The men behind the European downtempo outfit Zero 7 – producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker – launched their careers in the music industry as tea boys at a London recording studio. Shortly thereafter, however, both were in the thick of action, working alongside a string of well-known British musicians such as the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Plant. They spent the best part of the '90s honing their production skills behind the scenes. Then, after taking on the name of a nightclub in Honduras, the duo gradually began unleashing their own ideas onto an unsuspecting public.
The intention behind the Served Chilled series is sketched in the sleeve notes, with the two CDs of music intended as a soundtrack for those late-night, post-club or lazing-about-the house sessions. Mark Doyle, the curator of the series, earned his diploma of chill through his four-hour broadcasts at Jazz FM, which occupied the slot that crosses Saturday night to Sunday morning. The tracklisting pretty much speaks for itself, 28 tracks culled from leading artists–Groove Armada, Nightmares on Wax, Thievery Corporation, Morcheeba, Jose Padilla…
Even before the first KuschelRock album, Kuschelrock was named as a weekly nightly music program for HR3 radio station (HR3 broadcasts from Frankfurt, Germany), the author and host of this project was Thomas Koschwitz, who is considered to be the co-author of a number of albums in Kazle … After Sony Music patented the right to release a series of albums called "KuschelRock", the HR3 radio station can no longer air this night music show … And now Sony Music regularly releases every year on the album … Later, to Mpano began producing a series of albums by genre, some of which are called "Kuschel Jazz" this release represent to your attention …
It is believed that the rush hour lounge music falls on the 50-60s. Then it executes unknown bands, but the rooms were great friends. While implementing lounge music could be called any musician who played in a cafe or restaurant to the public. In the 60s there were ensembles, records which are related to Lounge. Among them - the bands of James Last, Bert Kempferta, Paul Mauriat, Herb Alpert. Distinguished as a lounge music and musical design films, because this style of music can rightly be called the background.
Zero 7 is a downtempo act comprising Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker from the United Kingdom. The band’s songs feature vocals from Mozez, Sia Furler, Tina Dico, Sophie Barker and José González.
On 23rd April 2001 they released their debut album, Simple Things, to wide acclaim. The album featured collaborations with vocalists Mozez, Sia Furler, and Sophie Barker.
On 1st March 2004 they released their second album, When It Falls. In addition to the three vocalists from their first album, it also featured a collaboration with Tina Dico. In the same year, Binns also co-wrote the Emma Bunton track Breathing from her second solo album.
Their third album The Garden was released on 22nd May 2006 and features José González and Sia Furler. It is a departure from the trip-hop sound that defined their first two albums, Simple Things and When It Falls. The Garden has much more of an acoustic rather than electronic flavour to it. The Garden is also notable in that it marks the vocal debut of Henry Binns; and while he doesn’t want the record to be defined by such a fact, it does add another personality to the mix. He duets on PlayThrow It All Away, PlayThis Fine Social Scene and PlayWaiting to Die, and sings solo on PlayYour Place.
However, if there is one fact that Henry and Sam don’t want people to be confused by, it is the title of the album, The Garden. Taken from the album artwork, which is a series of collages designed by a friend of theirs, entitled, spookily enough, The Garden, the duo are keen for the album’s meaning not to get lost in translation.