John Talabot At Juno Download

Review: Young Turks continue their assault on releasing good music, paying no heed to genre politics in securing some all too rarely seen original material from Barcelona resident John Talabot. The tracks on Families really provide further evidence of the somewhat mysterious producer's endless progression into a musician of real talent, perhaps most notably on the title track collaboration with Glasser's Cameron Mesirow. "Families" is in a word sublime, a perfect melding of pop sensibility and glorious electronic production. It's obviously going to add to the reputation Talabot has amongst the music press glitterati, but crucially could see him gain wider appreciation. This is not a one track EP though, with Talabot indulging in some crazed digi horrorcore boombap business on "Lamento", all jagged vocal edits stretched over a sea of white noise and click clacking percussion. "Lovers Tradition" occupies similar territory, aping the hip-hop trend for chipmunk vocals and sinking them deep beneath twisting Eastern melodies that worm their way into your cerebral cortex with far too much ease. The final track sees Lonely Club rework "Families" - adding more club meat to the beat and laying down some hypnotic melodic qualities before slowly bringing in the vocal refrain. It's a perfect end to an excellent release.

Review: When quizzed about his debut full-length before a Juno Plus party last year, John Talabot paused for a minute. "It's not really house, more electronica - like a proper album," he finally remarked. It's an apt description. Fin is clearly rooted in house - and the kind of melody-driven, atmospheric tackle that the Barcelona-based producer excels at - but it's certainly not a dancefloor-focused set. There are off-kilter downtempo moments, slo-mo compositions and twisted beatscapes that recall the impossible-to-pigeonhole antics of Hyetal (circa "Broadcast"), Sepalcure and Instra:Mental. Then there's closer "So Will Be Now" (one of two collaborations with Pional), a near-genius chunk of future garage/deep acid house fusion that's so beautiful it almost hurts. As transformations go, Fin is stunning.

Review: Second time around for John Talabot's brilliant debut album Fin, an expansive exercise in woozy dark-pop, off-kilter dream house and inventive IDM. This time round, the album has been padded out using a mix of previously released remixes, unheard versions and previously unreleased bonus cuts. There are some real gems among the nine additional tracks, from Bullion's breezy, off-kilter pop take on "Destiny" and the shimmering electronica of "Tragedial", to a hitherto unheard 'album version' of Talabot's seminal breakthrough cut, "Matilda's Dream". The droning synth-pop of "I Want Tonight" also impresses, as does the skittering rhythms and bold synths of "Zanzibar (80tapemix)". In truth, it's all pretty hot.