Back catalogue: All genres

Review: The split 12" from East London's Portico Quartet and Polish pianist Hania Rani exemplifies how simple ideas can yield remarkable results. Each artist reworked the other's track, with impressive outcomes. Portico Quartet transforms Rani's 'Nest' into a dreamy, ethereal jazz piece, featuring undulating analogue synths, immersive chords, and floaty vocal samples carried by languid jazz drumming. Rani's take on Portico Quartet's 'With, Beside, Against' is even more striking. Her version, minimalistic and sparse, introduces twinkling piano motifs and her evocative vocals, creating a slowly unfolding, cinematic jazz experience. Both interpretations are nothing short of stunning.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


The split 12" from East London's Portico Quartet and Polish pianist Hania Rani exemplifies how simple ideas can yield remarkable results. Each artist reworked the other's track, with impressive outcomes. Portico Quartet transforms Rani's 'Nest' into a dreamy, ethereal jazz piece, featuring undulating analogue synths, immersive chords, and floaty vocal samples carried by languid jazz drumming. Rani's take on Portico Quartet's 'With, Beside, Against' is even more striking. Her version, minimalistic and sparse, introduces twinkling piano motifs and her evocative vocals, creating a slowly unfolding, cinematic jazz experience. Both interpretations are nothing short of stunning.

Review: Returning, Dream, the sophomore album from Jack Wyllie's Paradise Cinema, blends the rhythmic intensity of African percussion with ambient textures and electronic influences. Created in London with contributions from Dakar and Sydney, the album draws inspiration from the Many Worlds theory of quantum physics, where each decision branches into new possibilities. This concept mirrors the album's abundant rhythmic diversity, led by hand drums like the tama, sabar, and surdo, played by Khadim Mbaye, Tons Sembe, and Laurence Pike. Wyllie's use of woodwinds, reeds, and synthetic layers creates a lush soundscape. The title track, 'Returning, Dream', revolves around hypnotic flute loops and ritualistic rhythms, while 'Tide' recalls Steve Reich's minimalism with delicate metallic chimes and dizzying, ecstatic patterns. 'Night Search' blends saxophone skronk with North African tonalities, invoking the trance-like riffing of the Master Musicians of Joujouka and the spiritual heights of Pharoah Sanders. 'A Morning In The Near Future' is mellow and meditative, while 'Nowhere, Home' offers a noirish, Blade Runner-esque atmosphere. Wyllie's Returning, Dream is a bold, genre-blurring journey that merges global rhythms with innovative soundscapes.

Review: Matthew Halsall founded Gondwana Records in 2008. An independent label based in Manchester, it's gone on to release music by Dwight Trible, GoGo Penguin, Nat Birchall and Halsall himself. The label has won acclaim across the world and can claim the likes of Gilles Peterson, Mr Scruff and Bonobo as fans. Next up are the Mercury Prize nominated Portico Quartet with their powerful new album Art In The Age Of Automation: where they're now rebooted as a quartet after a brief spell as the three-piece Portico. They have always been an impossible band to pin down; taking in aspects of jazz, electronica, ambient music and minimalism but the group have undoubtedly crafted their own singular sound. There's the dashing and cinematic bliss of "Objects To Place In A Tomb" and the hypnotic live drum and bass of "A Luminous Beam" amongst other highlights.

Review: For their latest new album on Gondwana, and seventh full length overall, Portico Quartet draw on American minimalism and ambient music genres as well the work of the cult Japanese composer Midori Takada. They composed and recorded most of it last year and it features three movements of their typically elegant and graceful sounds. The tracks are all built around central, repeating tenets which weave in and out of one another to hypnotic and beautiful effect. Often reaching for the cosmos, the delicate drumming and serene pads all instantly grab your attention and then take you on beautifully immersive rides.

Review: Mercury Prize-nominated Portico Quartet are masters of fusing jazz, electronics and downtempo sounds and have been for several years, not least on their 2017 album Art In The Age Of Automation. The same label that put out to then - Mathew Halsall's Gondwana Records - is now reissuing it on limited edition clear vinyl. The album is richly immersive and steeped in ambient beauty and minimalist charm, with plenty of ethereal melodies and cinematic soundscapes that stretch out wide all around you. The detail is densely packed in and the richness of the sound really elevates this album into something quite spectacular.