Most CDs released these days seemed to either be forgotten about or hyped to death. In the forgotten CDs, you find gems that not many people have caught on to it, this is one of the gems. Why is it a gem, read on to find out!

June 2004 – Chillout/Ambient/Downtempo Album of the Month

West Magnetic – Top Down (Ultrasound Recordings)

This album is what happens when you release a few vinyl singles and you decide that you have a solid foundation to create a full length album. West Magnetic will be a new name to about 99.9% of you and the few that know about it, are probably Toronto House music fans. West Magnetic is the alias for a Toronto music producer named Pier Shu-Lutman, who has released a few records on OM Recordings and Ultrasound Recordings. He uses a lot of guitar and drum based sounds to create his unique brand of deep jazz house. He brings in Usra Leedham, who is a Toronto based recording artist for most of the vocal songs. We don’t have many CDs that are true gems but this is the exception.

Tracklist

1.Intro
2.Early Rising
3.Light In Me
4.Stand and Flee
5.Drive-By (Interlude)
6.Low Rider
7.Sunday Afternoon
8.Give It Up For Free
9.Let Us Down
10.Off the Hook (Interlude)
11.We Are Here
12.Fire In The Kitchen
13.Final Home
14.Excursion
15.World Look Better (When I Close My Eyes)
16.Same Day Waking

Intro-Early Rising

The CD starts smartly with an intro and you hear the sounds of instruments warming up, just like how an orchestra sounds when they start to warmup. It is short and effective and leads into the 2nd track. Early Rising gets the CD moving with a Thievery Corp. style song, a guitar drives this song and it is incredibly chilled and laidback, you get the sense that you are on the beach.

Light In Me

We then move on to Light In Me, which some have labeled deep house but I tend to think it is more jazz house oriented. This is where we first hear Usra’s sultry voice, she has one heck of a voice and she can really sing. She has elements of Diana Krall in her voice, not completely like Diana Krall but she has some things in common. Light In Me also shows you that this CD is geared more for the Home Stereo, rather than the club. Most CDs have either a direction towards the club or the home listener or sometimes both, this is a true home stereo CD.

Stand and Flee

"Stand and Flee" is a Balearic house oriented tune, which makes great use of drums and they tend to make the track better. This is more of the Gilles Peterson/Rob Da Bank style music. This uses a funky organ to drive the tune, I simply love this song and think it is well suited for this CD and the aim of it.

Drive-By (Interlude)

You don’t see many interludes in electronic dance music CDs these days, they are more used in Rap and Hip Hop albums but it was a good choice to include this interlude. This is simply 20 secs with the sound of a car driving by. It breaks the flow but it keeps you interested in the CD.

Low Rider

We go back into jazz house here, after the interlude stopped the flow. It makes great use of a bass guitar. This is another of the many great relaxing tracks on this album.

Sunday Afternoon

Track number seven starts with a faint instrument and it turns out that the sound is just bongos and a guitar riff that is brought in. The song takes more of a funky chillout direction and the sultry voice of Usra pushes this track from decent to really good. A trumpet comes in near the end and gives the song, more of a jazz feel at times but it works very well.

Give It Up For Free

The 8th track of the CD pushes more of a Balearic feel with a Usra’s great voice pushing this track. It is so calming and relaxing, you gain the sensation after listening to this song of being on the beach.

Let Us Down

This has to be my favorite track on this CD. Let Us Down is a perfect Gilles Peterson style track that uses the jazz house sound to almost perfection here. It is another of the laidback sunny feel songs on this CD, it makes use of a trumpet here and that gives you more jazz house feel. The trumpet makes an ordinary track into an excellent track here.

Off the Hook (Interlude)

The flow is broken up again here with another interlude, this is extremely short, only 41 seconds. A warm guitar and some nice keyboard notes are used here, just to break up the flow.

We Are Here

“We Are Here” is a funky house track that is completely driven by some drums and a trumpet. The drums back create the bassline for this track and the trumpet gives it that funky house feel and the vocal is near the back at times and it is not the focal point of the track. The trumpet catches your attention and the funk is inescapable in this track.

Fire In The Kitchen

Track number 12 is the longest track on the album, clocking at six minutes plus. I love this track as well, it is a jazz house track and the vocalist just gives it that laidback feel. She sings so well in this, if you did not know who she was, you would have thought that a New York City soul diva was the vocalist. Fire in the Kitchen is not as chilled as the other songs, it contains more of a funk element.

Final Home

We start with a foreign sounding drumline, a la Zen Connection 1 and 2. Once this gets going, you go into more simple house with a unique organ sound that is used. It is hard to say, what this song reminds me of but when you hear the track, it will make sense. After the song breaks down, it goes into a drum solo here, which works well.

Excursion

As we head into the final three tracks or the home stretch, we go back into jazz house. Excursion is driven by a trumpet, which gives it that jazz feel and this leans less into house than the previous songs. Excursion makes you think twice because you think you are listening to a electronic music CD but this is so jazz influenced, you wonder if you are still listening to the same CD. This is not pure jazz, just jazz house with less of the house element.

World Look Better (When I Close My Eyes)

The second last song here is very similar to Final Home is terms of instrumentation. This keeps going with the jazz house direction. We have no vocal here but the jazz feel is evident.

Same Day Waking

“Same Day Waking” is the final track on this album. It continues the laidback house feel and ends the CD off nicely.

Conclusion:
All of the CDs that have ended up as the Chillout/Ambient/Downtempo album of the month have been one of the three genres but this album is not quite chillout. “Top Down” is chilled and laidback and it succeeds in giving you the feel that was the original idea behind the album of the month, which was music to chill to or relax with. This CD is truly a gem and not many people will hear about it due to the fact that a Toronto label released it. I love the jazzy house feel in the tracks and how the instrumentation really fits with the music. I love Usra Leedham’s voice and she really adds to this CD. Her voice adds that little extra to some of these songs that make them better than average. I think this is a CD that people should try to pick up, solid from the beginning to the end.

Note: Available exclusively through all HMV locations across Canada for $12.99