Albert's Favourites Vinilo y CD

Review: Earlier in the year, we were full of praise for "Murmuration", the long-awaited debut album from James O'Keefe and Dave Koor's Expansions project. Famously, that album was recorded in just three days, with the duo and their musical collaborators managing to deliver a polished set despite its spontaneous, freeform roots. We're not sure if the three cuts on this follow-up EP were recorded in a similar manner, but they're certainly pleasingly loose, languid and live sounding. Check the title track "Mosaic", where impeccable jazz-funk electric piano solos ride jaunty bass and swinging live drum breaks, before tucking into the cascading jazz guitar solos, hushed drums and spacey chords of "Transcoso". Over on side B, "Mariposa" sits somewhere between the two A-side cuts, with spacey, stretched-out synth solos catching the ear.

Review: Two years on from the release of Modifications: Set 1, Adam Scrimshire and Dave Koor join forces once more as Modified Man. This second "Set" explores similar sonic territory to its predecessor, with the duo delivering jaunty, semi-improvised cuts that mix Herbie Hancock style jazz-funk synthesizer work and sparkling, Dam Funk style sounds with beats and basslines that variously draw inspiration from dusty, sample-rich deep house, L.A experimental hip-hop, dub, broken beat (the ace "Croydon Rooftop Cafe Culture") and intergalactic space jazz (starburst closer "Thorns"). It takes a few listens to really get to grips with all of the duo's musical intricacies, but it's definitely worth the effort.

Review: Since launching the Modified Man project in 2016, Adam Scrimshire and Dave Koor have yet to put a foot wrong. The genius of their collaborative releases is their ability to combine loose-limbed instrumental improvisations with dusty samples, cleverly manipulated beats and an acute sense of atmosphere. This third volume in the series rolls along in a similar way, flitting between skewed, straight-to-tape boogie-house ("Blame's On You Bruv"), solo-laden deep house dreaminess ("Glass Army"), intergalactic jazz-funk/broken beat fusion ("Here Me Calling"), smooth and loved-up grooves (the amusingly titled "Sergio Arpeggio") and becalmed, ultra-deep downtempo beats ("Love Rising From The Dark Abyss of Sorrow").

Review: Although short on vinyl releases - this, we think, is his first - Matthew Gordon has been making music as Pie Eye Collective for some time, releasing solo productions via digital platforms and contributing to Emma Thackray's WALRUS project. Gordon could well be a star in the making though because Salvation - his first full-length proper - is genuinely excellent. White rooted in broken beat, instrumental hip-hop and the hazier, slower end of UK bass, the album's appeal in part stems from the dreaminess of his electronic chords, the beauty of his synthesizer sounds, and the crackling haziness of the saturated tape sounds Gordon loves adding to productions. We're not quite sure where his sound sits, but the music on offer is genuinely brilliant. We await his next steps with keen interest.

Review: Matthew Gordon's latest outing as Pie-Eye Collective, a staggeringly good, boundary-blurring album that marks his second appearance on Albert's Favourites, is reportedly "an instrumental exposition of how people experience different lives in the same city". It's a loose enough concept to allow plenty of subtle stylistic variation, unified by a consistent sonic approach that's deep, opaque, hazy and subtly off-kilter. We can hear nods to the sonics of dub techno, immersive ambient soundscapes, jazz, IDM and the LA beat-making scene, though the resultant tracks are never anything less than unique. Gordon has a very distinctive musical voice, and it's that - along with the quality of his sound design - that resonates. A late contender for album of the year lists.

Review: Born and raised in South London, Hector Plimmer is a designer, producer and DJ, who has been making some considerable waves in recent times. Beginning with an appearance on 2011's Brownswood Bubblers compilation, Hector proved his talent when he was selected as the winner of the PRS Steve Reid InNOVAtion Award. Originally released in early 2017, his Sunshine LP now gets a series of hot remixes. Some blunted urban hip-hop flavour on Reginald Omas Mamode IV's remix of "Sunshine", that dusty MPC deep house sound of Berlin courtesy of their city's finest Glenn Astro, on his remix of "Bossa" while Mr Beatnick turns in an utterly hypnotic remix of "Kalimba 2".

Review: Founded in 2017, Ronin Arkestra is a fusionist jazz/electronica collective from Tokyo founded by broken beat keys-man Mark de Clive-Lowe. Given that the band includes some of the finest players in Japan's contemporary jazz scene - most notably members of Kyoto Jazz Massive, WONK and Sleepwalker - you'd expect this first outing on Albert's Favourites to be rather good. It is, of course, with the band sashaying between dubbed-out soundscape jazz ("Stranger Searching"), sun-bright jazz-funk influenced positivity ("Redeye Reprisal"), loose-limbed, semi-improvised intensity ("The Silk Road Prelude") and, most notably, an awe-inspiring 21st century re-imagining of John Coltrane classic "A Love Supreme".