Penguin

Lazy who???

Lazyboy is Mr Dan and Rob da Bank.  1997 was the 20th anniversary of Elvis’s death. 1997 was also the year that Lazyboy was born.  Rob da Bank lives in South London. So does Mr Dan. Mr Dan produced the number one Kylie single Slow. Rob da Bank didn’t.  Lazyboy have remixed artists from Royksopp, Magnet and Neon Heights to Clannad.  Mr Dan has worked with Canibus, Sia and Afrika Bambaata. Rob da Bank used to hoover graveyards and be a dinner lady.

Lazyboy came up with a dream team of artists they wanted to work with before recording their forthcoming album and managed to work with all of them – step forward Roddy Frame from Aztec Camera, Lee Scratch Perry, Est’Elle and Cathy Battistessa.

Mr Dan has a daughter called Sadie. Rob da Bank’s bright yellow VW camper van is called Stella … like the beer.  Mr Dan can play the piano, guitar, drums and just about every ruddy instrument under the sun. Rob da Bank can hit a triangle roughly in time. Rob da Bank has a Radio 1 show called The Blue Room. Mr Dan doesn’t. www.lazyboy.co.uk. isn’t our website – that’s got lots of comfy chairs on it. www.sundaybest.net might be more helpful.

The Lazyboy LP is almost entirely played live on real 3 dimensional musical instruments.   Mr Dan loves hip hop, tinkering with electronic things to make them work better and the crazy physicist Richard Feynman. Rob da Bank loves The Pixies, sleeping in leaky teepees in Glastonbury and hasn’t had a haircut in 15 years.

Mr Dan sometimes gets a faraway look in his eyes as if he’s not all there. Rob da Bank has a weak bladder which can cause problems on long car journeys.

Anyway, we digress.

What happens if you take Lee ‘scratch’ Perry to the haunted house at the local fair, feed him ten tabs of acid, then make a swift move for the studio, on the way being accosted by a rogue Rastafarian pingu…

We reckon it might sound something like this; an altogether cracking piece of work from the elusive Lazyboy and his featured friend.  Probably THE most distinctive track you’ll hear this year, ‘Penguin’ is enchanting, moving, kind of confusing… and all with a spooky, rambling man talking on it.  That’ll be Mr Perry.  The record is almost as gloriously eccentric as he is.

Having previously worked with a surprising range of artists including The Skatalites, The Clash and the Beastie Boys, and now of course Lazyboy, Lee ‘scratch’ Perry is clearly in his element here… and together with Lazyboy’s clean production skills and knack for a damn good hook, the somewhat insane duo work like a house on fire!

Manasseh is up on remix one – ‘Wilmot’ is an absolutely phenomenal record, as is the whole Haunted Dancehall album but this mix is a worthy successor!

Check remix three for the Mad Professor’s glorious antics, taking to the challenge like an duck to water – The Mad P adds even more of a distinct darkness with b-lines as heavy as concrete shoes in amidst a selection of twisted reverbs and delays.

Aciiiiiiiiiid!!!!!