Groove Gravy's philosophy for releasing records revolves around introducing music that's infectious and funky, but musically smart, combining not only eclectic sampling and grooves, but also live musicians and true song craftsmanship. The result is a blend of laid back beats, world rhythms and urban attitude. "We're taking direct aim at a particular musical niche" says producer and label head Roy Shakked, "It's some branch of electronica, but adult-oriented, intelligent and eclectic. It's neither club-thumping rave, nor pure ambient chill-outāI guess it's somewhere in the radical middle between themāfor people who aren't musically polarized."

It's not news that today's music is running ahead of the industry's ability to categorize it. Nor is it news that a hot musical entrepreneur can get his own albums together and out faster and less expensively than the majors. It's just that Groove Gravy is a prime example of this current reality.

A graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and active in the industry for over a decade, Roy Shakked learned to navigate the business through a variety of positions. For a year he served as in-house composer at Music Pen in New York City, developing music for CD-ROM games marketed by Microsoft, Paramount Interactive and others. A classical music CD-ROM project he managed for Music Pen's client, Delta Entertainment in Los Angeles, ended with Shakked moving to L.A. and becoming Production Manager, then Director of Repertoire for Delta's assorted labels including the LaserLight budget label and Yamaha Artist Series.

By 1996, Shakked was tired of focusing strictly on the business end of things and started doing small production projects through his own Score Music Productions, Inc. - "Scoring background music for industrial videos, Producing and arranging music for local artists and lending his piano and voice to several projects." By '98, his efforts at Delta were down to part-time and in 2000, music production became his full-time gig, leading to an acclaimed solo project under the name HOLMES. Shakked founded Groove Gravy Records in March, 2002, and his first release, Fresh Goods by The Tao of Groove, hit the street the end of May. "We had offers to release it," he reports, "but I knew I could do it just as well, if not better, and certainly less expensively than the majors, or even other small, indie labels. So we did it ourselves." So far, it's paid off. Fresh Goods received phenomenal reviews and meaningful airplay. It's been a constant on playlists at Los Angeles's trend-setting KCRW, and KPFK (Pacifica Radio), and it has earned Top 40-charting at dozens of college radio stations around the U.S. Tracks off the CD are continually being licensed by other companies for inclusion on compilations, as well as for television and movies.

Groove Gravy's following releases have been compilations. So what separates them from other compilation CDs out on the market? The perfect balance! Featuring exclusive tracks from other in-house Groove Gravy artists such as Jazzelicious, Le D and Zigo, never before released remixes, well-known tracks from luminaries such as Masters At Work, Tosca, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Ursula 1000, Soulstice and more, as well as superb "new discovery" cuts from outstanding underground producers and artists. "We chose every track for its interest and intelligence," notes Shakked. "The tempos vary, the moods vary. We wanted this to be a solid listening experience throughout ā to really move you around musically. That's what I like to hear."

Groove Gravy's evolving catalog of recordings is interesting, intelligent, and highly musicalā targeted to a new audience that may be hungry to satisfy their musical appetite with a delicious, smart new mix of contemporary sound. We suspect there may be millions of them out there!