Accomplished artist Simon Sheldon’s The Freebooter Lounge shines the spotlight on his ‘Imps’ track this March with remixes from a host of downtempo aficionados.
Taken from Sheldon’s LP ‘The Four of Swords’ this revisit to the track ‘Imps’ is our introduction to the Liverpool-raised producer. His bio is lengthy, seasoned and full of extraordinary feats of a headstrong artist that knows where he wants to be. Under many pseudonyms for 30 years plus, Simon has played at Glastonbury, supported the legend Lee “Scratch”, and was part of drum n bass outfit Spree. It doesn’t stop there, he’s played live in the US, Europe and Asia, guested on Café Mambo radio during lockdown and had the 9th top selling Electronica track at Beatport for 2022, you get the picture.
This track ‘Imps’ we have much to say about it. Dreaming up the iconic 90’s sound of every Café del Mar cd we owned, the track oozes balearic goodness. Delicate piano melodies drape over breathy pads and a cool, relaxed break beat. When the call of the trumpets enter, we’ve hit euphoria, this is beautiful.
Bold Parade is the latest project from London based, Belfast born producer Paul McMahon. His remix is a melancholic, yet upbeat mix of ‘Imps’. The muted trumpet calls to the past whilst string bass lines and acoustic guitars provide flavoured textures. This is modern downtempo at it’s best, dreamy, touching and worthy of being supported.
A legend in the Ibiza downtempo scene, Graham ‘Gripper’ Newby revisits his Tambores En Benirras alias and delivers an ambient, textured melodic interpretation of ‘Imps’. Melodic, enveloping chords, sharp percussive hits, and stirring glass strikes make this a perfect dispensing of true downtempo aesthetics.
LiFE is a collaborative project from the enigmatic Ibiza-based artist DJ Dribbler and London-based Darran P. Taking ‘Imps’ on a raw, jagged drum n bass journey that surprised us at first then whilst thinking about it perfectly fits these guys’ devotion to making music from the heart. Moving away from their ambient, downtempo bubble and into sub-bass territory. Jagged with crazy break beats, the meat of ‘Imps’ is kept but just totally washed with this dark, twisted smack.
The ‘Imps’ remix package is out now on The Freebooter Lounge, stream/download it here.
