Customer Reviews

Night Works (2003 Version)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first heard tracks from this CD while in Europe this summer, and had to bring home a copy. The follow up to one of the true suprise albums of 1999, ("Low Life"), "Night Works" dances a razor thin line between electronic dance anthems and subtle Portishead-like after-hours chill music.
It's hard to describe the sounds of Layo and Bushwacka, but if electronic grooves are something that you enjoy, and you're looking for something different than mainstream, you owe it to yourself to check this release out. The mix of samples, horns, guitars and vocals commands attention from start to finish, and the tracks are mixed incredibly well. Be sure not to miss the highlight of the set, "Love Story", a Devo meets Nina Simone chiller that has to be one of the best songs recorded this year.

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.

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!!

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.

I first heard tracks from this CD while in Europe this summer, and had to bring home a copy. The follow up to one of the true suprise albums of 1999, ("Low Life"), "Night Works" dances a razor thin line between electronic dance anthems and subtle Portishead-like after-hours chill music.
It's hard to describe the sounds of Layo and Bushwacka, but if electronic grooves are something that you enjoy, and you're looking for something different than mainstream, you owe it to yourself to check this release out. The mix of samples, horns, guitars and vocals commands attention from start to finish, and the tracks are mixed incredibly well. Be sure not to miss the highlight of the set, "Love Story", a Devo meets Nina Simone chiller that has to be one of the best songs recorded this year.

This CD is the heezy! I had several Bushwacka releases on vinyl but never a full album until this little gem. This is some very intellegent breaks with a very dark feel to it. Shining throught sets it off and it never looks back from there. Enjoy!

Night Works is unconventional and therefore definetely ahead of its time. Its hard to figure out how Lao and mathew came up wiht something like that.
Has anyone heard Borge Sex by Joe Satriani (and other satriani songs from the same album)? Thats would be my guess as to what the influence on this album were.

... "Night Works" in a word is undescribable! It takes you one way and suddenly veers you another, from chillout to organic to funk to jazz to blues to techno to scatting to scratching to mixing to sampling, this CD has it all--even the segues are cool...and boy, do I regret not buying this disc sooner!! Somebody, please slap me!! The songs flow and are well produced and arranged...I never hit the skip button once because "Night Works" left me craving more and more and more!! This CD is full of surprises and each time you hear it, you'll hear something different! Layo and Bushwacka are truly underrated artists in the field of music, and have definitely established their own unique sound. I place them up there with other great dynamic duos such as Kruder and Dorfmeister, Dzhian and Kamien and 45 Dip! A definite must-have!! But somebody answer me this? Why are the Best CDs always so dawg-gone short???

Every so often, house takes an evolutionary step. Sometimes it hearkens to the past, like Daft Punk's lo-fi funk. At other times, it points to the future, like Basement Jaxx' 'Remedy.'

'Night Works' IS the future. The basslines are direct, the percussion loose yet exact, the melodies moving. They do a great job of combining a live-band's flair with sequenced, thoughtful musings. The whole album resides in the realm of groove, both uptempo and downtempo. 'All Night Long' is the big club hit off the album, and deservedly so, but the true high point is ...

I can't say - you'll have to find out for yourself.

I mainly got it 'cos of "let the good times roll" thinking the rest of the album has simliar stuff. But the rest is more boring and drags on. Too many dull loops and songs that don't go anywhere. It'd make nice background music though.