Get
your favorite brandy and your plushest Italian sofa ‘cause
Hacienda is here with the international lounge-core sounds
off their third LP. The musically mature German duo Jurgen
Kadel and Markus Finger have been producing quality tunes
combining a host of international influences since their debut
LP Sunday Afternoon in 1996 on the Harthouse label.
Exploring less of the trip hop sound of their previous efforts,
Hacienda has pieced together a fine amount of new material
pushing further into the realms of Bossa Nova, Afro-Cuban,
Dub, Funk and Brazilian influences. 3rd Door Left is
a perfect soundtrack for a lazy, contemplative Sunday afternoon
or the theme for the romantic escapades of the elite jet culture.
If you simply can’t afford the private jet, don’t sweat it;
your living room will work just as well. I found that a quality
gin and the company of a lady work best.
Don’t
get me wrong, this album is by no means highbrow; but the
international influence of tracks like "Working Class Glamour"
will make you want that new Armani suit and the last of the
Sergio Mendez records to complete your collection. The complexity
of the writing is superb and their combo of samplers, synths,
organs, Hammonds, and various guest musicians bring together
digital and acoustic instruments to create a rich organic
sound. As I listened to the album a few times over poker and
cocktails, the mood of the record jumps from the lounge, to
the bedroom and into the sunroom as a variety of themes and
emotions are explored. The sultry and melancholic vocals of
Hacienda’s guests on songs like "Quiet Nights" are in both
Portuguese and English and really add to the content of the
work by taking you far beyond the emotional limits of a strictly
instrumental album. Other artists try to bring this type of
sound to their work by incorporating digital and acoustic
elements but they sometimes sound too structured and repetitive.
Hacienda’s tunes are so smooth and orchestrated you’d think
they had a twelve piece band backing them.
In
addition to the sunny day mellow tunes and the heart-felt
melancholy of their piano and vocal arrangements, Hacienda
stirs up some party tracks like the disco/ house feel of "Nightflight."
This song will make for perfect listening as you cruise from
the lounge to the club in your crushed velvet outfit. "Seventy
Steps to the 80’s" should be first choice when you wake up
hung-over the following morning and have no clue whose bed
you’re in. Be sure to check out the dub influence on "Mexican
Dubweiser" and the seductive Rhodes and piano work on "Late
Lounge Lover." This is great album for a variety of environments
and will be in the top ten selections when I want to romance
my lady friend. If you wind up getting dumped after the party,
there are still some tracks guaranteed to jerk a couple of
tears.
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