After five weeks of performing and traveling around Brazil, long-term DFA stalwart Gavin Russom returned home with not only a love for the music he'd discovered there, but also a newfound source of inspiration for his own meticulously crafted recordings. The Brazilian music driving Russom's sonic explorations included forms as eclectic and varied as Carioca Funk, atabaque drumming, Tropicalia and South American style rave. At the very same time, Russom was working toward a sound in the image of seminal tracks from Praga Khan and Nikki Van Lierop, with special inspiration taken from their Phantasia "Inner Light" and "Violet Skies" 12"s. The material that grew out of these disparate inspirational points – and became The Crystal Ark, Russom's latest project – is a perfect distillation of those varied sounds into infectious, spellbinding dance floor music. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.