Love International and Test Pressing commemorate yet another cracking festival with the latest installment in their collaborative compilation series for their LIXTP label. For 'The Sound of Love International #006' they've chosen Jay Donaldson aka Palms Trax as their selector. He's a regular at Love International. The Berlin-based DJ, known for his eclectic sets and long-running NTS show 'Cooking With Palms Trax,' delivers a diverse selection of tracks gathered from his global journeys. The album opens with Linda Waterfall's 'Clarity', a fabulous flight of late 1970s spiritual jazz-influenced folk from the late Seattle-based singer / songwriter, who released her debut on Windham Hill. nSebastian's 'Follow My Heart' is a soulful soft rocker, a sax-y seduction theme. On 'Did It Have To Be Me', glorious gospel choir-like backing lifts Frank E. Jeffries Jr. 's cool croon, and the spirits of anyone lucky enough to be listening. Two tracks travel from '90s South Africa. El Pedro's 'La Luna' is a pumping piece of S. A. bubblegum, while Novidade's 'Masingita' features great guitar picking and warm, welcoming group vocals. Dieta Berliner & Jean Baptiste's 'Paula & Kaspar' transports us back to Berlin and forwards to 2012. This is a B-side secret weapon from Dieta's short-lived Pakalolo City Records. Culled from a cult Canadian 45, Angelo Mallia's 'Hideaway' is cute, catchy tumbling TR-808- driven synth-pop. A piece of plugged-in Belgian '80s prog-rock, Zardoz's brilliant 'Brasilia Drums' pits it's titular percussion against big cosmic synths, and segues into a new age-y journey. Danish keyboard virtuoso Gert Thrue shows off his chops on 'I Play The Body Electronic', feeding everything through psychedelic phasing effects, and overdubbing some fab Fender Rhodes In Trance 95 might be one of the better known acts here, since the Athens-based duo's work has been collected on Veronica Vasicka's Minimal Wave, and in the 2010's they also supported Depeche Mode. Their 1991 single 'Warm Nights Driving On Wet Streets' is chunky chill out room gear. Frenchman Alain Salvati is behind Flayer's 'Wanna Get Back Your Love', which first appeared in 1983, oddly on an Italian 12' single. Rediscovered at the turn of the millennium, it's become a bona fide modern Balearic anthem. The closing cut, Jeancky's 'Variations Sur Protestation', kind of brings the album, musically, full circle; returning to the late '70s with campfire congas, bongos, and gentle acoustic strumming. The majority of the tracks included were self-released and/or privately pressed and in many cases the often mysterious artists' only recorded outings. So, in putting this together Palms Trax has unearthed hidden gems, creating a magical, floor-filling journey through music.
