luna city express - hello from planet earth (2009, moon harbour)

another discovery in barcelona, i was hoping to see luna city express dj at a moon harbour label party in a mall on the harbor, but 'complications' from the previous night (that dragged into that morning) kept me from getting there in time to catch them. don't worry, i was out having other music-related fun, but i was a bit disappointed in missing some moon harbour talent that rarely if ever plays in the states - from the few tracks and mixes i'd heard, it sounds like it woulda been a good one. oh well, i still enjoyed a solid 6 or so hours of the party: matthias tanzmann vs dan drastic, reboot, and then another tag team of mike shannon and ernesto ferreyra.

luna city express - the duo of marco resmann and norman weber - have been producing tracks for moon harbour (as well as a few more) for a few years now, but i believe this is their first LP, and i think hello from planet earth is a fun journey through deep house sexiness. the lazy synth chords that i had come to expect from recordings of their dj sets are dropped throughout the album, as well as vocals both soulful and up front as well as abstract and submerged. but really, this album is all about mixing the funky and the beautiful.

the album starts with an introductory track, shouting that it's last call to hop on the train before a few upright funky tracks give way to the slow 'n sexy "orange soft cake." the following track "mr. jack" is a bit, ahem, awkward, but leads into a suite of gorgeous, spacey tracks.

hello from planet earth ends on an interesting, beat-less collage of sound, but like kaden's album, i really dig the second-to-last track, "heaven's gate," which manages to take far-away, echoed vocal snippets, and combine them with a soft, beautiful atmosphere that definitely reaches for the stars, as the percussion chugs away underneath.

a great, deep album and another arrow in moon harbour's quiver of sexy, fun dance music, hello from planet earth is definitely a musical journey worth sitting down and enjoying from start to finish. i'd recommend this one if you liked mathias kaden's recent LP which i discussed before here on smilecoldanatomy.