Review: A veteran of the balearic scene, Steve Miller brought his Afterlife project to life in 1995 with a self-titled debut album. He is is back on his very own Subatomic label here with the deep sundown groove of "Rising Up", then things get slo-mo (and low slung) on the smooth heater "Casual Bungalow", while the rather evocative "Medicine Man" will mesmerise you with its celestial atmospherics. Plus, there's one more glimpse of the sunset, pina colada in hand, on the emotional closer "Way Out West".
Review: Under the Afterlife alias, Steve Miller (no, not that Steve Miller) has been making sun-kissed downtempo grooves and Balearic beats longer than many Juno Download customers have been alive. 2020 remarkably marks 25 years since his debut single hit stores, so Miller has decided to celebrate by offering up a new summer-themed EP. As you'd expect, there's much for weary minds and bodies to savour throughout, from the tactile, Italian dream house style soft-focus grooves and twinkling pianos of opener "Summer of Love", to the sax-laden ambient jazz bliss of "The Quiet" (featuring Tudor Moore), and the jaunty, kaleidoscopic dub-meets-electronica warmth of closing cut "Code Red".
Review: Epic summer balearic haze, blaze and beats amid a mirage of finely tuned melodies and 3D bass from Afterlife. Always at home on Subatomic, this is a most impressive Afterlife record yet! Combining Pantha Du Prince-like percussion with the hippy-ness of new age pan pipes in "Jolly Up", find thrumming 808 drum machine sequences that give maximum weight and pulse to the low end nostalgia and deep seated, dusty percussion funk in "Into The Heat". A quality EP of new age dub that should appeal to fans of Fantastic Man, Tornado Wallace and Running Back, with DJ Rocca's Dark Art mix to "Si Si Si" offering an ambient, broken beat, and exotic breaks alternative to this EP's thick island vibe. Get ya hammock!
Review: Steve Miller's Afterlife project is always a welcomed addition to our charts, especially because we deem his output to be the very best in downtempo and chill, often surpassing most other producers who are surrounded by hype. Miller is the truth, and nothing but the truth. Returning to Subatomic with a new LP, String Theory, the producer is clearly in an explorative mood, and his creative guise has taken on a new form thanks to the addition of subtle house in the mix. In fact, this album is a wondrous as any new material we've heard from peeps like ENO, and it's safe to say that Afterlife has a few lessons of his own. We have been mesmerised by this release from start to finish, revealing to us that there is, indeed, a way to merge house, lounge and downtempo without the end product sounding pre-packaged. Warmly recommended!
