Downtempo / Balearic Recommendations July 2015

Review: .Mikhail Khvasko has been painting a vivid, sunkissed picture of Balearic bliss with his A Vision Of Panorama project since it first emerged on Mellophonia back in 2016. As the nights start to draw in, this latest drop is just what you need to escape to an imagined coastal idyll where the sun never sets. From the steady groove of 'Floral Rhythm' to the gentle skank of 'Seaside Tune' this is immaculately rendered feel-good music rendered in plush synths with an unmistakable 80s finish. There are beats to be enjoyed on 'Blues 909', but you've never heard the totemic techno machine sound as smooth and mellow as it does right here.

Review: IIB reach their 40th release with label stalwart Max Essa's latest EP. Feel The Machine is a proto-house groove with touches of italo-disco. Chugging bassline and cowbells making it a real dancer. Panapolean Dreamer is a more downtempo beat driven affair with eastern strings on a mellow new beat vibe. The second side starts with Tall Shadows Walking Home. Again max explores the proto house sound all smothered in lovely electronic melodies. Twenty Types Of Dusk relaxes the tempo again. Trademark Max Essa Balearic. A killer ep. to celebrate 40 12" releases.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Fresh from 1986 - and recently re-edited by John Talabot - documents do not get any more Balearic than this.... Spanish trio Ishinohana's debut album is rich in cosmic attitude. At points daydreaming while the sand laps at its toes (the lilting nylon strings and soft padded hand drums of "Lucia", the overlapping guitars and galloping refrains of "La Flor De Piedra"), at others a much darker, more spacious star-gazing affair (the Arabic dreams of "El Beso Negro") and at others a heavier rhythmic, floor-minded approach (the lolloping bass and reggae-wise strums of "Variacion 23") this is a timeless document that befits situations and sceneries that existed long before this record was conjured up... And will remain so for generations after. Stunning.

Review: The first of two International Feel 12" releases from Steve 'Fila Brazilia' Cobby and vocalist Trudie Dawn Smith continues the label's peerless run of pushing the odder strains of disco in 2015. Cobby's role as part of Fila Brazilia on the development of UK electronics shouldn't be understated, and he's really found a recent creative streak with his solo productions - see last year's fine Everling album issued through his Declasse label. The original version of "We Start Over" finds Cobby taking a back seat, laying down a wonderfully understated arrangement for Dawn Smith's gorgeous vocal to shine over. Complementing this, Testpressing type Apiento teams up with Lexx for a remix that ups the chug factor markedly.

Review: The latest Antinote release marks a slight diversion for the Parisian operation as it welcomes Domenique Dumont to the fold with a six-track EP of charmingly odd vignettes that sound unlike anything else that has come out on the label, while simultaneously fitting right in. Despite the French name, it transpires Domenique Dumont is the work of a man hailing from Latvian capital Riga with Comme ca benefitting from the occasional wonderful vocal turn from an unnamed female singer. With delicate, fluttering melodic lines and gentle Minipops beats run through a dub aesthetic filter and imbued with positivity, it's certainly comforting listening for more clement times. All hail Antinote!

Review: This debut album from The Very Polish Cut-Outs stalwarts PTaki has been a long time coming, having originally been mooted for release back in 2013. It's clearly undergone many changes since then, but the Warsaw-based act's formula - samples of obscure Polish music, plus analogue beats and old-fashioned studio trickery - remains in tact. Przelot is an impressive set, all told, with sinewy, organic-sounding Balearic gems (see the classical guitars of blissful closer "Jelitkowo" and sun-kissed "Girlcandy") being joined by more adventurous, drum machine-based cuts that variously doff a cap to out-there dub (the brilliant "Nie Zabijaj"), slow acid (the equally inspired "Ostani Kurs"), and impossibly intoxicating downtempo jazz ("Juz Kocham Cie Tyle").

Review: RBMA alumni Ruf Dug ups the ante with his debut album. According to legend it was written during 12 weeks of island paradise in Guadeloupe. But as his previous work (all written in Manchester) is as beautifully Balearic as this, who can tell? Stretching his signature and a great sense of space throughout, he flexes from pretty raw, head-bendy dancefloor (the 2020 Soundsystem style build on "Speedboat" and the sprightly tech lollops of "Mosquito") to the film-like and vaguely discordant ("Mangrove Dub") via the totally immersive and alluring (the stunning, spine-melting overlapping arpeggios of "Shoreline"). Regardless of where he wrote it, it's a highly accomplished album... And perfectly timed for the sunny season.

Review: The brazen anonymity of the Blah Blah team crank up the sandy sound machine once again with four more sunny-side work outs. The shiny keys, '80s soul and emphatic vocals of "Compass Smokers" give a Grace Jones air while the shimmering guitar twangs of "Not Med Theny" should instantly have you instantly reaching for your Pat Metheny records. Meanwhile on the B "Paris In Reeed" surges us much deeper into the dance with the accordion-adorned strutting beats while Ri??olo DJ closes the show with a playground sing-along extension of "Balearic Generation". Join in if you know the chorus.....

Review: Uber picked up this beautiful mellowed out pop song by Shining Bird for a vinyl release after becoming totally captivated by its warm laid back Balearic feel. Shining Bird hail from Austinmer a coastal town just south of Sydney, Australia. They are a collective of friends who got together over their love of the sea, Australian cinema, Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue" Lp and the great Australian poet Henry Lawson. The second track Stitzing/Wipeout is another great alternative pop song in the same vein as Destroyer with the song blending into a 5 min piece of psyched out ambient. On the flip side Coyote remix Distant Dreaming into a horizontal percussion led dubby contemplative trip with pitched down vocals and a throbbing bassline. Uber continuing its crusade of finding and releasing music that captures their Balearic ethos.

Review: Four years on from the first Moonlighting party in Oslo, sometime Full Pupp producer Oyvind Morken has decided to launch a label of the same name. He handles the first 7", showcasing his love of all things humid, tropical and otherworldly on "Jungle Erotikk". It's something of an aural treat, with marimba melodies dancing over a metronomic, rolling dancefloor groove. Everything about it is lush and Balearic, as you might expect. The same could be said for flipside "Exter", which sounds like a White Isle-friendly take on classic alternative new wave - all heady synthesizers, lolloping machine drums and saucer-eyed intent.

Review: The revolving door between Glasgow's legendary Green Door Studio and JD Twitch's Optimo Music continues, with more graduates of the legendary recording space making their debut on the imprint. If this is EP is anything to go by, Junto Club could well go the way of Golden Teacher and become firm favourites of those who love their dance music eccentric, off-kilter and hard to pin down. Over the four tracks here, the Glaswegian fusionists variously doff a cap to baggy Balearic pop ("Freedom From The Known"), hard-wired, Italo-influenced industrial funk ("Leaving Forever"), the sax-laden post-punk throb of Chakk ("SCG"), and wonky gothic pop ("Let Me In"). That, though, is only half the story, given the combo's unique and enthralling musical vision.

Review: Known best for their excellent cassette tape releases, Bristol label No Corner does occasionally dabble in other formats and largely look to the ever swelling pool of local talent to source their musical wares. The latest 7" from No Corner pairs up Young Echo duo Jabu with Chester Giles, a vocalist with the most meandering of tones who the more attentive collectors will recognise from a recent Vessel hookup on the F*ck Punk label. The return is short and sweet as "Slow Hours" comes and goes in less than four minutes, a hallmark of Jabu productions, and sees the singing of Jabu man Alex Rendall clash up with the laconic delivery of Giles over a stuttering production blessed with some fine piano.

Review: Funkstorung have been releasing acid-driven techno since the mid 1990's and although they've kept a below-commercial status over the last few years, they certainly haven't gone anywhere. Germany's Monkeytown welcomes them back to the surface of the scene with their latest LP, a fourteen-track journey through vast planes of electronica and sparse bass explorations. Compared to their older material, tracks like "IATC", "So Simple" featuring Jamie Lidell, and "CHNNL" are considerably softer and more pensive, opting instead to delve into your mind by means of melody and soulfulness rather than brute beat anger. A breath of fresh air!