Liquid Colours is a spiritual successor to CFCF’s The Colours Of Life cassette released in 2015 (and now on vinyl for the first time). Where that project breathed new life and sincerity into obsolete new age and smooth jazz tropes, Liquid Colours sends up the heavily commercialized high-gloss strain of drum & bass music that you might have heard softly piped into lifestyle department stores or spa waiting rooms in the late LATE nineties and early aughts. “I was interested in ‘corporatized’ pop jungle,” says Michael Silver, “totally inauthentic to the genre’s roots. At its most oversaturated, jungle and d’n’b was briefly the sound of capitalism. In fact once while I was in the middle of working on this album I had to make a call to some customer service line or other, my bank or something, and the on-hold music sounded exactly like this record I was making! I really knew I was onto something then.” Using the same template as The Colours Of Life and taking inspiration from heavily-distilled forays into the genre by pop acts like Madonna, Everything But The Girl and YMO, Silver conjures a seamless, full-length suite that he envisions as - if the cover didn’t tip you off - potential Muji background music. While the execution is decidedly tongue-in-cheek (“paying homage and teasing at the same time”), the music is objectively enjoyable through and through, as is the corporatized crossover-jungle he uses as a blueprint (maybe it’s just me - Walking Wounded is one of my favorite records of all time). But don’t let any of this high-concept shit scare you off; any of these tunes could easily be some lost LTJ Bukem dubplate, executed with the same breaks rollage and sublime sound design as the best tunes by Omni Trio, PFM, Flytronix et al (you might even recognize some of the same samples), cut with ambient soundscapes, downtempo beats and Cocteau guitars for extra dimension. Check out “Green District,” “Aquascape,” “Translucently Happy,” “Blobject of Desire” and “Subdivisions” for a taste. Originally released as a cassette earlier this year, now on clear vinyl with full color pic sleeve, recommended.

• clear vinyl pressing
• first time on vinyl
• full color printed insert
• music label: BGM Solutions 2019

reviewed by laughable butane bob 11/2019