When Supreme Beings of Leisure burst onto the scene in 2000 — largely through word of mouth on the Internet — they were placed squarely in the trip-hop camp, with their electronica inspired grooves, sampled sounds and programmed loops. SBOL was a dance band, but fans also recognized SBOL was a band with a difference — songs that were actually songs, a singer who could really sing and a laid back aura that recalled Martinis and turquoise counter tops in a smoke-filled lounge.
It's been two years since that momentous debut for the L.A.-based SBOL, and a lot has changed. Gone are founding members Kiran Shahani and Rick Torres, and much of the trip-hop edges have been polished away. The new CD, "Divine Operating System," due out Sept. 10 (it's not even in Amazon's catalog yet), is lusher, groovier and more soulful. It could very well be the kind of break-through effort that transforms SBOL from Internet-phenomena to mainstream star.
The trademark lounge-cool is retained in this collaboration of Geri Soriano-Lightwood and Ramin Sakurai, but the R&B-tinged dance rhythms are smarter, more sophisticated and more infectious, if that is possible. This is stuff that makes even a 40+ rock-and-roll loving man like myself want to move. Guys like me aren't supposed to like dance music, but this music is just too good to ignore.
The sound is so full and lush that it's hard to believe these songs were written and recorded in somebody's bedroom on a PowerMac. Apparently there are some natural instruments on the record, but the electronica essence never faulters. The truth is, electronica has never sounded so life-like. This is real music — real pop music, but it envelopes you. The music is so luxurious that it fills you with a desire to wrap yourself in the songs and let the pleasure waves embrace you.
Article comments
1 - viciousfox
Cleveland Free Times review of...
Supreme Beings of Leisure
Divine Operating System (D.O.S.)
(Palm)
Two Stars
Divine Operating System (D.O.S.), the follow-up to this UK duo's self-titled 2000 debut, struggles to make the transition from the chillout room to the dancefloor. Too bad the subtle textures and ambience of Supreme Beings of Leisure apparently exited with founders Kiran Shahani and Rick Torres, who are no longer in the group.
In their place, we get streamlined funk ("Give Up"), James Bond-like soundtrack music ("Catch Me") and beefed up trip-hop ("Get Away"). Geri Soriano-Lightwood's diva vocals quickly grow monotonous, as does the Love Supreme Orchestra, whose decadent arrangements turn nearly every song into cheese. The lyrics often dabble in cliché -- Soriano-Lightwood's alternately "lost in your music, your soul" ("So Much More") and stuck with "nowhere to run and nowhere to hide" ("Ghetto"). It's no wonder the dapper duo included a bonus disc with videos and four of the tracks decoded in 5.1 surround sound -- the hi-tech mixes obscure the banality at the core
2 - fan4ever
2bfair...
From BOOK LOS ANGELES...
Local Spotlight:
Artist: SUPREME BEINGS OF LEISURE
Title: DOS
Label: Palm Pictures
Link:
Root: US/ Pop-Electronica
When Supreme Beings Of Leisure first came on the Los Angeles scene as Oversoul 7, it was suffering from multiple personality disorder, and its first album was trying very hard to retain a trip-hop underground relevance, struggling with an "over the top" pop complex that left the band stuck somewhere between Portishead and Belinda Carlysle. Nevertheless, SBOL gained enough momentum through charismatic live shows and much help from KCRW to
become the best electronica band LA had to offer. The tragic and unfortunate demise of A&R man and longtime friend Bruno Guez sent the band and the label in marketing limbo, forcing them to pioneer new methods for band promotion through the internet, resulting in the sales of over 100.000 copies of their first album, and international touring. Five years later, DOS (Divine Operating System) marks a new beginning. Having shed some of its conflicting creative egos to become essentially a duo, singer Geri Soriano-Lightwood and Ramin Sakurai drop any trendy pretense and dive head first into disco, funk and soul, with a John Barry-James Bond flavor. References to Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross, Chic and Donna Summer abound, while Geri's vocals seemingly liberated, reach their own Diva status. The songs deliver straight forward pop with much production pizzazz, enlisting help from DJ Swamp's savvy scratches of Beck and Morcheeba fame, Bjork and Prince Collaborator Suzi Katayama and her Love Supreme Orchestra, and Madonna and Michael Jackson arranger Bill Meyers. It is nice to see the label finally putting some big guns behind so much talent. With fewer Supreme Beings on board, less becomes much, much more.
3 - KnowItAll2Well
If either of you really believe Geri sounds like that LIVE.......your dreaming......without the software, clever engineering & programming of Rick Torres & Kiran Shahani....
Geri would'nt be missed.
Its the music that made SBL happen!.....
check out erecords.us for their follow-up.....