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Trevor Reekie and Pagan Records - Page 2

© Anne-Marie de Bruin

Even so, their recently released album, Jazz Hop, would be an ideal accompaniment for the movie.

So what sort of record is Jazz Hop? Put simply, the album is best summed up by the title. There's jazz piano, combined with hip hop beats, strange noises, an array of space age synthesisers and acoustic instruments, all mixed together to create a unique and totally instrumental sound.

The inspiration for A Trip To The Moon came through Pagan's involvement with Bluespeak.

"I got to know Tom through Greg, because Greg had played in Bluespeak for quite a while. Also, I used Tom to play on Cosa quite a lot."

Recording was a process of trial and error as the duo found their feet.

"It's a different way of recording than your normal studio situation when you're just recording onto tape reels. It's like painting. Your strike rate when you're beginning must be one out of ten, you throw nine away, and as you get better and you get a feel for it, you get a better strike rate."

Reekie's previous project, Cosa, using Ludvigson was a guest artist, visited similar territory.

"I like A Trip To The Moon more that Cosa. I suppose it is more focused. Cosa was supposed to be like wallpaper music for potheads or something."

Ludvigson and Reekie played most of the instruments on the record themselves but there were a few contributions from their mates - like Johnson's trumpet on Conversation With Carlos.

"I love the way he plays trumpet, so we dedicated a track for him."

Trumpet isn't the only instrument that gets thrown into the musical mix. There is also flute by Andrew Dixon on One For Bob, a reggae-influenced track dedicated to Bob Marley.

"The only thing I said was that I wanted a flute - I'd never worked with a flute before so that was the attraction. Andrew played a singing flute style and it was just remarkable."

You'd think that that was a limit to the weird and wonderful sounds on the record. But there's more. A track called Smitten was made using footsteps of Ludvigson walking along Napier beach.

"We found that some footsteps made a rhythm, and we looped it. Then we put that together with some guitar and piano."

Reekie and Ludvigson are by no means dragging their heels in the wake of Jazz Hop's release. The pair have already started work on a new record.

"We're already about eight tracks into the new album. It's a little less jazzier, a lot more harder in the drum and rhythm section, and a bit more club-orientated. A lot of it is more uptempo than the old record, and it's a lot tougher sounding too."

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