New age of music On the eve of their first Australian tour, Mike Gee catches up with Rick Torres of the fabulous Supreme Beings Of Leisure. There is no escape, these days. When the phone call goes through to Rick Torres home an answering machine replies. Five minutes later, he's talking on his mobile from the studio where he's working on the sophomore Supreme Beings Of Leisure (SBL) album. Not that he minds being tracked down but there was a day not so long ago when the musician with an attack of the-I-don't-feel-like-doing-interviews could just turn on the answering machine and sit back and laugh. The guitarist, sitarist and programmer for SBL, easily one of the year's most notable debutants with a scrapbook full of notable rave reviews for their insouciant, smooth-as-silk, groove-laden self-titled 11-tracker, is as pragmatic as he is friendly. As much as he admits he's really looking forward to getting the second album out and on the road, "there's still this album to finish up on". And that's very much the SBL way. Their debut was finished in 1998, some of the songs date back as far as 1995, the first song they wrote together was Nothing Like Tomorrow (a spooky post-Portishead chillout with distinct James Barry undertones). That was the piece that created the SBL sound. The chemistry was obvious. The trio's smart programming and seductive grooves - Strangelove Addiction is one of the year's coolest dancefloor shakers and snakers - have a sound that is almost at once: sexy, seductive, glamorous, whimsical, soulful and haunting - a global sound with an American perspective. What else could they be but the Supreme Beings Of Leisure. That sound also mirrored their collective identity. The bloodlines running through the group stretch from India to the Dominican Republic, Iran to Japan, Puerto Rico to Ireland. The guys all grew up in LA having immigrated to the US with their families at early ages, so it's all filtered through a distinctly western view of the world. The musical sponge that resulted has dripped perhaps the most un-American record made by an American band - a comment they get all the time. Torres says so far Bristol leads the way as the city most people have pegged them to. But really it's just another example of the elusiveness of SBL. This is a band that sets their own parameters, doesn't believe in having limitations or playing to a particular sound and has almost complete creative control. That has a lot to do with their boss at the nascent Palm Pictures - the legendary Chris Blackwell, former head of Island Records, one of the greatest labels in the history of music, and renowned for its ability to produce classic records across a broad range of genres. And for taking risks that paid off. "Initially, there were about 18 record labels that were looking at us and I was really hesitant to go with any of them because the majority of them have a lack of any idea about culture or craft. I felt we would be like a small cog in a big machine. With Blackwell I always felt that if we had problem we could call him - which we did, over publishing. We didn't want to sign the publishing deal, so he came out for a meeting and said 'Well, what's the problem. Why won't you sign?' And we said, 'Not enough money. We won't be able to survive till the second record.' And he said, 'Is that all? Tack on another hundred thousand dollars and away you go.' Problem solved. It was so cool. "Palm is very much a family business. I know a lot of the people at Rykodisc [its distributor] and Palm here in America and a few from overseas. I remember one of the first meetings I had with Chris. The rest of the band was late and didn't even make it to the meeting, Chris Blackwell and I sat around talking for an hour about the future of electronic music, the way we both thought that DVD's were the most likely format to follow the CD, and about the multimedia abilities of the band members and their families. The guy's a total professional and he still thinks ahead." Way ahead as it turns out. We get talking about the alternatives the Net offers and the way its got most of the majors on the edge as they lose a little of the control they've had for so long. Torres believes though - and you can't argue that - in the end the major labels will take control of the whole MP3 download situation and use it to their own advantage. "As far as the whole Napster debate goes I don't think most people are going to sit around for hours and hours on end downloading an entire album. Napster is like a public library. You chose something have a listen and make a decision. We're already featured prominently on Napster. Nearly all of the people who have emailed me saying 'I first heard your music on Napster', have gone out and bought the album, so I'm not too worried about it. And by the time everybody gets broadband digital download capability, they'll have the bugs worked out so nobody suffers and the artists can get paid." Welcome to the new age of music. And Supreme Beings Of Leisure are sitting pretty.