A true veteran of the underground music and party scene in his native Marseille, Lionel Corsini, aka DJ Oil released his well-received solo debut as recently as 2012 (Black Notes for French label Discograph) but is probably better known as one part of The Troublemakers, who had the (probably unique?) distinction of being signed to both the legendary ‘90s house label Guidance and the most famous of all jazz labels, Blue Note. The latter didn’t work out too satisfactorily for Lionel, who found himself constrained by Blue Note’s corporate ways as part of a major and yearning for the freedom he’d had as an independent artist at an independent label. </br>
Nonetheless, the trajectory from Guidance to Blue Note gives you some idea of the range of Oil’s music. </br>
From country blues, through township jive and Rahsaan Roland Kirk-style ‘flute’ vocalizations, with the occasional nod to four-to-the-floor house, DJ Oil runs the musical gamut, using modern technology to recreate the virtual orchestra existing in his head and gifting us an astonishingly assured and rather exceptional album, which surely should break this stalwart of the French underground scene to a larger international audience.
Making up for the ‘lost years’ with Blue Note, Lionel Corsini’s creative juices are clearly flowing freely at the moment.
