Stigmato Inc.

Stigmato Inc. is another release from Irma/Moonbeat Recordings and keeps up the Irma label’s mandate to support upcoming artists. Their Suanophone label caters specifically to emerging musicians who have yet to record. With Stigmato Inc. they put forward a debut release by a promising trio of excellent musicians in their own right. Stigmata Inc. is a Barcelona/Washington DC collaboration formed in 2000, consisting of producers Tito Rosell and Carles Sanchez who bring in the jazz vocal talents of DC native Danna Leese for an ideal summer cocktail of bossa nova, Latin jazz and chill-out tracks. Leese’s presence is subtle — rather than fronting her as a vocalist being complemented by the inflection of beats and dance music groove, Sanchez and Rosell weave her in, in small doses. She follows a traditional song structure pattern in "Tribal Express” but follows it up a couple of tracks later in "Just for You (Condemned Servant),” sounding like a classic soul diva — her reverberating voice another instrument in the deep house mix. "Percussion Suite” is precisely that: a track that wastes no time to kick up the timbale, djembe sounds. Listeners who savour Joe Claussell’s deep house, tribal sounds and layered beats will delight in this Brasilia breakdown. Sanchez and Rosell have been working together for ten years and it goes to show that experience pays well. Whilst it might be a debut release for this trio, judging by the sounds on "Reality Check,” they are far from being beginners.