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Fill yourself a pipe full, slide on those old slippers, and kick back for some full-fledged flashback fun with this ultra-lounge-y down-tempo fiesta. Created by LA-based producer Rudy Mangual (aka High End), this disc fashions new musical zoot suits by delving back to the 1950’s, raising only the coolest cats from their tombs to create an entirely sound he calls Urban Lounge. “After Traffic” features a rolling, floating harp sound, layered over tight drumming and sax play, while “Shisha” is carried by a simple clap and a funky bass line that leads the way for a beautiful Middle eastern sounding cello solo, sprinkled with jazzy keys. These are not the typical instruments found on a dance record, but then again, these are not the typical beats found on any dance record I have ever heard. World Beat, Jazz, and Mid-Tempo House all converge head on into what is, without doubt, mood music for the 21st century, evoking velvety images of Las Vegas, Polyester Suits, and big American cars with their tailfins, their drivers with greased-back hair. “Rough Times” resembles the Henry Mancini classic “Baby Elephant Walk”, this time with a center city flavor as you imagine steam rolling from the manholes and crowded busy streets filled with taxi cabs trying to outrun each other. Mangual has truly succeeded in producing a disc that transforms any room into that smoke-filled den of your dreams. Somebody get me my robe!-- review by Carl Noone, Jr.
Rudy “Highend” Mangual is the sum of his experiences, a byproduct of his surroundings, and the confluence of those influences is realized on his debut album, Urban Lounge Supreme. His dad, for example, is a musician and publisher of Latin Beat Magazine. That particular flavor shows up most on the drugged out horns of “Slow Roll” and on “Palaver,” with its tango-tickled piano, playful Dick Dale guitars and on percussion, his dad, Rudy Sr., one of my many guests that help make UrbanLoungeSupreme such an apt title for the album. More West Coast touches show up with the lazy, echoed hip hop of “Everybody Loves,” with vocals by Kiwi, and the late-night jazz jam really comes out on “Call It A Night” and “Sometimes.” Also owing to his Puerto Rican family’s background in art, Mangual has an obvious gift for textures. Listening to tunes like “Pickpocket,” it’s hard not to visualize some ne’er-do-well trying to do just that, while the lush string section on “Detect Mode” pays homage to the James Bond theme. While UrbanLoungeSupreme is Mangual’s debut, and a beauty at that, he could unsurprisingly be scoring films for Hollywood – the Highend Sound’s engulfing cinematic tour is indeed top-shelf.-- review by Yuri Wuensch
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