Emotional Response Vinilo y CD

Review: Given that Emotional Response boss Stuart Leath has enjoyed a long working relationship with dub-loving psychedelic pop types Peaking Lights, it's little surprise to see band member Aaron Coyes bring his new solo project, Exotic Gardens, to the label. Predictably, this debut EP/mini-album is a joy from start to finish, with Coyes delivering a quintet of cuts that giddily mix and match elements of dub, post-punk pop, effects-laden guitar trickery, shoegaze adjacent soundscapes and spaced-out headiness. Highlights come thick and fast, with our current favourites including the shuffling joy of 'Tonight', the acid-flecked electronic psychedelia of 'Organise Your Movement' and the yearning, sun-soaked colour of 'Last of the Light'.

Review: Secret Circuit's Eddie Ruscha and Rub N Tug's Thomas Bullock joined forces as Laughing Light Of Plenty for an EP back in 2008, and followed it up with an album on Whatever We Want Records in 2010 which largely got lost in a warehouse stock malfunction. Now Emotional Response are doing the right thing and giving the record a second airing under the duo's alternative alias The Naturals, and it's not hard to see why they wanted to do the reissue. Loose and funky, but also deliriously psychedelic and indebted to the 1970s golden era of songwriting, this is a quintessential Emotional record if ever we heard one.

Review: Emotional Response facilitate a new, prickly post-punk come dub fascinator by Shelter aka multi-instrumentalist Alan Briand. Helping redefine the term "digidub" to muted but compelling effect, this wry, checkered release themes each of its track titles after chessboard pieces, perhaps reflecting many of the power moves (rook castlings, last-minute pawn queenings) that have defined Briand's career so far: he's already demonstrated a dexterity in straddling several styles, from ambient, Balearic, improv and even acid Indian raga. All recorded live, this new, fuzz-packed release betrays an undying love for a particular dub sound: 'Kings, Knights & Rooks' fleshes hugely cosmic synth swells out of initially wan beginnings, whilst 'The Queen's Sacrifice' goes on to upend minimality entirely for maximal cavern-verb and 'Shutting Out Bishops' stars as the B-side's wackiest mumble-toasting; all tracks pay homage to a long, territorialising and power-hungry digidub tradition, with Prince Jammy, Alpha & Omega, Bush Chemist and Jonah Dan all namechecked as influences.

Review: You can never really pin down what the excellent Emotional Repose label does and that is exactly the sinking behind the title of its superb All Trades show on NTS. The sheer eclecticism of that show is now reflected in this new two-part compilation, also called All Trades, which offers up little morsels of what they do, something like a sonic tasting menu at a fancy restaurant. There is chugging electronic dub from Apiento & Tepper, industrial clatter from Black Bones, cosmic ambient breakbeat from Paperclip Minimiser and blissed out dub from Yamila & SoFa Elsewhere amongst many more highlights.

Review: Emotional Response returns with a second volume of its All Trades compilation which is named after its own NTS show. It is just as vast both in terms of style but also the eras it spans with a mix of dub, new wave, slow motion electronics and plenty in between. Tolouse Low Trax kicks off with the filthy dirty and seriously heavy dub glitch of 'Ossia' to provide an early highlight before the likes of Al Wootton get percussive and tribal with 'Altai' and HLM38 channels some African Head Charge on another devastating dub cut. Later on, London's Good Block brings a little more light and sunshine with their lovely 'Strong Relax.'