CROOKED MAN Vinilo y CD

Review: Vicious Charm Recordings makes its vinyl bow with a collection of cuts from the mighty Crooked Man, AKA sometime Sweet Exorcist and All Seeing I man Richard 'Parrot' Barratt. A-side 'Love & Resistance' is one of Barratt's most magical and otherworldly workouts yet - a long and crooked chunk of off-kilter deep house soul featuring vocals by Carmen Squire that's as emotionally impactful as it as magical and melancholic. Over on the flip, Barratt offers up more mind-mangling mid-tempo sleaze via the echoing vocal samples, clanking industrial machine beats and frankly filthy TB-303 bass of 'Nemesis'. He ruffs that track up further on 'Nemesister', reaching for bouncy, dancehall-influenced house beats, reverb-laden stabbing bass and trippy electronic riffs. Like much of Barratt's work, it's effortlessly excellent.

Review: Richard Barratt aka Parrot aka Crooked Man is one of those artists with an indelible sonic fingerprint yet a diverse array of sounds in his arsenal. Here he offers up a pair of different remixes of the same tune, namely Jim v Crooked Man's 'Phoenix' on Vicious Charm Recordings. His Goth Edit is the one for us - a haunting tune with eerie guitar strings slowly unfolding over swirling electronics and smudged vocal sounds. It's perfect for this time of year when Halloween is just around the corner and is another master stroke from the Sheffield wizard.