Supreme Beings of Leisure

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Supreme Beings of Leisure 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.

History

In 1996, Oversoul 7 came together as members Geri Soriano-Lightwood, Ramin Sakurai, (Bassist)) Kiran Shahani, and (Guitarist) Rick Torres released "Nothing Like Tomorrow" and "What's the Deal" on two compilations on the Moonshine Music dance label. After the Moonshine releases, Oversoul 7 signed a demo deal with A&M records recording demos of "Truth From Fiction", "Never the Same", and "Last Girl on Earth", all songs which ended up on the now classic "Supreme Beings of Leisure" debut album (released on Palm Pictures label). The release of the first Supreme Beings of Leisure album sold over 250,000 units with very little promotional touring. Instead, SBL opted to use the internet to market and promote the album, being the first band to ever do a "Virtual Internet Tour", and among the very first to use Flash animation for their videos. The "Supreme Beings of Leisure" peaked at 47 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart according to allmusic.com, and is in the top 100 of the Trip-Hop Dance & DJ music category according to Amazon.com sales ranking.

Ramin Sakurai of SBL composed the theme music for the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE/World News.

After the release of the debut album, the band decided to split leaving Geri and Ramin as the main members of SBL, quickly releasing the second SBL album "Divine Operating System" in 2002. "Divine" peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, number 9 on the Top Electronic Albums chart, and number 23 on the Top Independent Albums chart (all according to allmusic.com).

In 2003, SBL decided to leave the Palm Pictures taking a 2 year hiatus releasing various remixes and appearing on various artists albums during this period.

In 2004, members Rick Torres and Kiran Shahani released the album LAZY incorporated with vocalist Jailyn Matthews under the name LAZY on the label ERECORDS

In 2006, member Kiran Shahani released his own album as a duo with Shana Halligan under the name Bitter:sweet.

in 2008, member Rick Torres started the band The Smart Set with vocalist Brandi Emma, bassist Wayne Lothian, keyboardist Dave Schulz, and drummer Chris O'Brien

Members currently include; Geri Soriano-Lightwood, Ramin Sakurai, Sheldon Strickland (bassist), Geof Brandin (guitarist), and Jason Graham (drums). Supreme Beings of Leisure's third major album, 11i, was released on February 12, 2008 from Rykodisc Records.

Discography

• Supreme Beings of Leisure (2000)
• Divine Operating System (2002)
• 11i (2008)

External links

• Supreme Beings of Leisure at MySpace

• The Smart Set at MySpace