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cd review - posted on 27/10/2006 16:26:00
Groove Factory Conobus
Compolation lp
Stephen Bastien is a man of varied interests. It's difficult to tell whether his perfect day involves an afternoon of Aussie rules football, followed by an evening of expressionist painting and a Dallas DVD marathon, but musically his passions and influences certainly run far and wide. It's perhaps the product of a life spent living in the Caribbean, London and now Fife - not to mention a musical career encompassing steelpan, funk, metal and much much more - but there's no arguing with the results. Under the Groove Factory Conobus moniker, Stephen's instrumental 'Compolation' lp takes the pick of four previous CDs and adds some new material to fan out a startling mix of dance beats, ambient jams, prize metal moments and experimental atmos like some crazy tingling electro tapas.
It's a real case of expect the unexpected. The chill out drum 'n' bass of "Yeah Man" is coloured up with some '60s guitar, "Promiss Land" basks in the majesty of elegant Mobyesque/Massive Attack synth chords, while "Get Up And Dance" and "Jungle Rock" both dust off the drum machines to pitch hard urban grooves against big fat wedges of '80s hair metal guitar. Van Halen meets Tricky with a bit of Herbie Hancock thrown in. Meanwhile "Lump" lays down some heavy Depeche Mode-style industrial electronics and "Outer Space" marries Andy Summer's guitar delays from "Walking On The Moon" with a meteor shower of bloopy effects.
But however strange and bewilderingly diverse things get (especially on the 'Kid A' style experimental noodling of "De La Funk" and "The Massive") everything is tied together with the same sense of quirkiness and fun. "United" could've come straight out of Miami Vice, "Styx-engance" employs frog sounds in its hot, sweaty Amazonian vibe; and the Glam rock meltdown of "No Trace'' uses wah wah, saxophone and tinkling percussion to become a stately lost track from Roxy Music's debut album. There's even a touch of indie rock with the poppy strumfest of "Tripping."
No two tunes are the same here, but they certainly come from the same place. Playful, surprising and brimming with personality, Stephen's thrown some unlikely elements together in the lab and made gold. Equally at home in the background or on your headphones, it's the kind of music that can lull you and shock you in equal measure. Like a great man once said, life is like a box of chocolates...
by overplay
Visit Groove Factory conobus page
- http://www.overplay.com/groovefactoryco
Discography
Past mark.
Radio air play at http://www.bbcradio.co.uk/onemusic/huwstephen's/groovefactoryconobus.
http://www.cdbaby.com/gfconobus
http://www.tunetribe.com/Artist?artist_id=226
http://www.musicforte.com/boogieflippo
http://www.myspace.com/16998121
Photos
Bio
Stephen Bastien was raised in the Caribbean where he experienced playing in a steelpan orchestra. When he moved to London he joined the British Airways Groovers a steelpan band that travelled internationally for five years.
In 1991 he joined a hard rock band called Illegal Attittude as a bass player. They toured Sweden,Germany,Spain and played in many London venues like the Markee,the Boarderline,the Garage and the Rock Gagden.
In 1995-1999 he joined the Royal Family as a bass player and a co-writer. The band played at the Phoenix Festival in 1996 made a TV appearence for Channel 4 at the Basment music program and supported Rachel Stamp in different venues.
Stephen has been busking at Leicester Square,Covent Garden and other UK holiday destinations with international musician playing music as varied as pan pipes fusion to morden flamenco guitarring.
At the moment he i setting up the Groove factory company with the intention of selling his own dance music to in
dependent labels etc.
Groove Factory (Conobus) original dance tracks for sale. Visit http://boogieflippo.pod0matic.com/rss2.xml http://www.cdbaby.com/gfconobus,http://www.yahoo.com/music/groove factory conobus.http://www.soundclick.com/groove factory conobus,under the above artist name.
Cool grooves fusing street beats & sounds across the times.
Cheers.
Stephen Bastien
Musician/writer.
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