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Color
Climax are one of finest musical forces to come out of Coventry
since 2-Tone ruled in the early 80's. They have been consistently
putting out music and gigging to become one of the UK's top funk/disco/latin
bands.
They
first emerged on Breakin Bread Records in 2000 and they have released
four 7" 45rpm singles to critical acclaim. Their sound is a mixture
of live and digitally produced music. They play live as a 4 piece
and sometimes they add sampled elements. It's fair to say this album
has been a long time coming. The first Color Climax release came
out in 1999 and we hope you'll agree its been worth the wait. "Plug
It In" shows all the influences of the band. Paul T, the producer
behind the band first emerged making beats for Unanimous Decision,
an influential UK hip hop collective from the early 90's. Paul went
on to be a prolific DJ playing anything that related to hip hop
from the last 40 years and he became a resident DJ at the legendary
Breakin Bread club.
When
Breakin Bread started putting out records in the late 90's Paul
had hooked up with Steve Ashby, a keyboard player who shared Paul's
love of library and soundtrack music. Whereas Paul had sought out
this music for the breaks and beats it supplied to hip hop, Steve
had come from the opposite direction as a dedicated keyboard player
with a love for the Hammond Organ. What resulted was a marriage
made in heaven, suddenly Breakin Bread could put out original funk
records with Paul on the beats and Steve on the Hammond. The album
contains a number of tracks made with this formula…. "Plug It In"
and "Jellyfish Popcorn" both have driving beats and basslines with
some classic Hammond workouts typical of Color Climax's early output.
Paul and Steve then started expanding their horizons working with
local musicians and trying to break out of the beats plus music
formula.
On
"She Took My Love" they brought in vocalist Gabe to add some top
notch, heartfelt vocals to the melting pot. We are now in the early
00's and Color Climax had started playing live as a 4 piece around
Coventry and various Breakin Bread events. Their live mix of classic
standards and original music always got the crowd going and Paul
was encouraged to break out of the soul/funk mould they had been
put into by releasing "Batidas Latinas". This track gives a nod
to the Latin tracks in Paul's record collection with the neck snapping
drum breaks now being accompanied by a soaring female vocal and
a bassline aimed at summer dancefloors everywhere.
The
b-side to this 7", "Crabwalk" was an afterthought that really got
the band respect from the Wax Poetics/Grand Slam musical community.
The tracks repeated drum breaks and sparse instrumentation got it
attention from break diggers worldwide.
After
a change in the drummer and bass player, the band were now a well
honed unit and they managed to secure a support slot on DJ Format's
UK tour in 2005. Despite a number of successful performances to
critical acclaim, in the aftermath of the tour the band ground to
a halt when members of the band moved away it became difficult to
keep rehearsals and recordings going. and the conveyor belt of recorded
music slowed down and eventually came to a halt after the release
of a single containing "Crossfire" and "Jigsaw". Both these tracks
come in that classic style of the Library Music records so respected
by Paul and Steve and so sought after by hip hop producers everywhere.
That could well have been it. It looked like Color Climax might
never release an album and the Breakin Bread label turned its attention
to other artists. However after a break of a year or so Paul T set
up a new studio and started making beats again.
Eventually
he got other members of the band involved as session musicians and
the results were the disco monster "Disque O Heights" and another
latin track "Pa Coco Solo". These 2 tracks stunned Breakin Bread
with their musicality, fullness and depth and both tracks have been
extensively road tested by Breakin Bread's DJ's and are proving
to be surefire dancefloor fillers.
At
this point in Spring 2007, Breakin Bread knew that a Color Climax
album was finally on the cards but something was missing to make
it a rounded project. Having looked for a vocalist since She Took
My Love was recorded, the band finally found Nana K living round
the corner in one of Coventry's leafy suburbs. 2 sessions in Paul's
kitchen later "You Got What You Wanted" was in the can and the album
was complete.
We
hope you enjoy the final product, it's certainly not your standard
James Brown/Meters style funk album. Quality, soulful, organic music
from the Midlands! Spread the word….
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