The album Floratone is a very cool atmospheric album that resulted from a rare free-form jam between guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Matt Chamberlain. Producers Tucker Martine and Lee Townsend took the raw tracks and applied their creative license to create an album of spacey instrumental grooves. Floratone’s 11 tracks also feature bassist Viktor Krauss, cornetist Ron Miles and violin/viola player Eyvind Kang.

The album is very interesting because it was built layer by layer, first from the basic jams between Frisell and Chamberlain; then the producers Martine and Townsend added loops and rearranged bits and pieces; bass, horns and strings were multi-tracked by Krauss, Miles and Kang; and finally Bill Frisell and Matt Chamberlain dubbed in another layer of guitars, drums and percussion. I’m not a big jazz fan, but this album offers so many various sounds, that it really takes the listener on a voyage far and away from the commonplace.

Bill Frisell on electric & acoustic guitars, loops
Matt Chamberlain on drums, percussion, loops
Viktor Krauss on bass
Ron Miles on cornet
Eyvind Kang on violin & viola
Produced by Tucker Martine & Lee Townsend

The Floratone sound is, in the words of Townsend, “futuristic roots music,” at turns jazz-vibed, swamp-funky, intensely rocking, ambiently grooved. The music drips with grit, lopes with a sweet lyricism, bursts with surprising turns, sinks in with FX’d beauty. There’s an aesthetic of euphoric journey as well as a nasty get-down-and-move sensibility. While steeped in the past, Floratone is cutting-edge, teeming with rhythmically charged music for the now. The album also spotlights Frisell’s multifarious guitar voice that ranges from straight jazz in the vein of Wes Montgomery (on “Swamped”) to spiky metallic rock (on the grinding number “The Future”) to sound-washed atmospherics (on “The Wanderer”).
Source: Official Website http://www.floratone.com/

Since 1939, Blue Note has been America’s leading jazz label, promoting bop and other progressive sounds by artists such as Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakely, John Coltrane, and many other legendary musicians.
Source: Blue Note Records

Acid Planet has joined forces with Blue Note Records for a remix contest, using the tracks from “Floratone” for remixing. Grand Prize Includes a Playstation Portable, ACID Pro, Sound Forge, Vegas Pro software, along with 5 Premium and Standard Loop libraries. Plus you get $100 worth of merchandise from Blue Note Records.

Get the details at the Floratone Acid Planet Remix Contest Link: http://www.acidplanet.com/contests/floratone

Floratone Media Player: