growly announcements from a man.

"Budapest Eskimos" is a charming first release, fitting into a space similar to Thievery Corporation -- which is a pretty hefty comparison to make. Mellow, cheery and spacey.

Almost all the tracks are strong -- it's not exactly dance music, and it's not exactly ambient...but it's good. Especially Wurlitzer.

This is a great album. I'm not going to write a full review, but I bought this knowing only one song (Wurlitzer), and now I like all the other tracks. Yeah, it doesn't break new ground, but that's okay with me. Good music doesn't need to be much more than that. It's downtempo, doing it's thing, and that's just fine.