Lexx

Review: Given that Alex Storrer released his first Lexx record way back in 2001, this album is way overdue. It's Storrer's first as Lexx following an abstract 2002 ambient set as Lexxodus. "Cosmic Shift" is as warm, groovy, Balearic and beguiling as you'd expect with Storrer joining the dots between yacht rock, dub, deep house, ambient, folk, new age and lazy Latin grooves. Interestingly, Storrer successfully takes to the mic on numerous occasions, while guests including Woolfy, Ella Thompson and Harriet Brown also lend a hand. The results are uniformly superb, which begs the question: why didn't he do it sooner? Let's hope it won't be 20 years before we get a sequel.

Review: Alex Storrer has spent the last few years producing and releasing decidedly Balearic, sun-kissed sounds under the now familiar Lexx alias. Here he flips the script, donning the previously unused LX72 pseudonym to deliver a three-track EP that explores his deep house and Detroit beatdown influences. He superbly sets the tone via A-side "Luantic Dolphin", a warm, toasty and groovy affair in which classic deep house chords, restless bass and watery sound effects rise above a disco-influenced drum track. Over on side B the fun continues with the deeper and even more bass-heavy shuffle of "State of Resilience", not to mention the hazy, jammed-out beatdown bliss of "Duster".