JOHN BELTRAN Vinilo y CD

Review: Having thrown somewhat of a creative curveball with the launch of Latin and soul-centered project Sol Set, John Beltran hands over the Detroit collective's debut album Ola De Novo to a list of impressive global talent for the remix treatment. Kiko Navarro, Kaidi Tatham, Blair Frech, Ezel, Cee ElAssaad, Chris Coco and John Beltram with John Arnold all line up to do their duty, incorporating the sun kissed, percussion-heavy and exotically instrumented vibes into their more house and techno productions. Highlights include Cee ElAssaad's remix of 'Get Away', its gloriously optimistic vocal retained and re-purposed over light and nimble beats, and Chris Coco's dubby slow motion samba take on 'Linda Sau Paulo', but like the label says, it's All Good

Review: After his superlative and rather unexpected foray into Afro and Latin fusion with his Sol Set project, John Beltran returns to more familiar territory with a rendition of his classic mid-90s album 'Ten Days of Blue' recorded at this year's Dekmantel in Amsterdam. We get a real feel for the whole gig experience, from the sound of murmured anticipation and intro tape to the resolution at the outro and the main meat of the music itself - lively, optimistic, groovy but understated and chilled at the same time - sits somewhere between his ambient and harder techno work. Among Beltran's very finest output.