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, multi-instrumentalist/producer Ramin Sakurai, and guitarist/programmer Rick Torres. SBL was formed from the remains of the band Oversoul 7 in 1998 when they signed to Palm Pictures.
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. 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. 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. 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), violinist Lili Haydn and Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman.
SBL has earned favorable notices in Rolling Stone, the New York Times, Details, Interview, Elle, Wired, Billboard, Keyboard and Seventeen. They have sold more than 300,000 records.
Songs featured in television and film Year Song Film/Show Notes 2000 "Strangelove Addiction" Shadow Hours "Secret Agent Man" Secret Agent Man Cover used as Opening Theme 2001 "Golddigger"Class Warfare "Never the Same" Soul Survivors 2002 "Strangelove Addiction" "Do it for Uncle Mannie" "Golddigger" New Best Friend "Golddigger" Igby Goes Down "Never the Same" Just a Kiss 2003 "Give Up" Fastlane Episode: 1.11 "Under the Gun" Animatrix Segment: "A Detective Story" "Strangelove Addiction" National Lampoon's Barely Legal "Divine" "Gay Hollywood" Documentary 2004 "Rock and a Hard Place" Veronica Mars Episode: 1.3 2005 "Under the Gun"Las Vegas Episode: 2.15 "Ghetto" Must Love Dogs 2016 "Golddigger" Better Call Saul Episode: 2.1
Discography Albums + List of albums, with selected details and chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions US Dance US Heat. US Ind. AUS Supreme Beings of Leisure Released: February 22, 2000 Label: Palm Format: CD — 47 29 82 Divine Operating System Released: September 10, 2002 Label: Palm Format: CD 9 — 23 — 11i Released: February 12, 2008 Label: Rykodisc Format: CD 9 32 — — 22 Released: February 10, 2023 Label: Leisurephonic Records Format: LP, Digital — — — — "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Album US Dance "Strangelove Addiction" 1999 40 Supreme Beings of Leisure "Divine" 2002 9 Divine Operating System "Ghetto" 2003 5 "Full Circle" 2022 — "22" "Contender" — "Body" —
References