t’s been nine years since Lucien Nicolet’s first record, and in that time he has earned his place among electronic dance music’s most celebrated names. He’s racked up singles for the likes of Mental Groove, Perlon, Desolat and of course Cadenza. He’s remixed everyone from M83 to Salif Keita, and his mix CDs for Fabric and Soma’s Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi. series have showcased minimal house and techno at their most sensual, supple and jubilant. And Luciano’s DJ sets have become the stuff of legend the world over.

Throughout his career, the Swiss-Chilean musician has experimented liberally with longer formats, including a live album for Thomas Brinkmann’s max.Ernst label and 2004’s groundbreaking No Model No Tool, a recombinant set of groove components. But in all this time he has released only one proper studio album, 2004’s Blind Behaviour, which veered away from the dancefloor in search of more esoteric pleasures. At long last, with Tribute to the Sun, Luciano delivers one of the definitive highlights of his career.

Not merely a “dance” or “electronic” record, Tribute incorporates musical styles from around the globe with Luciano’s inimitable rhythmic sensibility. It draws upon Luciano’s extensive experience as a mover of bodies and a reader of the crowd’s mind. Many of its grooves form an integral part of Luciano’s DJ sets, having been road-tested and continually refined. But it’s very much an album to be listened to front to back. (Most of the album’s cuts will also be made available as extended edits, for vinyl and download alike.)

Tribute to the Sun is above all a highly personal portrait of the artist. Informed by the ups and downs of the artist’s life, and the balancing act between life on the road and the refuge of family life in rural Switzerland, its moods run from the heavenly grace of “Celestial” to the outright madness of “Metodisma.” This is the fullest portrait yet of Luciano as not just an artist but a human being.

Four years in the making, the album finds Luciano collaborating with a cast of musicians as talented as they are diverse. Martina Topley-Bird, of course, is known for her haunting contributions to Tricky’s early classics, as well as for her solo career and collaborations with the likes of Danger Mouse and Mike Patton. Senegal’s Ali Boulo Santo, heir to a long line of griots and nephew of the legendary “King of the Kora” Soundioulou Cissoko, was said to be “born with a Kora in his hands”; he pioneered an electronic fusion of Mandingue Afrobeat in his recordings for Frédéric Galliano’s Frikyiwa label, and here his contributions continue to expand the possibilities for “world” music in new contexts. Switzerland’s Bruno Bieri is the inventor of the Hang, a kind of steel drum with a sound like a mountain stream; “Hang for Bruno” features both his limpid melodies and the contributions of the Israeli percussionist Omri Hason, a student of the Iranian master Djamchid Chemirani. Omri Is also part of Luciano’s live project Aether Nation.

“Los Niños de Fuera”: Fusing tribal singing and nimble handclap patterns with the flickering rhythms and walking basslines he does best, this is dizzyingly gleeful stuff—albeit shot through with sliding, melancholy harmonies—that balances innocence with intensity.”Celestial”: Sampling a portion of the singer-songwriter Keren Ann’s song “Liberty,” Luciano concocts a heady, heavenly song that builds and builds so gently, you’ll never notice your feet leaving the ground.”Sun, Day and Night”: Martina Topley-Bird’s voice nestles in a nest woven from coppery strands. Freeing himself from the tyranny of the 4/4 kick, Luciano explores rippling polyrhythms and basslines that rise to the surface like an underground spring. “Conspirer”: Contemplative and restrained, this one’s all about a flickering keyboard line that changes colors with the light. “Hang for Bruno”: Featuring the contributions of Hang drummer Bruno Bieri and the multi-talented percussionist Omri Hason, “Hang for Bruno” fuses the sounds and traditions of the Caribbean and the Middle East with bleepy electronics and 20th century classical Minimalism. Its ringing harmonics sound like signals from another world. “Fran Left Home”: With its electro-Latino swing and its keening, ambivalent melodies, this is classic Luciano in the vein of his Live @ Weetamix album. “Africa Sweat”: Luciano and Ali Boulo Santo push the definition of “world music” on this thrilling album highlight. Fluid Kora and Senegalese vocals pour like rainwater over a porous rhythmic foundation that branches like the cracks in desert soil. “Pierre for Anni”: A short sketch in which Luciano combines two of his great loves: Field recording and no-holds-barred electronic experimentation. “Metodisma”: The darkest, starkest cut on the album, this sets grinding electronic rhythms against whispers, whoops and screams: Catharsis at 128 BPM. “Oenologue”: Closing out the album, this single-minded groove pays tribute to the pioneers of acid and Detroit techno, a reminder that deep house and electro-acoustic fusions aren’t Luciano’s only stock in trade

- – TRACKLIST – -

01 Los Ninos de Fuera
02 Celestial feat. Liberty by Keren Ann
03 Sun, Day and Night feat. Martina Topley-Bird
04 Conspirer
05 Hang For Bruno
06 Fran Left Home
07 Africa Sweat feat. Ali Boulo Santo
08 Pierre For Anni
09 Metodisma
10 Oenologue

Release Date: 12.10.2009^
Label: Cadenza