PLACID ANGLES Vinilo y CD

Review: John Beltran seems to have been busy of late. Various different projects of his are dropping on various different labels and here he assumes his Placid Angles alias to go back to his roots. The Michigan maestro has always been hugely adept at layering up lush ambient sounds and that's no different on 'A Perfect Swim' which bathes you deep in grainy synth bliss. 'Stormy Angel' is a more lively and cavernous, bass driven track with trippy and trancey synths up top and 'Moonlight Sunset' is an upbeat thriller with woodblock hits and heavenly vocals. 'Setting Suns' closes down with real serenity.

Review: "The Cry", John Beltran's 1997 album under the Placid Angles alias, remains one of his most beautiful, picturesque and well-rounded works. This belated sequel - the first Placid Angles outing since - is therefore hotly anticipated. It's wonderfully warm, melodic and atmospheric, with Beltran - a producer renowned for his ambient and techno works - expertly fusing elements of dreamy deep house, futurist Motor City techno, purist 1990s tech-house, early '90s IDM, rolling jungle/early D&B and intergalactic ambient techno. The result is a set of tracks so emotion-rich and evocative that you may want to marry it, or at least take it home to meet your parents. In a word: stunning.