Review: Scottish artist Barry Can't Swim has made big moves in the last year or so and finally, he capitalises on his ever-growing momentum with a debut album on the mighty Ninja Tune. The multi-faceted talent explores his most broad and diverse range of sounds to date here with 11 sublime tracks that move from deep house to jazz, heavy and percussive Afrobeat to lush ambiance. Each of the tracks feels like a fine technical achievement with complexity at its core but never at the expense of good vibes, such as the choral harmonies on 'Always Get Through To You', smart samples of Brazil's Trio Ternura on 'Dance Of The Crab' and digital and organic blends on 'Woman.'
Review: 20 years on from its initial release in 2004, Ninja Tune share the first ever reissue of Blockhead's Music By Cavelight. The New York-based alias of Tony Simon, this record is the quintessence of Ninja Tune's smoked-out trip-hop sound at the time, and for which Simon himself likewise came to be known. Recalling a time when instrumental beatsmiths were much likelier to consider their crafts artful enough to warrant calling their studios beat-smithies (as compared to the sadly throwaway feel of much instrumental hip-hop today), one can really hear the subtlety and care poured into each vignette here, our favourites among which are 'Bullfight In Ireland', 'Graveyard Hunt' and 'Bloop Bloop'; all play back like studies of a gritty, degage, sun-bathed vision of a bygone big smoke.
Review: Given his impressive track record, hopes are naturally high for Bonobo's sixth album, Migration, which is his first full-length since 2013. Happily, it's a majestic affair, with the producer delivering another sumptuous set of tracks. It was partly inspired by an extended period musing on the nature of personal identity, and the role that nationality plays in that. This concept is translated via thoughtful lyrics, and songs that draw musical influence from the four corners of the globe. It's not a big stylistic leap, of course - his bread and butter remains yearning, emotion-rich downtempo music built around gently jazzy grooves and impeccable live instrumentation - but given that few artists do it better than Bonobo, we'll forgive him for that.
Review: Simon Greene aka. Bonobo is set to put forth yet another album from his own personal ether; 'Fragments' was born from actual sonic 'fragments' that were later repurposed into twelve full 'sonic affirmations'. A later escape into the wilds of California's deserts formed the bulk of this album's downtempo magnum opi; watch out for collabs with a foray of world-downtempo electronica acts including Jamila Woods, O'Flynn and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. One of his most heartfelt albums, expect all from lilting future garage ('Rosewood') to rave-nostalgic slow builds.
Review: Has it really been five years since Migration? Time has flown, but the evergreen appeal of Bonobo holds true as he lands back on his spiritual home of Ninja Tune with another hotly anticipated opus. Fragments finds Simon Green digging deep, having forced himself to work outside of his usual tour-centric comfort zone during the global shutdown and developing a lot of new material in the isolation of the Californian desert. While that air of solitude formed a foundation for the album, he then folded in ample collaborations from Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Jordan Rakei, O'Flynn, Joji and Kadhja Bonet, resulting in a stirring soul soup of richly developed, danceable rhythms and patient musicality with that unmistakable Bonobo touch.
Review: Given the rise in popularity in new school jazz in recent years, it seems a fitting time to welcome back Ninja Tune stalwarts The Cinematic Orchestra. "To Believe" is not only their first album in some seven years, but also one of their strongest releases to date. Opening with the poignant neo-classical/soul fusion "To Believe", the set sees Jason Swinscoe and company attractively saunter between jazz-electronica fusion (Roots Manuva collaboration ("A Caged Bird/Imitations Of Life"), pastoral jazz epics (the sunset ready epic that is "Lessons"), gentle downtempo songs ("Wait For Now/Leave The World"), ambient jazz ("The Workers Of Art") and slowly unfurling dancefloor workouts (killer closing cut "A Promise"). In a word: stunning.
Review: It's certainly true that Ma Fleur represented a pivotal moment for The Cinematics. The outfit came to fruition, or at least hit the common conscience, in the haze of late-1990s post-trip-hop comedowns, a time when we were all still going harder, faster and stronger in clubs but wanted something cosy and velveteen on the after party hifi at 10AM rather than ketamine techno. Far more innocent times to say the least.
This 2007 record broke from the well established mould of the troupe, though, landing five years after its predecessor (Every Day) and opting for a more direct approach to loveliness. A kind of grab you by the throat and make you feel nice type remit that leaves the subtleties of the past behind in favour of more traditional big room, show stopping song craft.
Review: It's astonishing to think that two decades have now passed since the Cinematic Orchestra first unveiled Every Day. While not their debut studio set - 'Motion' appeared three years before - it was undoubtedly the album in which Jason Swinscoe and company perfected their widescreen, string-laden and ultra-atmospheric blend of neo-jazz and downtempo. As this re-mastered and lightly expanded anniversary edition proves, the album remains a timeless classic. It's peppered with genuine highlights, with our picks including Fontella Bass hook-up 'All That You Are' (a slow-burn, emotive, downtempo jazz gem), the jazz-funk influenced dancefloor workout 'Flite' (also featured in bonus 'original mix' form), head-nodding hip-hop-goes-jazz gem 'All Things To All Men' (featuring Roots Manuva in his pomp) and 'Man With The Movie Camera', which started life as a new soundtrack to a classic silent movie.
Review: 20 years have now passed since The Cinematic Orchestra unveiled their soundtrack to experimental, Soviet-era silent documentary film The Man With The Movie Camera. As this deluxe, deliciously packaged anniversary reissue shows, it remains one of J Swinscoe and company's most timeless and on-point works - an effortlessly atmospheric affair that blends neo-classical strings and deep, smoky jazz instrumentation with subtle electronics, swelling ambient chords and nods to contemporary music. This time round, the album - which boasts highlights including the fan favourite title track, the dancefloor-ready 'Theme De Yoyo' and the stirring 'All Things' - has been pressed to coloured vinyl and comes accompanied by extensive new liner notes.
Review: Peruvian artist in Berlin Sofia Kourtesis has been on an unstoppable rise since she first emerged with a pair of EPs on Studio Barnhus. Brought into the Ninja Tune fold back in 2021, she's developed her debut album in the whirlwind of a rapidly growing profile and the personal struggle of her mother's terminal cancer diagnosis. Through her tenacity, she found a gifted doctor who was able to treat her mother and give her a life expectancy no-one would have thought possible, and so Madres doubles as a tribute to her mother and to the medical professionals who achieved what was thought impossible - as such, it's a powerful, sincere listening experience which fuses deep house with melancholic pop in mesmerising fashion.
Review: Swedish dub funk electropoppers Little Dragon - Yukimi Nagano, Erik Bodin, Fredrik Wallin and Hakan Wirenstrand - present their latest LP Slugs Of Love here via their longstanding patrons Ninja Tune. Following up their 2020 album New Me, Same Us, which had a long time to gestate, the new album comes at a well-timed moment, charting a thematic undercurrent of finding love in unexpected places - just the message we need for 2023. Eccentric and kooky synthiness bolsters their minimal-kitsch, r&b-inflected post-punk sound, best evidenced by the songs 'Stay' (featuring JID) or 'Gold'.
Review: Little Dragon - the pioneering Swedish four-piece fronted by enigmatic vocalist Yukimi Nagano, with multi-instrumentalists Hakan Wirenstarnd and Fredrik Wallin on keyboards and bass respectively, and Erik Bodin on drums and percussion - return with their sixth studio album, New Me, Same Us. After an impressive period of renown lasting almost two decades, this new record sounds like a moment of respite and a return to basics. "This album has been the most collaborative for us yet." they explain, "which might sound weird considering we've been making music together for all these years, but we worked hard at being honest, finding the courage to let go of our egos and be pieces of something bigger." This entailed total self-production in a long-term home studio built in Gothenburg, Sweden, as well as an impressively stripped-back sound, towing lullabies such as 'Where You Belong' and 'New Fiction', which both reassure and rouse at the same time.
Review: Hallucinating Love, Maribou State's third album, is their most personal yet and was crafted amid intense challenges. After scrapping initial drafts, Chris Davids and Liam Ivory created the album as a form of "musical therapy" to help them reconnect and heal. With soaring strings, evocative samples, and guest vocals from Holly Walker and Andreya Triana, Hallucinating Love captures both intimacy and grandeuriperfectly suited for Ninja Tune's indie sensibilities and a fitting soundtrack for hopeful, communal reunions.
Review: Maribou State's Hallucinating Love is their first record in over five years, following 2019's acclaimed Kingdom In Colour (which concluded the mid-to-late 2010s in which the pair shot to superstardom). Centring on one core theme: togetherness, it tells the fraught yet reinvigorating tale of late mental health diagnoses, pandemic lockdowns, peaks and troughs of inspiration, rest and recovery and time spent honing and reforming their core craft. Battling several several health problems and impasses, the duo of Chris Davids and Liam Ivory have beaten the odds here, once again crafting a wonder of a dance record, which builds on their distinctive downbeat-upbeat funk-pop style whilst still forming a swell sonic backbone for what is sure to be one of the dewiest of oncoming British festival seasons, spring and summer 2025.
Review: Many happy returns to Mr Scruff's third and most celebrated album, Trouser Jazz, which turned 20 at the tail end of 2022. To mark the occasion, the long-serving, Stockport-born DJ/producer has reissued it on blue and red vinyl and reworked the artwork a bit. It remains a genuinely kaleidoscopic, all-action musical treat that moves in a myriad of different directions, blending quirky and unlikely samples with good grooves, oodles of musicality and plenty of aural colour. Highlights include the jaunty, solo-laden breakbeat bounce of 'Sweetsmoke', the up-tempo soul-jazz of Seaming To collaboration 'Beyond', the 21st century jazz-funk of 'Shrimp', the jazz-flecked hip-hop of 'Shelf Wobbler', the horn-heavy nu-jazz excellence of 'Champion Nibble', and the sample-laden silliness of 'Ahoy There'.
This Version Of You (feat Julianna Barwick) (2:33)
Wide Awake (feat Charlie Houston) (3:37)
Love Letter (feat The Knocks) (4:17)
Behind The Sun (4:22)
Forgive Me (feat Izzy Bizu) (3:31)
North Garden (2:59)
Better Now (feat MARO) (3:15)
The Last Goodbye (feat Bettye LaVette) (6:00)
All My Life (3:10)
Equal (feat Lapsley) (4:02)
Healing Grid (3:15)
I Can't Sleep (3:00)
Light Of Day (feat Olafur Arnalds) (6:42)
Review: Ninja Tune's Odesza return with a brand new album (and not to mention world tour), 'The Last Goodbye', owning their long-held standing in the progressive, ambient house netscene they occupy. Every end of musical history is traversed in this emotive future downtempo release; the title track is emblematic of this straddling, sampling and licensing an incredible old recording of soul vocalist Bettye LaVelle against a funking, flourishing instrumental backdrop.
This Version Of You (feat Julianna Barwick) (2:30)
Wide Awake (feat Charlie Houston) (3:42)
Love Letter (feat The Knocks) (4:11)
Behind The Sun (4:17)
Forgive Me (feat Izzy Bizu) (3:31)
North Garden (2:59)
Better Now (feat MARO) (3:09)
The Last Goodbye (feat Bettye LaVette) (6:06)
All My Life (2:58)
Equal (feat Lapsley) (4:13)
Healing Grid (3:13)
I Can't Sleep (3:04)
Light Of Day (feat Olafur Arnalds) (6:38)
Review: Ninja Tune's Odesza return with a brand new album as well as a massive world tour to match. 'The Last Goodbye' is another record to heighten the band's their long-held standing in the progressive and ambient house netscene they occupy. Every end of musical history is traversed in this emotive future downtempo release which sinks you into deep to its mellifluous world of sound. The title track is emblematic of this as it straddles, samples and licenses an incredible old recording of soul vocalist Bettye LaVelle against a funking, flourishing instrumental backdrop. It is one of the many gems that make this so essential.
Review: ODESZA's The Last Goodbye Tour Live is the group's Grammy-nominated live album. It marks the duo's first cohesive release of live versions and captures the awe-inspiring essence of their expansive concert experience. Produced and engineered by ODESZA (Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight), The Last Goodbye Tour Live was recorded during their groundbreaking 2022-2023 tour-the first amphitheater tour by an electronic act. Featuring some superbVIP edits, each song has been meticulously reworked for the live stage and really showcases ODESZA's creativity. The album includes the ODESZA Drumline, horn players, and guest vocalists Naomi Wild, Sudan Archives, Izzy Bizu, MARO, Mansionair, and Charlie Houston.
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