Downtempo / Balearic Recommendations September 2017

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Australia is known for its Sydney Opera House, Great Barrier Reef, the vast desert wilderness and unique animal species including kangaroos and duck-billed platypuses; but is also known for its well-crafted music output and deep love for optimistic sensual tunes. This is the case here with the first release of a mysterious project called Ponzu Island, there is absolutely no info available on the artist, so let your ears judge without prejudice. His first effort comes in the form of a 3 track EP including "Super Koto", "Ponzu Beach" and "Ponzu Logic", they sound like if Morgan Geist and Todd Terje took some acid and locked themselves in a room with a sea view, a synth, and a computer. Welcome to Ponzu Island.

To complete the EP the label counted with Andras Fox, another Aussie who has already gained much respect for his simply-perfect micro house productions (btw don't miss his live set if you ever have the chance). Andras revisits the track "Super Koto" in the form of an extended mix with a slower bpm and his magic touch here and there. On the flip side Apersonal's local producer Trujillo does his usual thing remixing "Ponzu Logic", closing the EP into a deep and darker territory. By now you will be in the middle in the desert asking yourself how you got there..

Review: As much love has already been given to Larry Heard's late '80s and early '90s work, it's nice to see some of the Chicagoan's slightly later work getting a deserved reissue. Alien first surfaced on Black Market International back in 1996, and finds Heard exploring his sci-fi influences in a range of deep and emotive styles. So, there are forays into blunted hip-hop ("The Beauty of Celeste"), twinkling, starburst ambience ("Faint Object Detection", "The Dance of Planet X") and Detroit techno-influenced melodic downtempo beats ("DNA-RNA"), as well as occasional moments of typically immersive deep house warmth (the wonderful "Flight of the Comet"). In other words, it's a trip into space in the company of one of electronic music's finest exponents of melodic richness.

Review: Nicola Cruz returns with another spellbinding fusion of Afro Brazilian charm in the form of "Folha De Jurema". With the dusky dulcets of Arteria FM, the dusty strums of Spaniol and sultry plucks of Salvador Arguaya, Cruz commands a decorated cast as they explore a mystical new vision of a traditional Brazilian folk standard. The remixes are just as warm and alluring as Xique Xique adds a little steel string tension, Crussen maps out a chugging Scandinavian odyssey and Rio's Carrot Green brings us back home to the motherland with a poignant, hazy flutter of house soul. Stunning.

Review: Malka Tuti continues to be a hotbed of oddball, outernational wares for adventurous dancefloors, and the Israeli label reaches a new milestone as it presents its first full-length album release. Die Orangen is a project headed up by prolific Australian artist Kris Baha alongside Angelo Cruzman and Dreems, and following a single on Malka Tuti last year they come good with an album of psych-out brilliance that should have a broad reach from Balearic heads to wave-minded disco dancers. "To The Top Of Gloucester" shows they're happy to embrace experimental moods as much as direct hitters, and the loose, live band approach to the music binds all the different styles together perfectly.

Review: Sounds Of The City has turned its attention to a new sublabel called Sounds Of The Streets, which supposedly focuses on the classic sounds of the 70s and 80s with one foot still tapping on the contemporary dancefloor. Wulysse is up first with Hotspot, and from the sounds of "Still Runnin" this artist has got the stylistic approach down to a fine art. Where that track is all bubbly and feel-good, there's a hint of mystery in the sweeping chords of "Hotspot", but either way the boogie funks hard on both tracks. "Smurfin & Rappin", by way of contrast, allows some acid influence into the mix with absolutely crucial results.

Review: Emotional Rescue turns its attention to Spanish artist Luis Delgado, who made a name for himself fusing traditional folk music from across the globe with experimental electronic practice. His first album Vathek stands as one of his masterworks, originally released in 1986 and featuring a range of different electro-acoustic approaches that draw you in with their strange, dynamic textures. There's a whiff of Jon Hassell's treated trumpet about "La Puerta De Ebano" while "El Sacrificio De Catoul" deals in a dense weave of chimes and percussion. Diverse, engrossing listening from the outer reaches.

Review: Last spotted causing a "Ramshackle Rumble" on Aficionado three years ago, Brenda B Ray returns with three more Balearic spellbinders... "Solartude" eases us in slowly with a limping, soft arpeggio that's shrouded in chimes and a growing orchestral warmth, "Space Dustin'" removes any traces of drum for an ambient sojourn into a night sky as the strings take a back seat for swooning moments of melted vocal harmonisation. "Skip Hop To Bop" closes on an upbeat note with a layered synths tease back and forth over roomy kicks and majestic beds of chimes. One of a kind.

Review: Third time around for Beverly Glenn-Copeland's superb 1986 LP Keyboard Fantasies, which Invisible City Editions reissued last year. Since copies of that pressing are hard to come back, this fresh reissue should be welcomed. Musically, it's something of a killer curio: a set that sees Copeland adding weary, folksy vocals to melodious, synthesizer-based backing tracks. Stylistically it's a little more diverse than that, sitting somewhere between art-rock, lo-fi synth-soul, '80s synth-wave and new age ambience. The looseness of the instrumentation and production is particularly alluring, as is the "home-made" feel of Glenn-Copeland's heart-aching songs.