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Review: Laurent Bardainne and Tigre d'Eau Douce's third album, EDEN BEACH CLUB, transports listeners to a sun-drenched paradise and was conceived as an imaginary soundtrack to a day by the sea. Following the triumph of Bardainne's Hymne au soleil album, they set their sights higher and here have crafted a sonic oasis that defies boundaries. Returning to their winning formula, the album seamlessly blends groove, soul, jazz, and electronic elements as each track invites you to lose yourself in a breezy and beachy dance as you celebrate an eternal sunset tinged with electric energy. The album is brimming with sophisticated and laid back melodies and gently persuasive grooves.

Review: By the time 2024's Pendulum landed, Twin Tribes had been building up a vehemently passionate following among members of black-nailed, dark-hearted subcultures for nine years. Also known as Luis Navarro and Joel NiNo Jr., the pair clocked up underground wins with two preceding records, Ceremony and Shadows, garnering attention among fans of cold wave and post punk. Now they take the whole concept to even higher - icier - heights. One wrong step and you'll be cast down the mountainside, it's dizzying at times. Chunky basslines drive us into yearning, strangely subdued-yet-soaring melodies that seem to speak to despair and hope in equal measure. It's hugely evocative stuff that rarely lets up in terms of intensity, 'Caldron of Thorns' among the tracks at the lower end of tempo scales, and even then it's not really hanging about.

Review: There's been rather a lot of noise about Jaguar II, Victoria Monet's much-delayed full-length follow up to 2021's Jaguar mini-album. The hype is, in many ways, understandable - it did recently scoop the 'Best R&B Album' award at the GRAMMYs. More importantly, it's also very good, with the decorated songwriter-turned-pop star confidently serving up retro-futurist gems who's punchy 21st century r&b beats come cloaked in musical motifs that frequently offer nods to black American music of the 1970s, 80s and early 90s. The plentiful highlights include Lucky Daye hook-up 'Smoke', the dancehall-fired excellence of 'Party Girls' (featuring Buju Banton), the Fugees-esque beauty of 'How Does It Make You Feel', and the glossy disco-soul dreaminess of 'Hollywood', where her young daughter Hazel and Earth, Wind and Fire both play starring roles.

Review: Unchained is the longstanding solo project of Nathaniel Davis. Gabbeh is his latest offering to the world, a suite of blissfully introspective tracks that envelop the soul in a blanket of soft, delicate moods, their sole purpose to comfort aching heads. Remarkably, dedicated fans will know you can trace the artist's lineage to noise mix tapes on CD-R, although more recent excursions into Bossa nova influenced tones perhaps help bridge the gap between then and now. Recorded at home over a three year period, from 2020 to 2023, Grenoble, Switzerland, played a big part in end results here. "I think certain songs reflect, in ways, Grenoble's natural surroundings. 'Drac' is named after the river that flows from the mountains down to the city - 'Dru' is the name of a well-known peak near Chamonix," Davis has explained. That as may be, nevertheless there's something more transportive than that here - songs feel as though they would be at home anywhere green, slow and thoughtful.

Review: At least one person has described Scythe's work as "expertly modulated space blues and isolationist architectures." First emerging from the ether (or at least that's how we like to think of it) through a series of clandestine cassette releases on Low Company in 2019 and 2020, Head X'Change almost feels like the culmination of all that has come before. A weird and truly wonderful place to spend time. A collaborative project between David West and R.A. Jones, elements of kosmische intermingle with a kind of earthy ambience, DIY electronics leading into white noise moments or new age melodies. At times it's so joyfully opiate you wonder if there's any way of getting back up off the pillow. In other moments, there's tension, eeriness, and uncertainty. Once you're in, it's a wild ride indeed.

Review: Mathew Dexter invites us into his singular techno sound world with this fresh new EP which inaugurates the new Subplanet label. 'New World opens up with main room vibes and nice arpeggios that have a hint of Italo charm to them. 'Godspeed' then layers up more hypnotic synth sequences to build a sense of unresolved tension over darker and more edgy beats. 'Sunbeam' offers a more heady vibe with some mystic flute style leads up top and transcendental synths that warp and weft to great effect. 'Retrograde is a prickly, bouncy, textured closer with euro-centric synths and plenty of melodic colour.

Review: Fargo Year Five is the fifth instalment of the acclaimed series Fargo and it debuted on screens back in November 21, 2023, and rolled out ten more gripping episodes. Continuing the tradition, Jeff Russo crafted the captivating music for this season, as he did for the preceding four. Notably, Russo clinched the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special in 2017 for his exceptional work on Fargo. Besides his prowess in television composition, Russo is revered as one of the founding members of the band Tonic, showcasing his multifaceted talent across various facets of the music industry, and this score is as good as all the ones that came before it.

Review: The Soul Surfers & Shawn Lee have linked their creative energies once more with a new pair of singles for the cultured Spasibo Records. Both tracks on this limited gold vinyl were recorded in 2018. One was captured at Moscow's Magnetone studio during Lee's visit for the premiere of a movie documenting his prior recording with The Soul Surfers, and the other was recorded remotely with The Soul Surfers at their Nizhniy Novgorod headquarters and Lee at his London studio, The Shop. The collaboration is a fruitful one with two sublime and timeless funk cuts featuring some bittersweet replaying of classic melodies.

Review: 1994's original pressing of Steely & Clevie's outstanding leftfield production with Johnny Clarke's vocals is well worth inspecting, but you might struggle to find one these days, and it'll be pricey if you do, because it's become something of a classic 45. Thankfully it gets reissued here with A-side original 'Leggo Violence' rolling lazy drums while the Clarke vocals soar high and sweet despite what they sing about. On the flip is a smooth rolling version that allows that super bassline to do its thing free from any distraction, and all with extra dub goodness.

Review: Final Symphony II delves deeper into the cherished melodies of the Final Fantasy series. Renowned composers Roger Wanamo and Jonne Valtonen skillfully craft rich and intricate arrangements of Nobuo Uematsu's iconic compositions from FF5, 8 & 9. Additionally, Masashi Hamauzu offers a captivating suite inspired by his monumental original score for Final Fantasy XIII, while Valtonen sets the tone with his atmospheric opening piece 'In a Roundabout Way - Fanfare'. Pianist Mischa Cheung shines brightly in the spotlight, captivating audiences with his masterful performances in 'For the People of Gaia' and the emotive solo arrangement 'You Are Not Alone'.

Review: Shame On Dry Land (Syndabocken) is an award-winning Swedish movie that picked up the Guldbagge prize for best feature film soundtrack in 2024. That soundtrack has been written and produced by sometime Studio Barnhus associate and mythical young artist Baba Stiltz. It arrives on vinyl for the first time here and is a dense affair with plenty of esoteric stylings as you would expect of a man with a famously hard-to-pin-down sound. It goes from heavy and dark to airy and Mediterranean and needs to be heard nice and loud for the best effect.

Review: NYC Records looks outside its in-house stable for the first time here and signs the delightful nu-disco delights of Constellation. This duo hails from Miami and focuses on space disco sounds that fans of the famous Metro Area style are sure to love. They remain mysterious themselves but their beats are brilliantly designed with plenty of retro-future pads, cosmic arps and tight basslines full of colour, texture and soul. Like Daft Punk but deeper and more dubbed out. All four of these cuts are sure to get floors going but also bring plenty of style.

Review: Le Couleur consistently sidesteps complacency with each new album presenting a fresh musical experiment without ever losing its familiar foundation. With Comme dans un penthouse, the band takes its biggest leap into musical exploration yet as they revisit elements of 'Voyage Love' while delving deeper into disco infused with new wave nuances. The result is a cooler, more distant vibe compared to their previous work. The album crafts a narrative universe around Barbara, introduced in 'POP,' as she seeks excess, pleasure, and happiness amidst frenetic rhythms. From the Krautrock-inspired 'Autobahn' to futuristic tracks reminiscent of Das Mortal, Le Couleur deftly balances innovation with familiarity here on another sublime-sounding album.

Review: Spasibo Records introduces a new 7" vinyl by St. Petersburg outfit the Vicious Seeds, this time on yellow and green wax. In an unconventional move, vibraphonist Pavel Chizhik takes the spotlight and the result is that he truly enhances the band's signature sound. 'Village Hassle' offers a unique blend of rare groove and instrumental reggae-soul - the A-side highlights Chizhik's vibraphone prowess, intertwining it with a dynamic instrumental backbeat. On the flip side, 'Monthly Rainfall' delves into a soulful journey, characterized by cross-sticked snares and offbeat chord plucks which create an atmosphere reminiscent of slow-jammed soul with a contemporary twist.

Review: Spasibo Records has been busy lining up plenty of great funk sounds that all seem to be dropping at once. One of them is this limited yellow and red marbled vinyl from The Great Revivers. The band hail from St Petersburg in Russia and these two instrumental tunes are perfect examples of their lush library funk sound. Both were recorded pre-pandemic back in 2019 at a vintage studio in an old church. The organs really shimmer and bring the heat to opening cut 'Adventures Begin' while 'Estrellas' dial down into a more late night and intimate atmosphere before the funky breaks and neat guitar riffs come on with full force.

Review: Loren Connors and Alan Licht's collaborative journey spanning 30 years culminates in their eighth album, At The Top Of The Stairs, is a great example to their enduring partnership and musical evolution. Recorded live in 2018, the album features two side-long pieces that showcase the duo's ability to create ethereal, abstract soundscapes with intricate arrangements. Throughout their collaboration, Connors' ghostly blue tones and Licht's meticulously crafted feedback and harmonic patterns have formed the core of their unique sound. At The Top Of The Stairs captures the duo's ascent through layers of atmospheric tension, punctuated by Connors' thunderous waves of effects. Connors and Licht have left an indelible mark on the experimental music landscape.