Rainer Trueby - Rainer Trueby Presents Soulgliding (2020)

Former member of A Forest Mighty Black and founder of Truby Trio, Rainer Trueby presents his new compilation, Soulgliding, released on BBE Music. Starting life as a group on Facebook, 'Soulgliding' is a phrase coined by Rainer Trueby to describe the more languid, smoother side of 2-Step, Boogie, Modern Soul and even Jazz. This silky collection spans several decades and sums up what Soulgliding is all аbout: evocative airy music that feels like a dream-flight across a friendly sky. Or, as Patrick Forge puts it in his wonderful sleeve notes."Soulgliding..... It's all in that word, a stroke of genius, no explanation needed, I knew what it was about before I even read the rules. Anyway there was only one rule that really mattered, the speed limit, nothing beyond 110bpm. What I didn't know when Rainer first convened the eponymous Facebook group was just how addictive it would be. Several months of sharing, liking, commenting, loving and frantic dives into Discogs later, and Soulgliding has become a thing. A genre? Well, almost. This selection lovingly compiled by Rainer himself goes a long way to solidify the notion and stake a claim on the territory. This set of gliders has all the elements; from the slow (enough!) boogie of Crystal Winds, to the jazzy excursions courtesy of Ambiance and Les Hooper, and a clutch of tunes that are closer to the original 2-Step blueprint from Demo Cates, Bridge, Cloud One and Donna McGhee. Then there are the eighties drum machine grooves of Patrice Rushen and Fifth Of Heaven and the ethereal beatless magic of Peter Brown's "Without Love". A selection that manages to amalgamate plenty of obscurities without losing the essence, a selection which shimmers, soothes, inspires..glides.