Claremont 56 Vinilo y CD

Review: Pulsar saw Gianluca Salvadori and Leonardo Ceccanti return to Claremont 56 with a second LP of sanguine and psychedelic dub disco under the Almunia name. Arriving roughly two years after Salvadori and Ceccanti served up the sublime Almunia debut long player New Moon, this new album sees the pair of tracks released as singles (the excellent title track and 'The Magician') complemented by six all new productions. From the heavenly acoustic strumming of opening track 'The Awakening' Almunia remain locked in a mood where refined instrumentation is balanced perfectly with a chugging soft edged disco sensibility with the buoyant 'Views From A Blue Train' a particular highlight.

Review: Dial 81 and tell them it's an emergency... Blair French has dropped his second single this year and there are only 300 copies in existence! Following "Standing Still Is An Illusion" on Rocksteady Disco come two more sublime Balearic affairs that fit Claremont 56 like a snug pair of speedos; "Sandbar Caviar" wafts and sways with island waves as gentle arpeggios ebb and flow creating harmonies and cosmic textures while "Inland Island" adjusts our seats to a horizontal position with its snaking bassline and spacious percussion gradually opening into a heavenly vocal and guitar lead that's tantamount to transcendental.

Review: Since its release almost a decade ago, Furstattl's debut EP for Claremont 56, the revivalist krautrock brilliance of 'Rheinlust', has become an in-demand item. It's for this reason that the label has decided to reissue it, alongside a wealth of other tracks from the Mountaineer offshoot and create this compilation style album. Record one pairs the kraut-goes-space-rock 'Rheinlust' with its' original B-side, the even more cosmic and epic, Can-go-Balearic style brilliance of 'Links Der Pegnitz'. Record two contains two hard-to-find cuts from C56 compilations, the pleasingly upbeat and breezy 'Leerlauf' and the heavier, fuzzier 'Haru', with previously unheard cosmic rock/kraut-disco number 'Fur Paul' (a track named in tribute to Claremont 56 founder Paul 'Mudd' Murphy).

Review: Contrasting with the unrelenting pulse of London and Italy's twin nightlives, Claremont 56 has always remained staunchly focused on chillout music. This week hears a new collaborative EP by lifelong friends Hear and Now, two favourite Claremont releasees and underdog fixtures of the Italian deep house scene. 'Aurora Baleare' is Hear & Now's latest album dedicated to sunkissed delirium, concerning itself only with the bright sonic blues and seaside delights one might experience living on any Mediterranean coastline. Expect vibrant improvised guitar licks melded with hybrid live drums ('Sabbia Magica' and 'Salsedine' being our choice cuts), painting an impressionistic sonic scene akin to a divine, coral-hued cove.

Review: Hear & Now first released on Claremont 56 back in 2018. Almost immediately they became one fo the label's core acts and have been prolific ever since. The Italian pair made a big mark with their debut album Aurora Baleare, built on it with 2020's Alba Sol and now come through with more stylish and grown up blissed out brilliance on Milvus. All eight tracks are subversive mind music that also enrich the soul with their lazy drums, gently breaking synth waves and pillowy chords. The way each track unfolds, and builds is so perfect seductive that you will be pining for a cocktail before you hit the end of the first tune.

Review: Although the end is now finally in sight, we are still very much spending time at home, gazing off into the distance and dreaming of better times. Enter this sumptuous soundtrack from Hillside, whose Sunday In June album on the ever classy Claremont 56 is a perfect accompaniment to you lazy afternoons. The gorgeous record is utterly doused in sun, with sparkling keys, go-slow beats and lush strings all oozing cool yet bribing with warmth. It's the sound of perfect afternoon in the garden, or on the beach, with tropical grooves and Balearic bliss flowing freely from front to back.

Review: Claremont 56 founder Paul "Mudd" Murphy has a thing for studio supergroups. New project Hillside follows in the footsteps of Bison (who once counted Holger Czukay, Ursula Kloss and Sal Principato amongst their members) and Paqua. Their debut single is closer in tone to the latter than the former, with opener "Hidden Port" offering a deliciously languid, wide-eyed fusion of eyes-closed jazz-rock guitar solos, unfurling kosmiche keyboards, bobbing Latin rhythms and an electric violin solo from a musician renowned for his work with British folk legend Bert Jansch. You'll find more electric violin on the wilder and more up-tempo flipside "The Kings Tun", where distinctive fiddle solos rise above jangling acoustic guitars, warm bass and spacey keyboard flourishes. Anyone fancy a cosmic hoedown?

Review: After years working alongside Gianluca Salvadori in Italian stoner rock/dub disco fusionists Almunia, Leo Cecanti has decided to strike out on his own. Minor Circle, his full-length debut solo set, is little less than inspired. Full of layered guitar textures (both acoustic and electric), shuffling grooves, sun-bright melodies and dreamy chords, it's a much more Balearic affair than Cecanti's joint works - albeit one that still includes plenty of nods towards psychedelic rock, chugging cosmic disco and jazz-rock. The whole thing is impeccably produced, mixed and mastered, meaning each of Cecanti's numerous musical elements (and there are many on each track) seem to leap from the speakers towards you.

Review: Although well-known in his native Greece, AOR pop revivalist Sillyboy's Ghost Relatives has yet to breakthrough elsewhere. This outing on Claremont 56 has the potential to raise his profile no end, not least because it's a certifiable earworm. Musically deep, drowsy, atmospheric, slow and intoxicating - all effects-laden guitars, ghostly synths and dubby bass - the song's genius lies in the artist's lead vocal and lyrics, which muse on the claustrophobia of life in tiny towns and villages the world over. His short-and-sweet A-side version is accompanied on side B by Claremont 56 label boss Paul "Mudd" Murphy's extended take, which offers up three minutes of atmospheric instrumentation before launching into Sillyboy's brilliant vocal.

Review: Seven years since the last Smith & Mudd album kissed our ears... Gorthlek is a long-awaited treat that's landed (by no coincidence we suspect) right at the start of prime sandy season. Picking up where they left us (together and as part of the Bison collective), it's every bit as soul soothing, soft-focus and poised as you'd expect. It's the weight and richness that will grab most fans the hardest; amid the floral pastoral instrumentation on tracks such as "Alrick" and "Gorthlek Part 1", there's real swampy bluesy fusion such as "Mr Coats", there's fiddle-flipping cosmic folk on "Enos" and naked piano striking drama on the closure "Gorthlek Part 2". Instrumental Balearic bliss.

Review: As it approaches the end of its' first decade, Claremont 56 continues to lead the way when it comes to atmospheric, sun-kissed Balearica. This latest chunk of horizontal goodness comes courtesy of Essex-based Statues, a trio who caught label boss Paul 'Mudd' Murphy's attention after submitting a string of impressive demos. "Alaula" is a softly spun delight, with Grant Carruthers' impassioned vocals weaving themselves around alluring acoustic guitars, rich bass, twinkling Rhodes lines, and Robin Lee's immaculate cello parts. Murphy delivers the obligatory flipside remix, serving up a delay-laden dub built around intricate percussion, life-affirming pianos, and Lee's wonderful strings.

Review: Claremont 56 continue to disregard the genre boundaries - preferring instead to give good music the attention it deserves - as their latest looker of a twelve inch presents us the sounds of Torn Sail. Fronted by Smith & Mudd vocalist Huw Costin, Torn Sail go all 60s West Coast rock on us with the gloriously rich sounds of "Birds". From its acoustic beginnings the track gradually unfurls into a delightful groove embellished by soothing vocal harmonies. It's almost a thankless task enlisting anyone to try and remix what sounds like a perfect song, but Claremont 56 obviously chose right in requesting the services of Tiago. In the Portuguese producer's hands "Birds" is transformed into a heavily psychedelic freakout which gently develops into a kraut rock behemoth filled with swathes of heavy organ vibes. Containing several shifts in momentum - including a glorious half speed finish - this is a truly stunning remix which left our jaws occupying the floor!

Review: Waxwood generally likes to keep his identity on the down low, though it was confirmed recently that he's a Brooklyn-based Russian with a penchant for cosmic and spiritual music from around the world, as well as layered ambient experimentation and intoxicating house and techno beats. All of these traits come to the fore on "Kama", which sees him pepper a rolling, head-nodding hypno-house groove with simmering strings, relaxed electronics and chiming melody lines. It's rather good, all told, as is the more obviously Balearic flipside revision by Swiss crew Fuga Ronto, which adds guitars, electric bass and new backing vocals for an even wider-eyed listening experience.