Tags: Balearic House

Review: Excursions in Gwoka vol. 2 is another adventurous outing for the Beauty & the Beat label that takes them ever deeper into the gwoka scene of Guadeloupe. it is the celebrated carnival outfit Akiyo who are in focus here with two tracks taken from second and supremely hard-to-find long player, Mouvman, in 1993. 'Deboule' is a real heater with bustling drum funk and chatting tribal vocals all run through with synth wizardry from Marie-Galante Jacques-Marie Basses. 'Blo' is just as steamy and intern with percussion, whistles and big beats all making quite the impact. Breakplus adds a London twist to 'Deboule' while CW adds a cosmic air to 'Blo.'

Review: We don't know much about the freshly minted Worm Records, but we can tell you that proceeds from the imprint's debut release will be donated to the Livetolove campaign, which raises funds for food banks. The EP itself is a corker, with a mix of rising stars and established heads providing genuine dancefloor goodness. Bristol-based Gallegos kicks things off with 'Rockin', a deliciously dreamy fusion of Balearic deep house loveliness and snappy, Chicago house-influenced machine drums, before long-serving producer The Mole goes deeper, smoother and jazzier and the wonderfully tactile 'Festern'. Over on side B, Tartan Records chief drops the extra-percussive, off-kilter drum workout 'Booster', while Ruf Dug drops a previously unheard rework of his Italo-disco inspired fave 'Manctalo Beach'. Top stuff!

Review: The fledgling Pamela label hits release number three with Anthony Teasdale the man charged with taking us on a sonic trip. He kicks off with a gorgeous cut that pairs breezy grooves with flamboyant keys that sound like they come from a theatrical moment in a play. It is a super symphony that sweeps you off your feet while 'A Pavement In Palma' is a humid and sundown gem, 'Deep In The Forest Something Stared' is layered ups with retro-future synths from a band like ELO and 'It's 5am Somewhere' then has more slick kick to it, but no less a majestic sense of melody which seems to be Teaseale's calling card.

Review: A rare new V/A record from the diggers deific over at Time Capsule - Kay Suzuki and company - whose focus on reissues has thus far formed a dense but not unbraveable thicket of drummy disco, city pop, reggae and international rerubs. Formed out of the East London party scene centring on Brilliant Corners and Beauty & The Beat, this four-track haul of Choice Remixes is a surely credible little curation. Suzuki lends four flips to the record - first of Gaoule Mizik's 'A Ka Titine' from 2022, which reappears with expository force, providing a banging re-bake of the Guadeloupean gwoka original. The theme continues on a version of Broki's 'Es Que Lo Es', which veers Latin minimalia, before slowing to a chuggy pace on 'Sortez Les Filles', before a final, synthy piano duet leaves the proceedings on a piquant hurrah, 'Oyelo'.

Review: It's all change on the 14th edition of Compost's long-running Future Sounds of Jazz series, with the baton being passed to two new curators: Permanent Vacation bosses Benjamin Frolich and Tom Bioly. It was perhaps a wise move, because the duo - compiling a disc each - have taken a much more liberal approach to "jazz" as a concept. The result is a hugely entertaining two-disc trawl that variously takes in immaculate deep house (Isolee, Marcellus Pittman), inspired electronica (The Abstract Eye), acid-flecked jazz-funk/house fusion (Tee Mango), hypnotic techno and spacey tech-house (Matt O'Brien, Aubrey, Herzel), synth-Balearica (Jex Opolis, I:Cube remixing Jose Padilla), ambient (Move D, Luke Abbot) and, of course, proper contemporary jazz (Yusuf Kamaal, Roman Flugel).