LYCHEE LASSI

LYCHEE LASSI

Out Now

Each cosmopolitan city has its own tone. An acoustic-ID that reflects the sum of all the flux, vibes and emotions as well as its atmosphere in a very typical, unique and distinctive way. A sound painting which presents a thorough picture of this place from dawn till the end of the night, 24/7. London, Paris, New York, New Orleans, Rio, Tokyo, Barcelona- all these cities have created their very own sound that - once found - reinvents itself every other year. The ultimate tone of Berlin has been announced many times but has never managed to sustain itself. Everyone knows that our city has a fascinating and richly challenging blend of influences and history. Different cultures combine and collide here, and also a combination and collision between humans and machines! Lychee Lassi is a quartet from Berlin that might finally have tapped into their city's magical and "ultimate tone" once and for all.

Beat Halberschmidt (bass), Dirk Berger (guitar), DJ Illvibe and Roy Knauf (drums) have been working together in this line-up since 1999. During this period many attempts have been made to compare them to other acts of HipHop, House and Jazz in order to find resemblance; which was occasionally found but it only takes very few beats into their new second album ãOut NowÒ to make you drift off into their incomparable space.

Lychee Lassi are most definitely not lost somewhere "in between", but have indeed created their own special niche. "The Lychee-Lassi sound, " Illvibe states "does contain elements of HipHop, House, Jazz and Funk but is nothing like what everyones used to. It's rather off the beaten track but nevertheless there and happening. " That's why with Lychee Lassi it is not an easy task to separate the band's inner creative impulse from external input. Although "Out Now" contains quite a few deja-vu moments, they are worked into the band's own sound in such a natural way it rather seems they have been subtly interspersed with the music. "It's not like the four of us rediscover an old James-Brown record and try to play it the same way, " Dirk Berger recapitulates. "We rather want to understand the attitude it was played with!

Captured in the back of our minds as a sound or inspiration we then use it to compose our own thing. That's what we call creative urge. "

Due to the band's working method, any attempt of categorizing Lychee Lassi would be entirely inappropiate. There are no given positions within the group as they shift continuously. At times the merger of intentions (and the actual sounds you hear) makes it hard to determine who plays what instrument. "It's the same on stage, " Roy confirms, "the combination of instruments can create a sonic fusion even we don't manage to distinguish. Sometimes it happens that we just can't pinpoint any longer where the sounds come from and who's doing what. " Illvibe describes the band's methodology as follows: "Bass and drums usually lay the foundation. Occasionally it's Dirk or me but mostly it's the guitar and turntables soloing over bass and drums. " In this case a solo must not be understood as an excessive jazz solo or a brutal Rock unilateralism. "There're hardly any solos at all, " Beat Halberschmidt states more precisely. "We use to jam together and sometimes it results in a solo. But mainly it's all about collective improvisation. We create something altogether. That we then happen to interact with one another might be the jazzy aspect of our music. "

"Out Now" is bound to be perceived as a live act since the CD comes very close to the quartet's performances. The band set up in a special old tone studio, designed for recording radio plays in the former East Berlin. On hand, behind a small mountain of recording gear was Lychee Lassi's friend from New York, producer/engineer Gordon Raphael. ÒWe were recording the album in one single room within three days' time, Ò Roy remembers. "That led to a very integrative sound and featured some sort of stylistic compression. " "Time was limited, " Beat Halberschmidt continues the story. "It was a sure thing, setting it all up on day one and be done by day three. All that happened in-between was the recording!

We played, threw out a few things and strung the remains together. Some people take an entire year to write their songs. Whereas our case's been a snapshot of those three days. " And Roy adds: "We've always been told there was a huge difference of energy between Lychee Lassi's live shows and our recordings. That's why this time we wanted to take some risks and transmit that energy more effectively.

"Out Now" is an unusual album in many respects; although the band enters unknown musical territory, it doesn't appear to be twistedly futuristic- but very much "here and now" instead.

Lychee Lassi instantly get to the point and tell each and every second exactly what they can only express in that particular moment.

A striking difference between "Out Now" and former releases from Lychee Lassi (there are several EPs and one CD) is the human voice being used in a much more vigorous way this time without changing the band's original features significantly. DJ Illvibe remarks: "For this recording we invited Baatin, Angie Reed and Grace, three vocalists we were already close to anyway. But we still had to think about how to integrate the vocals into our sound. Lots of other bands just put the vocals on top, which makes it impossible to perform on stage. Therefore we recorded those three vocalists for our tracks and then put it on vinyl enabling me to slightly modify them in my own way! It allows me to also transmit the voices live. With this approach the vocals don't sound too "alienated" but could well be a sample of mine. "

"Out Now" is a break in the German and European musical landscape. An album that is thoroughly danceable as well as encouraging avant-garde gourmets to be transported with delight. It combines long-time cooperation with the fun of spontaneous inventions and tells the story of our city, Berlin- like it has never been told before!