Posts Tagged ‘Deep Projects’

I think that Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest´s song Wont be long is one of the best songs composed in our genre over the last few years. The song was composed in cooperation with Chinese singer Sa Dingding. If I´m not mistaken this song is composed for the “yet to be released” Deep China-project (the beautiful Deep Brasil was released in 2009, and we are now waiting for Deep Africa). The song is an example of just how great a composer Eric really is, and that he is able to compose in different genres. Wont be long is a simply marvelous song, and I´m sure you´ll like it too.

Now Eric is offering this song as a free download on his page and asking people to give a donation to the current Earthquake Fund Raising for Japan. All money collected will go to the Japanese Red Cross.

You find it all here. What a great initiative!!!

Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest / Deep Projects has posted the following message:

Last september I composed music for this movie called IKIMONO, it’s about biodiversity on the Earth. My children are singing in the ending song. All music will be available soon.

Below is the movie trailer with Eric’s music:

It is tempting to compare the song with a Deep Forest classic like First Twilight on World Mix (1994). The melodic element is a bit hard to grasp at the first listen, but second time around you are amazed by the wonderful complexity of it. The ending song has a bright, upbeat feel and is will for sure be a hit with your children.

Yet again Eric Mouquet is showing that he is the no. 1 when it comes to creating heartfelt new age music with a truly timeless feel. This music takes you back to the dinosaurs and into today’s world again in a snap. Bravo!

If you didn’t get to see Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest/Deep Project’s concert at La Villette/France in May, you can now enjoy three songs from the concert below.
I think it so nice to hear and see Eric do some of the old Deep Forest material, from the World Mix period in the mid 1990s. And wow, Blick Bassy adds a magnificent vocal! Inor Sotolongo is great on the percussion. Some Deep Brasil material would also have been nice of course.

When doing this kind of music live the question is always; how to give life to the ethnical samples and the overall synth/sequenced presentation. The best way is actually shown here; just playback the samples and synth effect and add something extra, like Blick Bassy’s vocal – and even more live instruments.

These videos are true gold for the Deep Forest fan. And don’t forget, we will soon get a brand new Deep Project album called Deep Africa! Eric Mouquet is without a doubt the king of new age music within the ethnic sub genre. With a Grammy (for Deep Forest) and over 10 million album sold and just as many playbacks on Youtube, he is an artist loved by a truly international audience.

Be sure to visit Deep Projects.com.

The release of Eric Mouquet’s Deep Africa is getting close. The album will be out in April. In preparation for this, Mouquet has released a small video trailer (see below). In style the trailer is very close to the Deep Forest albums of the early 1990s (especially Word Mix, where Sweet Lullaby was the no. 1 hit). We are also happy to report that our good friend, the very talented Joel Kanning, is a part of the project! He will be delivering remixes of the music.

Eric Mouquet, the Deep Forest veteran, has posted a 5 minute long prelisten to his upcoming album Deep Africa. It has now been made available on Deep-Projects.com.  

From what I can hear the album will be closer to the World genre than new age music – with plenty of African singing (and not just samples as in the classical Deep Forest albums). But, as with Deep Brasil, there are segments that are obviously very true to the old Deep Forest sound too – so new age music fans have a lot to look forward to here.

As always, Eric Mouquet is expected to give his fans a treasure chest of ethnical sounds – just like he has on his previous albums.

Be sure to visit mr. Mouquet’s Facebook page too.

After some downtime and work behind the scenes, the new homepage of Deep Projects is now completed and ready for the release of the Deep Africa album in April. Eric Mouquet, the Deep Forest veteran, has done the design himself. On the page he gives his fans an exclusive presentation of his many musical projects, the last being the song Namba le Ndamba with singers from Cameroon (which, by the way, is not a part of the Deep Africa album).

One song is now available from the upcoming Deep China album, the “Won’t last long” track, with the Chinese singer Sa Dingding. It truly is a wonderful song.

In other news, Eric Mouquet will be performing live in Paris with South African singer songwriter Johnny Clegg. Mr. Clegg has been a record artist for over thirty years, and will this spring be releasing a new album on the Universal label. One of the topics for the concert is Eric’s short film project : “Soccer made in Africa”. Tickets for the concert is now available.  

So do visit Deep-projects.com

In preparation for the release of Deep Africa in April, the homepage of Deep Projects have been redesigned. Here Eric Mouquet, the Deep Forest veteran, gives you a presentation of his music and the many projects he have been involved in.

Some parts of the page are still under construction, but already there is plenty to look at.  A few texts are in French, but a link to Google Translate is provided.

The perhaps most interesting new age music project around is Eric Mouquet’s Deep Projects.

Mr. Mouquet, the Deep Forest veteran, last year released the magnificent album Deep Brasil (review here), which gave new life to the no. 1 hit Sweet Lullaby and contained several new favorites as well. No wonder it was voted one of the best new age albums of 2008.

And now to some breaking news; the next installment in the project, Deep Africa, will be released in April! Little is known about the new album – but it will for sure be yet another fine ethnic fusion release from Eric Mouquet.

The web page deep-projects.com has received a face lift. The black background is gone, replaced by a fading blue color. As of now, the music shop and the blog are down – but visitors get a nice album art presentation of earlier music projects by Eric Mouquet.

2010 is looking out to be a great year for Deep Projects/Deep Forest fans! An album called Deep China will be released at a later date.

I hold Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest/Deep Projects to be the finest Ethnic Fusion artist ever - and he is one of the few major label new age artists that debuted in the 1990s. He is also an outstanding pianist. But don’t take my word for it, let the 10+ million albums sold, or the 20+ million Youtube playbacks of Sweet Lullaby speak for themselves. Like Mike Oldfield he has not been that successful in the US, but he is loved both in Europe and in Asia (especially Japan). I also feel that his current Deep Project, with last year’s release of Deep Brasil (our review here), is truly inspiring.

Another thing that makes Eric Mouquet great is his ability to make live shows out of sequenced music, much like J. M. Jarre (but with a much smaller laser show mind you). Below are three freshly uploaded Youtube videos from Eric’s show “Live in Ebisu”, Tokyo 2009 on July 20th, available in HD-quality. Awesome!

I urge you all to check out the fan remixes of Eric Mouquet’s Deep Project. The songs that have been remixed are Amazonia and Africa Brasil. In my opinion this is some of the freshest new age music ever released; the ethnic elements, Eric’s melodies and Flavio Dell’Isola’s vocal is simply an irresistible combination. And the remixes are also incredible!

Eric Mouquet, known for Deep Forest (and the more recent Deep Projects), has been in studio with Josh Groban. They have recorded three songs together. As of writing there is not much to tell about these songs, but Eric and Josh have uploaded a video to Youtube where they tell a little about how they work.

I am looking forward to the result, and I am sure you do too. Josh Groban’s music is strictly speaking not new age, and I know that he is not too positive about being labeled as new age either. But he has worked with several top new age producers in the past, like Rolf Lovland/Secret Garden (most famous song: You Raise me up) and now the one and only Eric Mouquet.

One thing is certain: these songs will be great!

Back in the jungle: Music can take you places far far away by just pressing the play button. The new album from Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest is a good example of this; it is like a one way ticket to the Amazonas. In a way it is the first return to the style of Deep Forest’s ground breaking album titled Deep Forest – with the smash hit Sweet Lullaby – since Deep Forest’s more recent albums didn’t focus directly on the forest and jungle, but more “open spaces” in Eastern Europe (Boheme), South America (Comparsa) and the Pacific (Pacifique, of course). But with Deep Brasil Eric Mouquet takes us into the warm and damp forest once more, to experience the nature and the people. And wow, what a journey it is!

The album is formed by the vocals of Flávio Dell’Isola and Michel Villain, perhaps making Deep Brasil more of a world album than a new age album. But I feel that the vocals make the album more authentic. And yes, there are plenty of typical new age samples here. Remember that Deep Forest almost invented this kind of sample use. And Eric Mouquet is still the king in this respect.

Deep Brazil consists of 14 songs, 55 minutes and 44 seconds all together. The opening track, Amazonia, is simply incredible. The opening synth, the rich pads and forest sounds are a perfect mix. It is as good as Deep Forest ever was. Flávio Dell’Isola’s vocal is great here, and the child voice samples in the end are really tasteful. And the piano at the very end, which perhaps can be called this album’s theme, is sooo beautiful. Track 2, Terra de Indio part one, is a world song with a nice vocal. You can hear the trademark of Deep Forest during the first 10 seconds of the song, and in the end. Track 3, Fazenda, starts with an intense but nice reverb effect. Again the vocals are good, and the arrangement is also first class. There are some happy conversation samples in the end.

Track 4 is titled Cedu do Brasil is also a very nice song, with a powerful melody. Africa Brasil, track 5, is fast and playful. The accordion has almost a Lambada-like feel to it. The African women singing in the background is a good effect, giving life to the African aspects of the song. Track 6, Minas Nascimento, and track 7, Pe De Flor, is more world style. Again the vocal is fantastic.

The songs Goiano, Terra De Indio part 2 and Cerradao (track 8, 9 and 10) are as good as any Deep Forest songs ever was, both in sound and melody. Cerradao contains a cacophony of blowing instruments in the end, which is kinda intense but nice.

And then, lo and behold, the moment we all have been waiting for: Sweet Lullaby Brazilian version! (track 12) I must confess that this was the first song I played when I got the album. The arrangement is light and soothing, like a real lullaby. The synths in the beginning are just right, and the following piano and guitar part is soft jazz at its best. The well known Sweet Lullaby theme has also made a comeback, fresh as a rain drop on a jungle leaf. Wow!

Track 13, Virtual Forest, is the only instrumental track on the album (well, almost instrumental. There are some whisperings here). The intro is a little bit eerie, but that’s ok; all deep forests can be spooky sometimes. But then the album’s piano theme is back, more beautiful than ever.

The last track, Pimenta Do Tempero, is light and a very good completion of the album. All in all Deep Brasil is an incredible album. At the end of the year I will not be surprised to find this album on my top 5 list of 2008. Perhaps at the very top. If I get out of the Brazilian jungle before the new year, that is.

//btfas

You can sample and buy the album on Deep Projects.