Supreme Beings of Leisure

Supreme Beings of Leisure (SBL) are an electronic/trip hop band from Los Angeles, California. Current members of SBL are singer/songwriter Geri Soriano-Lightwood and multi-instrumentalist/programmer Ramin Sakurai. SBL was formed from the remains of the band Oversoul 7 in 1998 when they signed to Palm Pictures.

Supreme Beings of Leisure
OriginLos Angeles, California, United States
Genres
Years active1998–present
LabelsIndependent
Associated actsBitter:Sweet
Websitewww.sbleisure.com
Members
  • Geri Soriano-Lightwood
  • Ramin Sakurai
Past members
  • Kiran Shahani
  • Rick Torres

History

In 1996, Oversoul 7 formed with singer Geri Soriano-Lightwood, Ramin Sakurai, bassist Kiran Shahani, and guitarist Rick Torres, and released "Nothing Like Tomorrow" and "What's the Deal" on two compilations on the Moonshine Music dance label. After these Moonshine releases, Oversoul 7 signed a demo deal with A&M Records, recording "Truth From Fiction", "Never the Same", and "Last Girl on Earth", all of which ended up on the band's self-titled debut album, released on the Palm Pictures label.[1] This first Supreme Beings of Leisure album sold over 250,000 units with little promotional touring. Instead, SBL opted to use the internet to market and promote the album, being the first band to do a "Virtual Internet Tour", and among the first to use Flash animation for their videos. "Supreme Beings of Leisure" peaked at #47 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart according to allmusic.com, and was in the top 100 of the Trip-Hop Dance & DJ music category according to Amazon.com sales ranking.

After the release of their debut album the band split, leaving Geri and Ramin as the main members of SBL. With this lineup, they released the second SBL album, Divine Operating System in 2003.[2] This peaked at #29 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, #9 on the Top Electronic Albums chart, and #23 on the Top Independent Albums chart (all according to allmusic.com).

In 2003, SBL decided to leave Palm Pictures, taking a two-year hiatus, while releasing various remixes and appearing on other artists' albums during this period.

Supreme Beings of Leisure's third major album, 11i, was released on February 12, 2008 by Rykodisc Records.[3] Aiming to create a richer, fuller sound than on SBL's first two releases, Geri and Ramin welcomed their touring band into the studio to collaborate on some tracks: Sheldon Strickland (bass), Geoff Brandin (guitar), and Jason Graham (drums). They also broadened their sound with guest musicians including string arranger Scott Tibbs (who has worked with Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige), turntablist DJ Swamp (Beck, Crystal Method, Morcheeba), violin virtuoso Lili Haydn and Megadeth axe-man Marty Friedman.

SBL has earned favorable notices in Rolling Stone, the New York Times,[4] Details, Interview, Elle, Wired, Billboard, Keyboard and Seventeen. They have sold more than 300,000 records.

Discography
Year Album details Peak chart positions[5]
US Dance US Heat. US Ind.
2000 Supreme Beings of Leisure
  • Released: February 22, 2000
  • Label: Palm
  • Format: CD
 — 47[6] 29[7]
2003 Divine Operating System
  • Released: February 24, 2003
  • Label: Palm
  • Format: CD
 9 — 23
2008 11i
  • Released: February 12, 2008
  • Label: Rykodisc
  • Format: CD
 9 32 —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Singles
Year Title US Dance[5] Album
2000 "Strangelove Addiction" 40 Supreme Beings of Leisure
2002 "Divine" 9 Divine Operating System
2003 "Ghetto" 5

References
  1. Supreme Beings of Leisure. Palm Pictures LLC. 2000. LCCN 00523943.
  2. Divine Operating System. Palm Pictures LLC. 2002. LCCN 2004652103.
  3. Divine Operating System. Rykodisc. 2008. LCCN 2010615527.
  4. Pareles, Jon. "POP REVIEW; On the Road to the 70's, Singing and Dancing". New York Times. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  5. "Supreme Beings of Leisure Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  6. "Supreme Beings of Leisure Supreme Beings Of Leisure Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  7. "Supreme Beings of Leisure Supreme Beings Of Leisure Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
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