Soft Rocks At Juno Download

Review: Brighton's Soft Rocks very rarely leave listeners feeling dissatisfied, either with their remixes or their original work, and "Leave Your Earth Behind" is a perfect example of what they do best - beautiful, well-crafted Cosmic lovelyness. Great variety in the Roots Unit's pair of mixes also - well worth a listen.

Review: Given the eclectic nature of Soft Rocks' output so far - and, in particular, their effortlessly Balearic re-edits of crate-digging obscurities - you'd expect this debut original album from the Brighton quartet to be impressively varied. For the most part, it is - though perhaps not in quite the ways you'd imagine. While you could certainly describe it as Balearic - see the dreamy, Kate Bush-ish pop of "Thunder Thunder", the Afro-tinged slo-mo prog-disco weirdery of "Slowdown" and the Spanish vocals and bubbling grooves of "Mirador De las Estrellas" - that wouldn't really do it justice. Hidden amongst the album's 11 exquisite cuts are trips into weirdo cock-rock territory, twisted dub-punk and folksy, string-drenched hypnotism. A fittingly impressive debut.

Review: For some reason, Soft Rocks' brilliant debut album, 2011's The Curse of Soft Rocks, flew under the radar. It's a pity, because it's one of the best full-lengths to emerge from the cosmic/Balearic scene to date. Here, that album gets remixed, with an impressive cast of like-minded producers re-imagining the Brighton crew's immaculate efforts. Predictably, there are some stunning versions, from the intense fuzziness of Andrew Weatherall's take on dub-punk single "We Hunt Buffalo Now" and Spectral Empire's ket-addled rework of "Thunder Thunder", to the dub disco shenanigans of Young Marco, and Cage & Aviary's wonky new wave version of "Slowdown". Best of all, though, is Justin V's take on "Talking Jungle", a ten-minute slice of baggy disco peppered with impeccable pianos.