Blue Daisy At Juno Download

Review: Having already garnered much praise for his own take on downtempo beats, Kwesi Darko delivers his debut album and it's nothing short of magnificent. The 12 tracks bear a heavy load, as slabs of reverb and a plentiful amount of orchestral dread loom over a large chunk of the monolithic beats. Occasional vocal turns appear from Anneka and Hey Zeus, perfectly matched to the ominous wraiths of music that unfurl around them. The way the tracks segue into each other makes for the perfect album listening experience; a toxic torrent of malevolent tones that defy you to not succumb to the witchcraft of Blue Daisy.

Review: Kwesi Darko returns with his first original Blue Daisy material since his weirdly underrated debut album The Sunday Gift from last year, teaming up with the unexplained entity Unknown Shapes for the six-track EP Bedtime Stories. One listen through and it's clear Darko has been taking his time perfecting a set of tracks with a breathtaking attention to detail and texture, and it takes a few more listens for all its subtle intricacies to truly show. It would be easy to cite everyone from James Blake to Burial to the majority of the Tri Angle roster to provide some context for tracks such as "Insomniac Love" or "Wet Dreams" but such comparisons don't really do justice to the cavernous soundscapes that Blue Daisy and the Unknown Shapes have cast on Bedtime Stories. The moments in the title track where ripples of purple funk break free alone are worth investigating.