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Euphoria: Beautiful My Child

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: Euphoria
Title: Beautiful My Child
Released: 2001.04.03
Label: Six Degrees Records
Time: 43:55
Producer(s): Garry Hughes
Appears with:
Category: Electronica
Rating: *******... (7/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2001.09.01
Price in €: 17,99
Web address: www.sixdegreesrecords.com

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Sweet Rain (Ramm) - 3:22
[2] Little Gem (Hughes/Ramm) - 4:33
[3] In the Pink (Ramm) - 3:18
[4] Runaway Monday (Ramm) - 3:25
[5] Beautiful My Child (Hughes/Ramm) - 3:35
[6] Desert Drive (Ramm) - 5:11
[7] By the Sea (Day/Ramm) - 4:12
[8] Cactus (Ramm) - 2:23
[9] Devil May Care (Ramm) - 4:03
[10] Outside (Ramm) - 2:46
[11] 1001 Dreams (Ramm) - 4:28
[12] Silky Delta (Ramm) - 2:39

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


KEN RAMM - Dobro, Guitar
GARRY HUGHES - Keyboards, Hammond Organ, Programming, Producer, Engineer
MILES BOULD - Percussion
LIVINGSTONE BROWN - Bass
B.J. COLE - Pedal Steel Guitar
STEVE SIDELNYK - Drums, Programming
KEN WHITELEY - Jaw Harp
DIRK CAMPBELL - Ney
KAD ACHOUTI - Voices
MADDIE WILLIS - Vocals

SIMON HEYWORTH - Mastering
IAIN ROBERTON - Mixing
MATT CRAWFORD - Mixing
CHRISTINE ALICINO - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2001 CD Six Degrees 1045



Electronic music has always been most interesting when DJs and artists get adventurous, wrapping their particular obsessions around those familiar fat beats. In recent memory, it has been done well (see Everything But the Girl's Temperamental) and badly (U2's Pop misstep) but Toronto guitarist Ken Ramm has done a more than decent job of it with Euphoria, melding his space-rock guitar riffs with the loose structures, atmospherics, and danceability of techno (some have called this style "guitronica," as if we need yet more sub-genre definitions in dance music), Ramm's songs still stay songs, even while floating out on the wandering edge of trance and trip-hop. His decidedly acoustic touch sets off the contrasts inherent in this kind of mind-meld and makes little instrumental whispers like "Desert Drive" more interesting on the 10th listen than the first. There's an almost rootsy hue to songs like "Cactus," as Ramm's slide guitar ambles through the melody like a tumbleweed. Vocal enhancements from gospel singer Maddie Willis (who also made contributions to the band's self-titled debut record) and Gayle Day's R&B-laced pipes light up other songs like "By the Sea" with welcome doses of soul. Finally, Garry Hughes' production sheen dresses it all up in silky smooth electronics and lazy, shoegazing textures. The whole package manages to be experimental and instantly appealing all at once.

Matthew Cooke - Amazon.com




Euphoria are pioneers of the unique sound dubbed 'guitronica.' Euphoria's new album Beautiful My Child, features the group's signature combination of acoustic slide guitar and propulsive beats. Their latest single, "Sweet Rain," builds upon their success at radio (and the impressive retail response generated by "Delirium," last year's breakout instrumental from Euphoria), with sustained airplay in Denver, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle and Minnesota yielding strong sales in those markets. Euphoria comprises Toronto-based composer/instrumentalist Ken Ramm, as produced by Garry Hughes (producer of Vitamin C, who's also worked with Art Of Noise, Garbage, and Sly & Robbie); the group's profile was recently enhanced by the use of their music in the Infiniti SUV ad campaign.

Album Description



The bluesy, organic sound of the acoustic and slide guitar is not what you'd expect to hear in the hi-tech world of modern electronica and trip-hop but that's exactly what made the album Euphoria such an unexpected success in 1999. Now Toronto's Ken Ramm returns with a second Euphoria project called Beautiful My Child which continues this surprising and colorful fusion. The album has a definite contemporary sound, thanks in part to William Orbit and Madonna's drummer Steve Sidelnyk, who provides both live drumming and electronic percussion programming, and Garry Hughes' state-of-the-art production and keyboard skills. But Ken Ramm's blend of slide guitar and acoustic guitar with electronics might give fans of early 1970s psychedelia a bit of an audio flashback. "Euphoria definitely has a little of that bent," Ramm says. "But it's not so keyboard-driven; it's more about the slide guitar, and the blues being placed against that electronic background." Beautiful My Child might actually be a musical grandchild of classic Pink Floyd, both their acoustic and more influential electronic works. "That little keyboard sound - that 'ping'- from Meddle has been sampled so many times," Ken says, "by The Orb and a lot of others. The acoustic sound, Ken points out, seems to be part of the Canadian culture (see Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, etc.). But Euphoria has a foot in the UK as well. Many of the guest musicians on Beautiful My Child are fixtures on the London scene: producer Garry Hughes works with Bjšrk, and some of the ambient pedal steel tracks are by the redoubtable B.J. Cole. There are also echoes of older London performers. "Bert Jansch, Fairport Convention, Pentangle - all of that came out in this album a bit," Ramm says. He points especially to the string-snapping guitar of "Cactus," one of the album's two "unplugged" tracks. "Desert Drive," a trancey but still largely acoustic song, reminds some of England's ill-fated Nick Drake. And the album's first single, "Sweet Rain," takes its inspiration from early English folksongs. Despite its acoustic sound and blues-derived guitar licks, "Sweet Rain" rocks. And in general, Ken Ramm acknowledges, "Euphoria seems to be falling into the rock section of the stores, not electronica." But that hasn't stopped the electronica world from taking notice. In fact, there are already three remixes of "Sweet Rain," one each by Garry Hughes, Fila Brazillia, and Faze Action. As if the fusion of roots-based guitar and trip-hop weren't enough, Euphoria also reflects Ken Ramm's other musical interests. "In the Pink" features vocals by Gabriela Tucker-Bull and Maddy Willis, who provides some Gospel-inflected singing on both this and the first Euphoria album. Willis and fellow singer Gayle Day offer some classic R&B vocals on the song "By the Sea," a song that takes some wah-wah guitar sounds and makes them contemporary. Perhaps the most unusual track on Beautiful My Child is "1001 Dreams," a big, quasi-orchestral trip that's a mix of James Bond soundtracks and music from the Arab world. But the tune hosts some musical touches that can only be described as Euphoric, such as B.J. Cole's atmospheric pedal steel, the ambient dance grooves, and the brief snatches of voice and melody. On the track "Outside," Ken Ramm offers an inventive blend of modern electronica with its 1970s ancestor, psychedelia. Rhythmic acoustic guitars, snatches of taped sounds (some backwards), and vintage-sounding electric keyboards create a textural piece without a conventional melody. It's something that would be at home in Tangerine Dream's early albums as in today's chill-out clubs.

About the Artist



Ken Ramm, the Toronto-based artist who serves as the man behind Euphoria, admits a longtime fascination with both American blues and modern electronic music. Ramm has channeled those seemingly disparate influences into Beautiful My Child, his second full-length album. Evoking ambient trance productions with crisp acoustic and slide-guitar harmonies (some by BJ Cole, who collaborated with Luke Vibert on 2000's Stop The Panic), as well as emotive and subtle trip-hop rhythms, Ramm once again draws stylistic lines that connect Ry Cooder, Pink Floyd and Portishead. Check "Little Gem," "Devil May Care" and the title track for the most solid vibes.

M. Tye Comer - Apr 30, 2001
© 1978-1999 College Media, Inc. All rights reserved. - CMJ New Music Report Issue: 712



Electronic music has always been most interesting when DJs and artists get adventurous, wrapping their particular obsessions around those familiar fat beats. In recent memory, it has been done well (see Everything But the Girl's Temperamental) and badly (U2's Pop misstep) but Toronto guitarist Ken Ramm has done a more than decent job of it with Euphoria, melding his space-rock guitar riffs with the loose structures, atmospherics, and danceability of techno (some have called this style "guitronica," as if we need yet more sub-genre definitions in dance music), Ramm's songs still stay songs, even while floating out on the wandering edge of trance and trip-hop. His decidedly acoustic touch sets off the contrasts inherent in this kind of mind-meld and makes little instrumental whispers like "Desert Drive" more interesting on the 10th listen than the first. There's an almost rootsy hue to songs like "Cactus," as Ramm's slide guitar ambles through the melody like a tumbleweed. Vocal enhancements from gospel singer Maddie Willis (who also made contributions to the band's self-titled debut record) and Gayle Day's R&B-laced pipes light up other songs like "By the Sea" with welcome doses of soul. Finally, Garry Hughes' production sheen dresses it all up in silky smooth electronics and lazy, shoegazing textures. The whole package manages to be experimental and instantly appealing all at once. Euphoria are pioneers of the unique sound dubbed 'guitronica.' Euphoria's new album Beautiful My Child, features the group's signature combination of acoustic slide guitar and propulsive beats. Their latest single, "Sweet Rain," builds upon their success at radio (and the impressive retail response generated by "Delirium," last year's breakout instrumental from Euphoria), with sustained airplay in Denver, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle and Minnesota yielding strong sales in those markets. Euphoria comprises Toronto-based composer/instrumentalist Ken Ramm, as produced by Garry Hughes (producer of Vitamin C, who's also worked with Art Of Noise, Garbage, and Sly & Robbie); the group's profile was recently enhanced by the use of their music in the Infiniti SUV ad campaign.

© 1999 - 2001 Musiciansnews.com All rights reserved



Euphoria's Ken Ramm is a slide guitar virtuoso. What is Euphoria doing in the electronica section of MusicEmissions.com? That's just it. Ken adds so much electronica and trip hop elements to the mix that his guitar fits right in without stirring things up. The Torontonian had received rave reviews for 1999's Euphoria self titled debut and he is out to prove himself once again. The album hops along at quite a dancey pace until you reach track 6, cleverly entitled "Desert Drive". This track slows down a bit and resembles the heat coming off of a desert highway. With just a touch of New Age atmosphere Euphoria works well with the electronic elements, samples, and the masterful guitar. Some tracks are downright funky and groovy. Also available is the remix of the first single "Sweet Rain" with versions by Faze Action and Fila Brazillia (which is a killer track) as well as Euphoria producer Gary Hughes.

© 2001, Six Degrees

 

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