"The Highend Sound" is a solid debut album from HighEnd. A mix of 50s and 60s lounge cool, Jazz swing, Indian rhythms and melodies, and plenty of Latin flavor, this album is about as smooth as it gets. If you're looking for just the right album to set a robe-and-martini mood, this is it.

1. Slow Roll
2. After Traffic
3. Shisha
4. First Night
5. Rough Times (album version)
6. Call It A Night
7. Pickpocket
8. Palaver
9. Everybody Loves
10. Detect Mode
11. Sometimes (double down)
12. Telling Tales

Super-deep, dub-inspired bass lines saunter through most of the songs here, but like any good lounge, HighEnd serves more than one drink.

The best way to describe The Highend Sounds' opening track is, unassuming. It's called "Slow Roll" and lives up to the title. Slow rolling bass and beats guide bluesy piano, seventies-styled horn stabs and subtle vocal samples to a smooth finish.

"After Traffic" has nice Rhodes-infected synth cascades, over smooth beats and soft horns. Inspired by the need to cool down after a fight with L.A. traffic (which really is a phenomenon unto itself), it's sure to quench your harshed mellow and bring it back down.

Serving up a little of The Highend Sounds Indian style is "Shisha", with a combination of sitar, sarangi, cello, and flowing synths over slow beats and dusty percussive loops. Shisha definitely stands out as one of the more complete songs here, with the right mix of peaks and valleys to keep it interesting to the end.

"Rough Times" has nice cut-up bass loops, muted horns, and after a brief intro, brings in some nice slow breaks. It doesn't really call any more attention to itself than the other tracks, but it stands out.

The only song that really steps away from the sound of the rest is "Everybody Loves", featuring rhymes by Oakland rapper Kiwi. Naturally it has a strong hip hop edge, but it's the effected vocal loop that offsets Kiwi that really gives it depth and catches ear my ear.

"Sometimes (double down)" has a strong sound and any DJ could make a smooth as silk mix between it and Troublemakers' "Chez Roger Boité Funk". In fact, I wonder if HighEnd didn't take a bite straight off Troublemaker for the inspiration and groove.

Press play. Pour. Relax.

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