Review: In line with the timely reappraisal of all things R&S related, the resurgent Apollo have seen the opportunity to bring one of their most celebrated records back for another round. Aphex Twin's ambient recordings mature magnificently with age, sounding ever richer and more emotive as the rest of electronic music continues to play catch up all around. From the gentle breakbeats of "Xtal" to the aquatic techno lure of "Tha", the airy rave of "Pulsewidth" to the heartwrenching composition of "Ageispolis", every track is a perennial example of how far ambient techno could reach even back then. It's just that no-one quite had the arm-span of Richard D. James.
Review: Sound collage is a genre where ideas and sounds can get a blank canvas to express those ideas and not have any pressures to create full songs. The Gesua Plateau: Enslavement Of The Species pushes the boundaries of experimental and electronic music to an exciting place. This multi-sided album dives into ambient textures, unusual sonic landscapes and evocative soundscapes that feel alien and oddly familiar. Side-1 serves as an entry point, with five shorter tracks showcasing ambient and experimental ingenuity. Highlights include 'Track 2', where a blend of saxophone, electronics and effects evokes a chamber-like resonance and 'Track 4', featuring a dark, sequenced rhythm that feels futuristic and thrilling. 'Track 3' introduces nature sounds, adding an organic touch to the experimental palette, while 'Track 5' leans into spacey electronics that expand the album's ethereal tone. Side-2 delivers 'Track 6', a cavernous exploration of dissonance and sound processing that feels otherworldly. Side-3 offers 'Track 7', an industrial, mechanical piece that's haunting and deeply atmospheric. Finally, Side-4 ventures even further into the unknown, presenting soundscapes that feel unmoored from terrestrial reality. A profound journey into sonic experimentation. If you're interested in the avant garde, musique concrete or experimental sounds, this ambient album has all that and then some.
Review: In 2005, Jan Jelinek "pitched" his electronica/kosmische vision to the potent collective fan by way of ten ecosystemically-informed, prepared ambient numbers. Spanning Bibio-esque reversy guitar and sloshing exotica, this one existed for an inordinate period as a digital download, in which much time elapsed until now, its 20th anniversary - at which point we hear it available again, arriving for the first time on vinyl. Modelled on the sonic prototypes of his German rock forbears, this early electronica work from Jelinek amounts to a fearsomely intricate revue, expanding on krautrock's organic textures and unremittingly restless feel.
Review: Tracing The Future Sound of London's back catalogue right back to 1988, when 'Stakker Humanoid' blew minds with a blueprint that would go on to define the standard formulas for British electro and breakbeat before either had been drawn, you quickly realise the journey back to where we are today involves passing landmark after landmark. It's hard not to consider Rituals as another. Marking a return of the outfit's Environments series, which already had six innovative instalments preceding this, hit play on opening number 'Hopiate' and you're immediately transported to every great morning after a night of amazing hedonism before. Pretty, reflective refrains and warm, Earthly details parting for a moment of silence before unifying rolling drums kick in - soundtrack to the best rave at 9AM you've either been to or not. Cue another 12 tracks that are equally transportive and explain so much about why, decades after these tones first hypnotised youth, we're still lining up for more.
Review: You'll probably already be acquainted with the name Manuel Gottsching - and you should be - but just in case you aren't, he was a pillar of Ash Ra Tempel's golden years and, among other of his contemporaries, was a pioneer of the genre that is often dubbed 'new age'. E2-E4 was a 1984 solo album from the man, and is certainly up there with the likes of Steve Reich's best minimal material, although it has often gone relatively unnoticed. MG Art from Germany have done us the favour of reissuing this monumental release, and we're utterly awestruck by how contemporary and fresh this album still is. In fact, one could say that a tune like "31'38" is the basis for the sound championed by new labels like Mood Hut, where a significantly danceable beat is laid above placid, warm harmonics. Similarly, "23'00" is just as balearic and phased out but, once again, we just can't believe how great this music still sounds more than thirty years later. Warmly recommended.
Review: Troekurovo Recordings is a production team made up of Toki Fuko, Vadim Basov and Evgeny Vorontsov and they have been hidden away deep in some enchanted Russian forests recording music. Now they are putting out the results on this superb double pack. This project started back in 2016 as a live experimental jam and is now an annual tradition made on loads of analogue gear on the banks of a canyon that was formed many years ago by a melting glacier. The locale provides inspiration - from the fresh country air to the meteor showers often visible overhead - for the music making which is strictly "no preparation, no pre-programming - hardware, friends and live improvisation only."
Review: The Udacha label might have been away for a while but is now back with a vengeance. First up for this return is a new long player by the mighty fine Kurvenschreiber quarter, which is made up of Sergey Komarov, Vlad Dobrovolski, Ilya Sadovski and Alexey Grachev. These sound artists have been excelling in their field for some 10 years now and use synths as well as found sound objects to create their work. Magnetic tape loops, various instruments, pre-recorded loops, shortwave radios, transformers and much more give rise to this unique record which mixes up Boolean jazz, kurventronika and post-rock.
Review: The makings of Murcof's new album Twin Colour were first germinated in 2020, shaped by the early days of the pandemic lockdowns. The first volume in a new multidisciplinary project between Fernando Corona (Murcof), his daughter Alina Corona, and his colleague Simon Geilfus, Twin Colour is born of less conception and more studio heuristics, though it draws many of its inspirations from some of the 80s material that Murcof had laid down at the start of his career. As such, an impressive combo of tape-hissed coldwave and modern, progressive ambient is heard here, straying from Murcof's trickier material for something much more roughshod, tawny and dramatic.
Review: Bjork and Rosalia team up for the limited marble vinyl edition 12" double-sider, 'Oral', now coming packed with a stunning remix by Olof Dreijer from The Knife. The record is described by its releasers OLI as not just a single release but a "call to arms", with 100% of the profits being funnelled directly to AEGIS, the Icelandic charity dedicated to eradicating intensive fish farming in the country. 'Oral' itself is now a staple of the latest incarnation of Bjork's ever-mutant career, consummating her and Rosalia's recent rapport; a sabre-wielding, purblind aesthetic - befitting also of another of Bjork's collaborative contemporaries, Arca - fits seamlessly with the elegiac reggaeton of the song. Dreijer's remix is rabid and wonky by comparison, its draggy, morphemic rhythms belying Bjork and Rosalia's equally wetted vocals, producing a wacky litany of faunal electronics and whizzing FX.
Review: Jon Hopkins' forthcoming album Ritual spans 41 minutes of uninterrupted sonic exploration, drawing inspiration from ceremony, spiritual liberation and the hero's journey and creating a dense and immersive soundscape that showcases his mastery of depth and contrast. Collaborating with long-term partners like Vylana, 7RAYS, and Ishq, as well as newcomers like Clark and Emma Smith, Hopkins weaves together cavernous subs, hypnotic drumming, and transcendent melodies to craft a sonic experience that is both emotionally and sonically weight. Ritual sees Hopkins' evolution as an artist, building upon themes explored throughout his 22-year career while venturing into new sonic territories. The album's first single, 'Ritual(evocation),' offers a tantalising glimpse into this expansive sonic landscape, with its hypnotic rhythms and darkened soundscapes drawing listeners into a world of introspection and catharsis. With its warm, live feel and seamless blend of softness and intensity, Ritual promises to be a transformative listening experience for fans of electronic music and beyond.
Review: Over the years, Sam Shepheard's work as Floating Points has become increasingly ambitious, moving further away from his dancefloor roots and closer to spiritual jazz, new age and neo-classical. Even so, it was still a surprise when Shepheard announced Promises, a 46-minute piece in 10 "movements" featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It's an undeniably remarkable piece all told; a constantly evolving fusion of neo-classical ambience, spiritual jazz and starry, synthesizer-laden soundscapes notable not only for Sanders' sublime sax-playing and Shepheard's memorable melodic themes, but also the intricate, detailed nature of the musical arrangements. It's a stunningly beautiful and life-affirming piece all told, and one that deserves your full attention.
Review: James Blake's debut album is undoubtedly one of 2011's most keenly awaited releases, and its arrival via his own (major label funded) Atlas imprint ensures their is no lull in momentum for a producer who enjoyed a watershed 2010 with releases on Hessle Audio and R&S. The results here differ wildly from his previous sonic excursions - gone are the shimmering R&B soaked melodies of "CMYK" and the sheer experimentalism of the Klavierwerke EP, which saw the young Londoner depart from the confines of the dancefloor and enter a realm where there was only a passing reference to rhythm-based music. Instead we are treated to Blake's own yearning, raw voice, delicate pianos and an underlying sense of melancholy. Ubiquitous single "Limit To Your love" and the crackly sonic terrain evoked on "The Wilhelm Scream" are among the most immediately pleasing moments, but there is much to explore here. It's a fascinating opus and surely the catalyst to a long and fruitful career at the top.
Review: Klamm is the new label dedicated to the artistic output of Saele Valese. After "Ivic", a collection of old and new materials published on Alva Noto's label (NOTON) at the beginning of the year, Saele Valese releases now his first real album "A White, White Day". Written and recorded between 2018 and 2021 the material of this work was sliced, glued and recreated several times, just like a filmmaker in the editing process, before finding its final form. Inspired indeed by the most poetic cinema, 'A White, White Day' represents, in the form of a non-linear and enigmatic narrative, a personal and psychological reflection on time, memory and dreams. Mastered by Rashad Becker.
Review: If you were judging Kieran Hebden's 11th Four Tet studio album merely on the way it's presented, you'd immediately think he'd spent the last two years immersed in early '90s ambient house albums. While it's unlikely he's done that, it's fair to say that New Energy does owe a debt to classic electronica sets from that period. For all the exotic instrumentation and subtle nods to post-dubstep "aquacrunk" experimentalism and chiming, head-in-the-clouds sunrise house, the album feels like a relic of a lost era. That's not meant as a criticism - New Energy is superb - but it is true that his choice of neo-classical strings, gentle new age melodies, sweeping synthesizer chords and disconnected vocal samples would not sound out of place on a Global Communication album.
Review: The third full-length studio album from Singaporean singer-songwriter-producer Nat Cmiel (aka yeule) released to rave reviews earlier this September, following an ethereal rollout with singles 'dazies', 'ghosts' and 'inferno' showcasing exactly what yeule excels at: worldbuilding. 'softscars' is now the 3rd instalment in one of the most exciting album runs in modern alt-pop, shifting away from the glitchy, electronic ambience of predecessor 'Glitch Princess', moving in a more rock-centric, brighter direction. This isn't to say the album doesn't have its soul-crushing moments, opening track 'x w x' closes with a defiant scream of frustration, whilst the drums, guitar and synths fight each other for dominance - bottoming out into a gentle outro sequence. The calm after the storm. We could go on about this album for hours, as a yeule fan it feels so fresh but so perfect with it's oscillating directness in delivery. Whereas 'Glitch Princess' felt like travelling through a clastrophobia-inducing tunnel at time, 'softscars' is that moment you burst out of the tunnel and are hit with a huge green vista. It's my album of the year but, hey, what do I know?
Review: Marking the start of an exciting new collaborative project, Wolf + Lamb proudly share the debut release of The Waves & Us. Formed out of
a creative meeting of minds between Maayan Nidam, Markus Nikolaus and Louis McGuire, theirs is a sound that strengthens the storied
approach of a live band with the experimental thrust of analogue electronics. Pop and rock fundamentals lend an earthly hook to the
tracks, but these are anything but straight-forward songs.
Maayan has already forged a formidable career in electronic music, both under her own name and as part of Mara Trax, scoring releases
on such celebrated labels as Perlon. Markus performs his own solo project Cunt Cunt Chanel, while Louis is part of Ballet School, a band
releasing on noted indie label Bella Union. The whirlwind of creativity that has whipped up around the trio has yielded an album which will
follow this single, made up of one-take recordings that capture the energy and adventure that powers The Waves & Us.
Maayan's electronics provide the atmospheric backdrop to the songs, running modular synthesisers and drum machines through detailed
chains of processing and effects with an emphasis on a warm, charmingly rough finish. Markus' guitar undergoes a similar fuzzy treatment
while his voice calls out introspective, abstract lyrics to set the mind racing. Louis' bass underpins the music with a dubby sensibility,
bringing a necessary balance to the frequency range.
Making the most of their in-the-room recording approach, the singles will feature alternative takes of the songs that will appear on the
album, providing a little insight into the flutters and fluctuations that shape the development of this project. With their eyes fixed on live
performances and an arresting sound already formed, this is a vital time for all three artists and the people that listen to them.
Review: FKA Twigs' latest LP 'Caprisongs', widely known as her poptimist opus (contrasting to her earlier experiments) now gets a luminous vinyl pressing via Young. It does well to justify her reinvention after breaking up with a disgraced actor whose name we shan't name: the album is a colossal collaborative affair, and even come with a carnivalesque duet with pop king The Weeknd ('Tears In The Club'). The melodic abandon that follows is just as apt.
Review: Originally released in 1996, Aphex Twin's fifth album in as many years meant business from the very moment the wild and whimsical opener "4" scribbled it way through the speakers. With jaunty jams such as "Cornish Acid" and "Fingerbib" running amok mid-set, Richard D James Album acted as a fine mission statement to expect the unexpected and never anticipate formula or form. And it still carries that very same message today. Essential.
Review: Perila's latest double album is a mesmerising exploration of ambient soundscapes, field recordings and vocal manipulation. Spanning 21 tracks, the work unfolds like an immersive narrative, with each side offering its own thematic journey. Her voice drifts through vast, haunting spaces, weaving into ghostly chorals and spectral pulses, creating an eerie atmosphere that blends the intimate with the outer world. Tracks like 'Deza' and 'Sepula Purm' highlight her ability to transform simple vocal echoes into atmospheric wonders, while 'Nia' introduces faint low-end rumbles that evolve into hypnotic rhythms. As the album progresses, Perila delves deeper into industrial and experimental terrain, with tracks like 'Mola' offering a soft, meditative reprieve, before 'Supa Mi' strips everything back to raw, acapella fragments. The sound grows more intense as it moves forward, with 'Darbounouse Song' delivering a creative peak of crackling textures and resonant gong tones, and 'She Wonder' exploring rhythmic digital precipitation. Her use of field recordings, fragmented whispers, and organic sounds results in a deeply personal and atmospheric experience, making this her most cohesive and fully realized work to date. Fans of experimental, immersive sound will find much to admire here.
Review: FKA twigs delivers Eusexua, her latest and hotly anticipated new album, and the latest to follow 2022's Caprisongs. A strong and determined directional shift away from Caprisongs' cutesy sensibility (we see it as no surprise that her last album was released under Atlantis, while Eusexua comes via home slices on her home turf, Young), Eusexua hears the artist formerly known as twigs take up a futuristic grey, suited, officiated and incorporated style, informed by a roundabout notion of "eusexua", her own coinage: "a feeling of momentary transcendence often evoked by art, music, sex, and unity." Themes of disconnected embodiment run rampant throughout the album, showing no signs of ambivalence where others might flinch in the face of greyness or techno-uniformity. Twigs' vision reclaims abundant but still currently dubious themes of hard work, grist and prosthesis, and as ever resounds in palates of glistening, glossy mecha-r&b, inheriting Bjorkish chameleonics and contrasting said spikiness with no less impassioned tales of her enjoying the underground techno scene in Prague, among other sources of inspiration.
Review: In the early 1980s, Britain had a vibrant cassette culture that now gets spotlighted through a limited edition 12" featuring multi-instrumentalist Kez Stone's project, Imago. He was a notable name in Cornwall and the West Country's music scenes with previous projects, Artistic Control and Aaah! which have come back via reissues many times in the last ten years. Imago was a new one-ff project that first emerged with one track on the Perfect Motion compilation curated by NTS Radio's Bruno and Flo Dill and now the full LP, originally released in 1985 on the local label A Real Kavoom, has been remastered and added to with three additional gems. Stone's teenage punk influences sit next to Imago's eclectic approach to sound that blends new wave and psychedelic elements into something irresistible.
Lord Of The Isles - "Meet Me At The Portal" (3:04)
Review: Secrets Of Sound sold out their first release in quick fashion and now they return with a second instalment in the Exotic Origins series, designed to take you a million light years away from your current reality and deep into the far depths of space with eight superbly cosmic explorations of ambient and downtempo magic. Italians Do It Better man Johnny Jewel kicks off with some sultry sax-laced sounds, David Lynch's musical partner Dean Hurley crushes on shimmering pads and Pye Corner Audio bring a little intergalactic tension. Elsewhere there are sugary synths from Legowelt, suspensory pads from TM Solver and plenty more to help you escape to another dimension. Add to that the fact it arrives on a random variety of different vinyl colours and comes with a download code, and you've got rather a nice package.
Review: It's been a rapid rise over the past few years for Alejandro Ghersi's Arca alias. Following some years spent as Nuuro, his current project launched with aplomb on UNO in 2012 before moving on to Hippos In Tanks, and then last year shored up at Mute with the Xen album in a demonstration of true ascendance through the leftfield ranks. Now Ghersi returns to Mute with a new album Mutant, which sees further exploration of his detailed, unusual style touching on elements of noise, bombastic ambient and neoclassical. "Soichiro" lays down wispy threads of trap in amongst dramatic stop-start dynamics while "En" flirts with lingering piano and static interference in the most artful of ways, just two examples of an album loaded with surprise and intrigue.
Review: Never one to sit still, Sasha used the change in mindset that came with the lockdown to inspire his approach to music. LUZoSCURA (which means light and dark) is the new compilation that has resulted having evolved from the playlist of the same name. It's packed with new music from the man himself as well as newer names and more established artists. There are floaty, synth heavy ambient pieces like the 'Yin/Yang' opener, lush melodic electronic grooves from QRTR, symphonic garage cuts from MJ Cole and crunchy old breakbeats with more than a hint of Renaissance from Because Of Art.
Review: This surprise new EP finds celebrated music writer and producer Blackdown on the same EP as Burial for the first time since the latter remixed the former 15 years ago. There is a heavy Detroit influence in the far-sighted synths of 'This Journey' (VIP), with angsty vocal samples stitched into the bristling, swinging rhythm. Burial's 'Dark Gethsemane' bares all the producer's usual hallmarks - pitched up vocals, deft samples and a catchy 2-step shuffle. Blackdown then offers up a remix filled with chattery claps and UK funky rhythms to open the B-side, while Burial's 'Space Cadet' is another 2-step classic with its heady way up in the heavens.
(Intro) Dreamdave - Korea Town Acid Shout Out (feat Imani) (1:45)
Curtain Call (2:39)
Bloom (feat Desiire) (3:16)
Dazed (feat LJ The Alien) (3:01)
Eclipse (feat PNSB) (2:57)
Bounce (feat Pianwooo) (2:57)
Thiis World Is Sick (3:18)
Law Of Attraction (2:32)
Into The Future (3:00)
There's No Turning Back (2:58)
Review: South Korean-born and Toronto-based musician Jessica Chao aka Korea Town Acid spans the divide between disparate musical cultures with her new record Metamorphosis. It is a collaborative work with DESIIRE from Toronto, Korean pianist and rapper Pianwooo, as well as Seoul rapper PNSB, LA producer Dreamdave and New Jersey MC, L.J The Alien. Glitch, home, jungle, boom bap and trap are all distilled into the 10 tracks, with sultry grooves next to more dark and stark instrumentals, often with carefully deployed raps and whispers elevating each tune above mere ear chewing gum status.
Review: Detach Recordings is proud to present their third EP, 'In Order To See' by Nekyia. Following releases on re:st, UVB-76 and Voidance Records, the Italian producer further explores his introspective sound, joining the dots between experimental psychedelia, dark ambient and post-drum&bass. Opening with the heavy, drone-driven 'Meta' and 'Leave Your Flesh Behind', the pace soon quickens with 'Breaches', a driving 170bpm collaboration with Books (re:st, Detuned Transmissions). The pressure increases on the B-side with a fierce remix by Sam KDC (Auxiliary, Samurai, Sublunar). The EP closes with 'Form Constants', a 2017 dub unavailable until now.
Review: Plastikman is in the glory years of his career, and the recognition of this of late has come in the form of various reissues and deluxe editions. One move we didn't expect Mr. Hawtin to take, however, was approving an entire 'semi-classical' reimagining of his original album 'Consumed', first released in 1998. 'Consumed In Key' is a new collaborative version made between Hawtin and pianist/producer Chilly Gonzales; every track found on the original 'Consumed' now features piano flourishings and other instruments peppered over each moody techno jam, fleshing out the pangs we could only previously imagine on first listen.
Review: Nine tracks of 'life-affirming downer music' by Swedish duo Charlott Malmenholt and Joakim Karlsson aka Treasury Of Puppies. Mitt Stora Nu is the Gothenburg-based duo's second album, following last year's titled Lollos Dagbok and their eponymous debut back in 2020. A collection of lo-fi and quirky indie-pop ditties, all said to have been influenced by Edgar Allan Poe as much as Britney Spears. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and pressed in an edition of 1000 copies. Comes with insert.
Review: The Future Sound of London keep their fans busy with a steady dispatch of music via the fsoldigital.com label, but it feels like there's a sense of occasion around this new album. Rituals E7.001 is purportedly the first part in a trilogy, and it already highly prized by the devoted followers of Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain's music. It's not hard to hear why on listening to the gorgeous strains of 'Hopiate', which harks back to some of the duo's most iconic music (we'll let you guess which one we mean). FSOL have always had a particular touch in their exploration of electronica, ambient and outernational sounds, and it sounds rich with inspiration on this new, expansive album.
Review: Cherrystones returns with the second of the "Aged" EPs for Emotional Response. Time propels and so does sound, thus orbiting nuances and motion leads us here, to present whatever maybe or interpreted as. Since the acclaimed Aged Of Bronze EP a symbiotic progress of craft arrives in the aptly titled Aged Of Silver. Again each track is like a coded syntax, unlocking the puzzle to aid a listeners journey and experience, building blocks to a utopian scape in form without form notes and pictures living and residing in the dimensions.
Never pandering to trends, his art based on immediacy and the moment, no disposable sub genres that fade as fast as they emerge, transposing and emitting heard and unheard a way to communicate with himself and those that identify.
A capsule of touched emotions bearing gifts for those in the present and wishing to be present, a key with keys analogue for Silver Tongues and Brass monkeys living in the shadow of a Scorpian's Tail.
Review: Gong bath, anyone? Soft & Fragile is a three track outing built on a framework of custom made bells and chimes, at least one of which was created by the artist - namely Bandt's 'flagong', a three-story glass marimba the musician crafted in the late-1970s, apparently inspired by the so-called 'cloud chamber bowls' of Harry Patch, a chap known for developing weird and wonderful sound-making devices.
She uses the instrument to stunning effect solo on the opening effort, 'Ocean Bells', creating a gently flowing arrangement that sucks you in quickly. From there, she's joined by Julie Doyle, Gavan McCarthy, and Carolyn Robb to complete the full LIME (Live Improvised Music Events) lineup, and the work becomes more complex still, without ever being overbearing or overly theoretical.
Only Love From Now On (with Johanna Scheie Orellana) (8:02)
Subtle Bodies (4:58)
Silueta (5:50)
Portals (4:18)
Review: Norwegian-Mexican artist and producer Carmen Villain was born in the US, so has a pretty global sound and wide sphere of influence. Only Love From Now in Small-town Supersound is her fourth studio album and is another beguiling and tightly woven tapestry of atmospheric sounds, field recordings, woodwinds, percussion, samples and synths. Elements of forth world, dub and ambient characterise the grooves and make for a deeply immersive world of steady rhythms, hypnotic melodies and mysterious sonic artefacts. At times loopy, at others loose and improvised, it is an essential listen once more.
Sit Around The Fire (with Ram Dass, East Forest) (8:24)
Singing Bowl (Ascension) (19:46)
Review: At this stage in his career, Jon Hopkins should be able to do whatever the hell he likes. After proving his synaesthetic abilities throughout the 2010s - with masterpieces like 'Light Through The Veins' and his last album 'Singularity'- it's clear this climactic electronica artist knows no bounds. Now he debuts a new full guided meditation-style LP documenting his ketamine-fulled revelations realised in a remote Ecuadorian cave. Relinquishing beats and drum sounds, this is a fully ambient affair from Hopkins, and routinely features soothing, sampled vocal snippets from the late yogi and guru Baba Ram Daas, as well as collabs with producer and psychedelic ceremony guide East Forest.
Review: DEL Records is back doing its thing - which is specifically unearthing exceptional electronic sounds discovered in the outer reaches of our galaxy while on a research mission. Enterprise crew, eat your heart out, the sci-fi feeling runs deep with this one, as we're taken on a deep and immersive journey through intergalactic tones as intellectual as they are immediately compelling.
The right ingredients for any strong narrative, German artist Woyke splices together IDM, electronica, movie-theme-worthy epic synthdom, ambient, downtempo and electro-breaks in a way that feels very fresh, not to mention reassuringly warm, considering the early-winter release date. An expansive journey to the other side of somewhere, it's impossible not to get overly immersed, presenting the very real risk of wormhole closing and getting stuck here forever. Still, there are worse places to end up.
Massonix - "Just A Little Bit More" (Electro instrumental mix)
Elsi Curry - "U Make Me Feel" (Running Water aka Workhouse mix)
Soul Family Sensation - "I Don't Even Know If I Should Call You Baby" (Marshall Jefferson Symphony mix)
BBG - "Snappiness" (7" edit)
The Aloof - "Never Get Out The Boat" (The Flying mix)
Moodswings - "Spiritual High" (The Moodfood Megamix)
Review: Ace Records continue their series of compilations from Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, tapping into unique niches of British music culture under titles like English Weather and The Tears Of Technology to arrive at this latest joint, Fell From The Sun. This is a specific trip into the downtempo, after hours sounds prevalent in 1990-1991, as the acid house wave broke and Balearic selector ethics seeped into studio practice. The selections are absolutely on point, from The Orb's majestic remix of Primal Scream's 'Higher Than The Sun' to Saint Etienne's own moody roller, 'Speedwell'. It's bouncy and boundlessly optimistic as well as being supremely chill, absolutely of its time but still ringing with an eternal charm that feels ready for a revival. Let this compilation be your guide.
The Horse He's Sick - "Projectile Fascination" (2:15)
M Nomized - "Nitsed" (4:20)
John J Lafia - "Life Is Short" (3:57)
Interaccion - "Newton" (3:16)
Die Mysteriosen - "Spurhund" (3:42)
Homage A Brinkmann - "Franzosisch" (4:05)
Solanaceae Tau - "Tekno Pop" (1:29)
Ob Ovo + Sha 261 - "The CIA, It Dances" (5:27)
Collectionism - "We Are All Children Of God" (4:20)
UPM - "Anstalt" (3:55)
Wolfgang Wiggers - "Slightly Mental" (3:56)
Review: "Rich-poor divide widens. Unemployment soars. The East and West eyeball each other on the brink. 2022 isn't too far off the 1980s. Contort Yourself know this." A second collection of distortion soaked didactics from across the globe, all created specifically and exclusively to express wanton abandonment; marginalisatioan and alientation via tiny tape runs, but lovingly rustled up into a 21 track gem of a compilation. Rusted guitar strings, cobbled drum machines and fire in the belly - a soundtrack of despondent despair, a lament of languid lechery, an anthem of what was then and still is now.
Review: The Future Sound Of London are well-known for their intense sectioning-off of various albums into sagas. Conceived as far back as the late 1990s, the 'Environments' album series has been routinely topped up on a slow but steady basis, and has thus far manifested as a grand total of seven psychedelectronic odysseys. 'Environments Seven', which came out earlier in 2022, is testament to the duo's madcap penchant for sagaizing; indeed, this seventh instalment in the LP is split into a trilogy, and 'Environments 7.02' is the second in said trilogy.
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