RWR's latest release comes straight from Berlin's underground electronic jazz scene. Simon Herody, originally from the South of France but living in the German capital since 2020, delivers an eight-track suite of ambient-informed jazz.
The album grew out of solo gigs in hotel lobbies, low-key half improvised sets where Simon blended sequenced electronics with live sax, clarinet and flute. These in-between spaces, half-public and half-private, set the tone for Hard Lounge: an eight-track trip that's ambient enough to fade into the background, but rich enough to keep you engaged.
There's a clear love for 80s new age and electronic jazz, but it's not just nostalgia - the album also channels leftfield Japanese pop and ambient. A big turning point was hearing "Heisei No Oto" (that killer compilation on Music From Memory) & "Music For Dance & Theatre, Vol. 2", also released on MFM, which blew the doors wide open in terms of texture and mood.
While working shifts at Motif, a bar and record shop in Neukölln, Simon started deep-listening to these kinds of records, thinking about how sound can shape space and attention. Design and architecture trickled into the album's artwork, hinting at a broader idea: that music, like furniture or lighting, can be part of how a space feels - part of the design. That blend of curiosity and immersion became the blueprint for "Hard Lounge", a record that plays with presence, atmosphere and memory.
The album grew out of solo gigs in hotel lobbies, low-key half improvised sets where Simon blended sequenced electronics with live sax, clarinet and flute. These in-between spaces, half-public and half-private, set the tone for Hard Lounge: an eight-track trip that's ambient enough to fade into the background, but rich enough to keep you engaged.
There's a clear love for 80s new age and electronic jazz, but it's not just nostalgia - the album also channels leftfield Japanese pop and ambient. A big turning point was hearing "Heisei No Oto" (that killer compilation on Music From Memory) & "Music For Dance & Theatre, Vol. 2", also released on MFM, which blew the doors wide open in terms of texture and mood.
While working shifts at Motif, a bar and record shop in Neukölln, Simon started deep-listening to these kinds of records, thinking about how sound can shape space and attention. Design and architecture trickled into the album's artwork, hinting at a broader idea: that music, like furniture or lighting, can be part of how a space feels - part of the design. That blend of curiosity and immersion became the blueprint for "Hard Lounge", a record that plays with presence, atmosphere and memory.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Fantastic slice of lounge jazz bolstered by sophisticated electronics and a real deft of hand. Actually quite arresting when you get deep into it.TRACK LISTING
A1: Sunny Terasse
A2: Table For Two
A3: May I Join?
A4: Dimmed Lights
B1: City Lights
B2: Kupka's Design
B3: Sleep Tuff
B4: Running Behind