JESSY LANZA Vinilo y CD

Review: Jessy Lanza has always been quintessentially Hyperdub. A label helmed by garage, dubstep and bass DJ and producer, and academic music theorist Kode 9, the imprint has relentlessly pushed the kind of dance tracks that are unashamedly direct yet unarguably clever. Beats that acknowledge the delicate balance of fun and accessible with underground and intelligent. 2023's Love Hallucination, Lanza's fourth studio album, only adds to the evidence. It bubbles with pop sensibilities, sing-along worthiness and timeless infectiousness, but does so in an incredibly thoughtful, natural-yet-razor-accurate way. From two-step to slo-mo funk, r&b and steamy electro groove, it presents the kind of songwriter who makes sure chart and radio friendly doesn't always mean throwaway or one dimensional. Infinitely repayable stuff.

Review: Hyperdub continues to stamp its authority down on a wide variety of electronic music, in this case throwing the light, bouncing club-ready sounds of Canada's Jessy Lanza into the mix of a back catalogue that touches on everything from ambient to dubstep and footwork. But, while we open on the snare-happy garage-house of 'Don't Leave Me Now', and tracks like 'Drive' also look to the dancefloor, things don't stay there long. 'Don't Cry On My Pillow', for example, is a low stepping piece of alternative electronic soul. 'Big Pink Rose' opts for synth refrains and staccato drums to create a steamy, heady neon r&b brew with added yacht. 'Double Time' deconstructs pop balladry and makes it sound lo-fi yet huge, 'I Hate Myself' seems to take a lead from tropicalia-hued, leftfield electronica.

Review: Jessy Lanza's skewed, left-of-centre take on electronic pop has helped her deliver a string of inspired albums, though few are quite as joyful, bold and ear-catching as Love Hallucination. It was created following her move from San Francisco to Los Angeles, with a string of musical friends and collaborators - Jeremy Greenspan, Jacques Greene, Tensnake and Paul White included - lending a hand with the production. The results are undoubtedly inspired, with UKG-influenced synth-pop nuggets, drowsy electronic disco and AM radio-friendly synth grooves being joined by future r&b bullets, bass-heavy pop-house throb-jobs and undeniably Balearic workouts. In other words, Love Hallucination is another inspired full-length excursion from one of the best in the business.

Review: Four years have passed since Jessy Lanza last offered-up an album, the Jeremy Greenspan co-produced leftfield space-pop masterpiece that was "Oh No". While plenty has changed in Lanza's working life since then - she now lives in New York and improvises more with "modular and semi-modular" synthesizers - her commitment to delivering a genuinely unique take on 21st century synth-pop remains. Those versed in the work of the Junior Boys will hear the hand of regular collaborator Jeremy Greenspan in the chords, melodies and synthesizer settings, but "All The Time" is undoubtedly Lanza's vision. Combining her usual glassy-eyed vocals and ear-pleasing, often melancholic synth-pop sounds with the colourful vibrancy of future R&B and grooves that subtly reference all manner of styles (dubstep included), it's most perfect underground pop album you'll hear all year.

Review: Four years have passed since Jessy Lanza last offered-up an album, the Jeremy Greenspan co-produced leftfield space-pop masterpiece that was "Oh No". While plenty has changed in Lanza's working life since then - she now lives in New York and improvises more with "modular and semi-modular" synthesizers - her commitment to delivering a genuinely unique take on 21st century synth-pop remains. Those versed in the work of the Junior Boys will hear the hand of regular collaborator Jeremy Greenspan in the chords, melodies and synthesizer settings, but "All The Time" is undoubtedly Lanza's vision. Combining her usual glassy-eyed vocals and ear-pleasing, often melancholic synth-pop sounds with the colourful vibrancy of future R&B and grooves that subtly reference all manner of styles (dubstep included), it's most perfect underground pop album you'll hear all year.

Review: Frequent Jeremy Greenspan and Morgan Geist collaborator Jessy Lanza was hailed as a future star on the release of her 2013 debut album, Pull My Hair Back. That album projected her as some kind of New York freestyle chanteuse dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, backed by an all-electronic band fascinated with the potential of future R&B and left-of-centre synth-pop. This belated follow-up, which was once again produced in cahoots with Jeremy Greenspan, is even better. Colourful, vibrant and attractive, the ten songs are truthful to their '80s NYC inspirations, but smartly avoid the pitfalls of such blatant retro-futurism. In other words, it's a superb collection of future R&B and pop gems.

Review: Frequent Jeremy Greenspan and Morgan Geist collaborator Jessy Lanza was hailed as a future star on the release of her 2013 debut album, Pull My Hair Back. That album projected her as some kind of New York freestyle chanteuse dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, backed by an all-electronic band fascinated with the potential of future R&B and left-of-centre synth-pop. This belated follow-up, which was once again produced in cahoots with Jeremy Greenspan, is even better. Colourful, vibrant and attractive, the ten songs are truthful to their '80s NYC inspirations, but smartly avoid the pitfalls of such blatant retro-futurism. In other words, it's a superb collection of future R&B and pop gems.

Review: Given that Junior Boys' Jeremy Greenspan is the man at the controls, it's perhaps unsurprising that this surprise debut full-length from little known Canadian chanteuse Jessy Lanza drips with smooth, synthesized sweetness. Packed with Greenspan's trademark melancholic, Metro Area-ish synths, but built around Lanza's fragile, otherworldly vocals, Pull My Hair Back is a contender for the best leftfield pop album of the year. Variously touching on synthesized R&B, deep boogie, sparse torch songs (see the sublime title track) and starbust wonkiness (the beautifully off-kilter "As If"), Lanza and Greenspan have delivered an impeccable, unassuming delight. Recommended.

Review: Last seen lining the Freestyle antics of Morgan Geist's latest project The Galleria on the excellent Calling Card 12" on Environ, Jessy Lanza returns to Hyperdub for a record that pairs her up with the Teklife crew. A superb vocalist, Lanza excels when matched with the rolling snares, crisp kicks and thick bass provided by DJ Spinn and Taso resulting in "You Never Show Your Love" sounding every bit like a modern R&B classic. It's accompanied by a Teklife remix which retains the mood whilst adding some Footwork flex into the mixer (the late DJ Rashad was involved in the production of this too). To close out the record, Hyperdub have slipped in Bambounou's excellent drum heavy remix of Lanza's "F*ck Diamond" which originally featured on one of the label's anniversary compilations last year.