Continuing our spotlight series called Favourite Finds, where we ask some of our favourite DJs, collectors and selectors to tell us the story behind how they came across one of their favourite records.
For the next edition in our Favourite Finds series we spoke to Project Gemini aka Paul Osborne. A man responsible for two of our favourite albums we have put out here at Bongo HQ. 2022’s The Children Of Scorpio was a glimpse into the swirling, cinematic kaleidoscope of Paul’s musical mind, with his follow-up album, 2024’s Colours & Light, broadening that spectrum ever further. An ability to absorb elements of genres, repurposing and repacking them into this own unique blend of psych-funk, acid folk and emotive soundtrack-leaning grooves.
A 30-year musical journey has lead to this point, nourished by global sounds from far and wide, film soundtracks and countless artistic collaborations. With a collection amassed over three decades, we asked Paul the testing question to pick one of his favourite finds.
“I’ve fond memories of my early days of digging/record-collecting in the period around ’91-95. Things seemed to be moving so fast as I went through my late teens and early twenties and it was like a crash course in music across so many genres. I was absorbing rock ‘n roll, funk, psychedelia, soul and jazz at a such rapid rate and the discoveries from that time still inform my tastes today in terms how I want my own music to sound.
In the pre-internet, pre-Discogs age, second hand stores and record fairs were the outlets of choice. I remember picking up albums such as Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll’s ‘Open’, Parliament’s ‘Mothership Connection’, ‘Super Session’ by Stills/Cooper/Bloomfield (with that amazing version of ‘Season Of The Witch’) and The Blackbyrds’ self-titled debut amongst many others. A large portion of the records I picked up in that period are still super important to me today."
"‘Ronnie Foster-Live: Cookin’ with Blue Note at Montreux’, purchased at one of the aforementioned record fairs around ’93/94, really sums up a time for me when you could afford to take a punt on albums without knowing what you were getting. When it paid off and you got something good, as in this case, it was a real buzz. The cover is what drew me in first here, not necessarily classic artwork but still blessed with that touch of Blue Note cool, and the price of (wait for it…) 50p sealed the deal.
To my knowledge this album’s never been reissued on vinyl, but it’s a real killer, somewhere at the point between the ’60s soul jazz organ trio sound and more expansive ’70s fusion. The whole album is fantastic, but for me it’s all about the track ‘Boogie Juice’ a slow, super heavy fourteen minute groove with a keyboard breakdown that might sound more typical on a prog-rock album of the time, with Ronnie Foster pushing his organ through multiple effects to create a wild proto-synth sounding freakout. It still gets me going thirty years later!”
Big thanks to Pauk for taking the time out to tell us his story. Be sure to check out his latest album Colours & Light on Mr Bongo and give him a follow on Instagram to keep up-to-date with all things Project Gemini.