News - Updated 8/7/2006

Groove Factory Conobus
Compolation lp

Stephen Bastien is a man of varied interests. It's difficult to tell whether his perfect day involves an afternoon of Aussie rules football, followed by an evening of expressionist painting and a Dallas DVD marathon, but musically his passions and influences certainly run far and wide. It's perhaps the product of a life spent living in the Caribbean, London and now Fife - not to mention a musical career encompassing steelpan, funk, metal and much much more - but there's no arguing with the results. Under the Groove Factory Conobus moniker, Stephen's instrumental 'Compolation' lp takes the pick of four previous CDs and adds some new material to fan out a startling mix of dance beats, ambient jams, prize metal moments and experimental atmos like some crazy tingling electro tapas.

It's a real case of expect the unexpected. The chill out drum 'n' bass of "Yeah Man" is coloured up with some '60s guitar, "Promiss Land" basks in the majesty of elegant Mobyesque/Massive Attack synth chords, while "Get Up And Dance" and "Jungle Rock" both dust off the drum machines to pitch hard urban grooves against big fat wedges of '80s hair metal guitar. Van Halen meets Tricky with a bit of Herbie Hancock thrown in. Meanwhile "Lump" lays down some heavy Depeche Mode-style industrial electronics and "Outer Space" marries Andy Summer's guitar delays from "Walking On The Moon" with a meteor shower of bloopy effects.

But however strange and bewilderingly diverse things get (especially on the 'Kid A' style experimental noodling of "De La Funk" and "The Massive") everything is tied together with the same sense of quirkiness and fun. "United" could've come straight out of Miami Vice, "Styx-engance" employs frog sounds in its hot, sweaty Amazonian vibe; and the Glam rock meltdown of "No Trace'' uses wah wah, saxophone and tinkling percussion to become a stately lost track from Roxy Music's debut album. There's even a touch of indie rock with th