The easy music of Smooth Genestar draws upon the aesthetic power of long build-ups and subtle harmonies, its actual brilliance glistening from countless details and layers of sound. Still there is even more than a sophisticated mixture of NuJazz, Lounge, Latin, House and Trance, a mixture that picks up the sound of classics like Aural Float, Gabriel Le Mar, JFC or the Space Night series. Listening to Smooth Genestar for some time, the sound itself has its very own character. For a good reason: Marco Köller is really into sound design. ‘I barely ever use presets for my tracks’, the Cologne-based producer explains, ‘Most of my sounds come from Max/DSP and the NI Reaktor. Once I finished a new track, I leave it on the hard disc for 1 or 2 weeks. Then I listen to it again, and if I’m not stoked at once, I don’t think it’s worth it!’ Studio equipment like the Roland TR-505 and TR-606, the Korg DW-8000, the Roland MC-303 or Akai S-2000 adds a classy touch of vintage and analogue feeling. Obviously experience is another factor for the advanced laid-backness and organic groove of Smooth Genestar. The list of his projects is multicoloured and long: Psytrance and Progressive as one of the New Age Hippies, Dub Tech and Progressive House as Smooth, and crunchy Techno and Tech Trance under the moniker Tenonaki. smoothgenestar/cyan-music.com Dabei hat der Sound von Smooth Genestar seinen ganz eigenen Charakter: Marco Köller ist nämlich begeisterter Sound-Designer. Nur ganz selten verlässt er sich bei seinen Tracks auf Presets, viel lieber kreiert er z.B. im NI Reaktor eigene Klänge. Und nur was ihn auch nach 1 – 2 Wochen Festplattenlagerung sofort wieder begeistert, kommt für die Veröffentlichung in Frage! So zum Beispiel das vielfältige Material auf „Utopolis’, seinem zweiten Album. Erschienen ist es gerade erst auf dem Netlabel CYAN Music, welches Marco mitbegründet hat. |