Love & Beyond

Artist:	Jay Haze
Titel:	Love & Beyond
Label:	Tuning Spork Rec.
Cat-no:	TSCD 05
Stil:	Minimal & Tech-House
Typ:	CD
Preis:	14 CHF

There’s a sense of paradox in “Love & Beyond”: on the one hand it’s the most unified, complete artistic statement from Jay Haze to date; yet at the same time it represents a complex, multifaceted approach to releasing a record. But then his approach has never been conventional. Here, Jay revitalizes the concept of an “artist album” in an age of single-track downloads, presenting a self-portrait that’s more than just a single listening experience. Spanning two and a half hours, two CDs and two vinyl LPs, “Love & Beyond” exceeds expectations, defies limitations, explores and ignores the idea of genre. And it’s sexy. It’s hard to summarize Mr. Haze’s ever-diversifying ventures. His nostalgic tech-house project Fuckpony had three hit singles, issued by Get Physical, BPitch Control, and Cocoon. He formed the group Sub Version with Michal Ho and Paul St. Hilaire, releasing a track for Soul Jazz’s “Box of Dub” compilation, followed by a full-length. He maintained the creative output of the labels Contexterrior, Junion, and Futuredub, and he held a DJ residency at Fabric in London. This, of course, was in 2007 alone – not including other numerous accomplishments since founding TuningSpork in his hometown of Philadelphia back in 1999. Taking all this into account, the level of progression shown on “Love & Beyond” should be a surprise to no one.

2xCD Version: Disc 1 brings Jay’s experimental beats into the realm of soul music, resulting in futuristic pop marked by fuzzy bass lines and fat handclaps. The 13 tracks here are beamed directly from his psyche: romantic love ballads (“One Day at a Time” featuring D:exter), declarations of independence (“New Freedom”), and vulgar sex jams (“Cocktail”). Jay never abandons his optimistic sense of autonomy throughout, perhaps best heard in “Direct Hit”, bolstered by searing synths and bizarre vocal treatments. “Soul” describes the album not just musically, but in the sense that Jay is revealing his own. Disc 2 conveys the moods that words are incapable of. An all-instrumental affair, the 15 tracks here provide a sense of Jay’s broad palate, disregarding the constraints of genre. To him, frigid electronic beats (“Jump That”, “Reunion”) can be as expressive as traditional instruments like guitar or piano (“Rocket for Sale” with Michal Ho, “Awakening”). Sunny melodies and dreary dubscapes are given equal opportunity inside Jay Haze’s brain.

1. "Return"
2. "Lost In Deep Space"
3. "Can't Forget" (feat D:exter)
4. "Vaporize"
5. "Inner Hurt"
6. "Ass To Mouth"
7. "Crackle & Pop"
8. "Riddim & Bass" (feat Lil Dirrty Ghetto Bastard)
9. "Who Got The Funk?"
10. Jay Haze & Ricardo Villalobos - "Free Ride"

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