Damek.

A while ago I wrote that I might start putting up sample tracks of music I like. But doing such things takes a bit of effort (not much, but enough), and so in that post I just lazily linked to a free non-album track by Deceptikon that you can get from Merck Records (which you should go get if you haven’t yet).

Well, here’s the first real sample I’m offering to promote my man Jimi Tenor. His most recent album, Beyond the Stars, which I already gushed over a little about 2 months ago, is still doing it for me. Over at the label’s site you’ll find two free MP3s you can download, one from his last album, Higher Planes, and the title track from Beyond the Stars. They probably give you a good feel for Jimi’s style and range; the one from Higher Planes is a strong funk jam with a nice upbeat feel, while the other one is a slower, light, airy track with nice orchestral flourishes. But these still don’t capture his sheer versatility and creativity. One of the reasons I love Beyond the Stars is that it’s jam-packed with variety and vitality.

I don’t want to waste space duplicating the whole Jimi Tenor biography, but I do feel it’s important to know that, in the late 1990s, he found himself on Warp Records, where he had a good run (particularly Organism), but where it also seemed the label was encouraging his music to go in a direction he didn’t quite want it to go (dancefloor-friendly tracks). So after three albums with them, he left — first returning to Sähkö, his pre-Warp home, to release the simple Utopian Dream — and then finding a home at Kitty-Yo. There he produced a one-two punch: Higher Planes in 2003, and now Beyond the Stars in 2004. While Planes is very good, spanning different genres and sporting great tracks, Stars is simply outstanding. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s the musicians he worked with, but it seems like he’s really hit a stride here. There’s jammin’, there’s boogie funk, there’s orchestral candy, there’s choir jazz, and there’s a lot of love. He’s really blossoming. If you can get only two Jimi Tenor albums, I would say get Organism and Beyond the Stars.

And here’s the track I wanted to share: “Miracles“