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The US West Coast king of electronic music’s soulful spectrum, Miguel Migs, unveils his long awaited artist album masterpiece for release on NRK, licensed from his own label Salted Music (US), titled ‘Those Things’. This highly anticipated outing offers a superb collection of songs, genre hopping through Miguel’s signature contemporary soulful grooves, inspired by old soul, funk, reggae and hip hop, incorporating lots of live elements.
What does the name of the album mean? “‘Those Things’ represents an open minded spectrum that can have multi-meaning and definition,which is how I feel about this album as it includes diverse stylings, flavours and tempos”. Miguel Migs
Having culled together a world class team of featured artists, ‘Those Things’ includes collaborations from regular cohorts including the fantastic Lisa Shaw (Naked/Petalpusher/Aquanote) who is featured on the deliciously soulful cuts ‘Things Happen’, ‘Side To Side’, and the fabulously funky album title track ‘Those Things’. Another favourite stepping up to the mic is LT aka Aya, who you may recognise by her unique smooth voice from previous hits with Blue 6 'Sweeter Love' and 'Love Yourself' among others. LT delivers beautiful dreamy vocals on 'So Far', the first single from the album with Rasmus Faber mixes for Salted (US only), ‘Get Down’ and ‘Giving It All’. LT also appears on the exclusive European single for NRK titled ‘Mesmerized’, a stunning deep outing that will feature mixes from Shur-i-kan and Alix Alvarez forthcoming this spring. The album also features hip hop & roots heavyweights Sadat X (Brand Nubian) who performs on the hip- house flavoured cut ‘Shake It Up’ alongside Lisa Shaw; and the legendary Junior Reid on the rootstastic ‘Fire’. Joining the party for a slice of funked up boogie, Fred Ross, who has worked with greats such as Lionel Richie, Aretha Franklin, and The Family Stone, makes an exciting addition to the project with his silky smooth sounds on ‘Let Me Be’. ‘Those Things’ also features the voice of upcoming Canadian vocalist Tim Fuller, who aside of releasing his own album ‘The Slightest Touch’, is also working with Groove Armada among others. Tim’s much saught after soul-drenched sounds can be heard on ‘Can’t Get Through’, ‘Sometime’, and ‘Body Never Lies’.
Rumours of a live show? “A live band is going to tour for the album this spring. I miss playing live and feel its a great time and reason to start up a new project to keep things interesting and exciting for me. The idea would be to have a few vocalists at each show to perform a selection of new and older material from past albums. But Lisa Shaw, LT and Tim Fuller would be definitely be on board as well as others”. Miguel Migs
Whether tackling his original productions or remixes, he achieves an organic-soulful sound by combining the best of both the electronic music world and live instrumentation. For many years, Miguel's productions have been included on countless compilations and his records have slid into the crates of top DJs across the globe. His music has also landed on numerous TV Shows, including Six Feet Under, Sex in the City, and MTV's Road Rules and Real World. Contrary to many of his club-centric DJ/producer peers, Miguel is not always concerned with the potential dance floor appeal of his soulful tracks. "It's music you can enjoy and listen to at home, in the club, or anywhere. Not necessarily just to rock the dance floor." explains the Northern California native, who grew up with a true love of reggae, soul, classic rock, jazz, hip-hop and just about everything else.
His impressive discography includes more than 100 original productions and remixes on seminal independent labels such as Salted Music, Naked Music, Astrelwerks, Yoshitoshi, NRK, Black Vinyl, Large, Chez, Transport recordings, Om Records, Defected Records and many others. He goes highly regarded when it comes to remixes, having worked with major label artists such as Macy Gray, Lionel Ritchie and Britney Spears. Miguel additionally has released numerous mix CD compilations on labels including Defected, Naked Music, Southport Weekender and NRK. Never one to sit still, Miguel started his own label Salted Music in 2004, a vehicle for building his own catalogue of quality material and a foundation to choose and release music that inspires him, as well as release his own productions and compilations.
A musician at heart, Miguel's professional career started at age 18 as songwriter and lead guitarist for Santa Cruz local dub band Zion Sounds, whose Jamaican and African rhythms earned them gigs with globally known reggae outfits Culture and Burning Spear among others. After the disbanding of Zion Sounds in the mid 1990's, rather than form a new band, Miguel put his focus and creative energy into experimenting with the production of electronic music.
As a producer, Miguel realises a strong connection between his electronic music productions and live musical background. He writes his own lyrics and plays his own instruments, be it guitar, bass, percussion or keyboard. As a DJ, Miguel maintains the same approach to his sets as to his productions, combining a variety of influences and styles fused together. The result is funky, deep, soulful, bumping house music. "I like to mix it up and keep it moving smoothly, taking the dance floor through a very spontaneous mix into the realms of quality, deep house music depending on the mood in the room", says Migs. "But, whether it's vocal, tracky, dubby, moody, percussive or broken beat, the sound always remains soulful and funky”. Miguel can be found regularly travelling the globe as one of the industries top-leading DJs, as well as at home in the studio writing and creating music, which is his main love and passion. "It's all about the balance between the touring and travelling, studio work and everything else in life", says Migs, "music has no boundaries and I get inspired by everything around me! I'm definitely looking forward to putting another live act together in the near future." Migs certainly draws no limits to his artistry. - Words: Sarah Foote
THOSE THINGS TRACKLIST
1. So Far feat LT
2. Make Things Happen feat Lisa Shaw
3. Can't Get Through feat Tim Fuller
4. Mesmerized feat LT
5. Those Things feat Lisa Shaw
6. Sometime feat Tim Fuller
7. Get Down feat LT
8. Let Me Be feat Fred Ross
9. Fire feat Junior Reid
10. Shake It Up feat Sadat X
11. Body Never Lies feat Tim Fuller
12. Side to Side feat Lisa Shaw
13. Giving It All feat LT
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