Brownswood UK At Juno Download

Review: Off the back of his debut album, Gang Colours highlights a lead single here that sounds as though it could dare to challenge drive time radio with its heartfelt, James Blake-esque vocal turn and rich melodic sensibilities. It's a crafty track full of production savvy and flair which should propel the producer far. On remix duty, Machinedrum injects the original's laconic atmosphere with some mean jungle breaks operating on multiple levels, while both Ifan Dafydd and Deft opt for their own versions of heartfelt electronics for the more sensitive steppers out there. Excellent all round package.

Review: First introduced to Gilles Peterson's Brownswood label by Ghostpoet, Southampton's Gang Colours makes a confident and impressive debut with this effervescent EP. Weird and woozy textures and soundscapes are the order of the day here, backed with minimal tech-step beats that shiver and crackle in the style of Burial and Mount Kimbie. The incredibly vivid "Village & City" rides a slow, snapping garage beat amongst a wave of chorus-effected notes, while "Fireworks In Pockets" brilliantly uses a cappella cuts over the rising/descending note patterns. Best of the bunch though is "Dance Around The Subject" which builds from a stuttering start into a triplets-accented, multi-octave beauty that's wonderfully hazy and delirious. A debut to definitely get involved with.

Review: Fast settling themselves into the Brownswood roster, Gang Colours follow up on their EP with this long-player of introspective and many shaded vignettes. "Forgive Me?" particularly tugs at the heart strings with its plaintive piano, while the lilting beat and vocal of "To Repel Ghosts" melts any remaining stone-based coronary matter present. As the piano on the album cover might suggest, ivory-tinkling informs much of the music on The Keychain Collection, and as a result this album is best suited to those more thoughtful moments in your life. The composition and heartfelt emotion make all ten tracks an absolute triumph for electronic music with soul.

Review: A fortnight ahead of the release of Ghostpoet's much anticipated album for Brownswood Recordings, Gilles Peterson's label treats us to this teaser featuring album track "Cash And Carry Me Home" with remixes from Alex Patchwork and Gang Colours. The quality of the tune easily matches the cleverness of its title, with the distinctive, oddly distant vocals of the London based vocalist (real name Obaro Ejimiwe) bubbling on top of ghostly atmospherics and a gently shuffling drum pattern. The Gang Colours remix swaps the original's understated percussion for futuristic bleeps and squeaks, while Alex Patchwork's dubby effort chops up the vocals expertly. One for the rainy days, this. Bring on the album.

Review: After recruiting breathless rave heroes Switch and Sinden to remix the last Havana Cultura Band single, Gilles Peterson takes things down a notch for this next set of revisions. Fluid broken beat/deep house/nu-jazz veteran Martin 'Atjazz' Iveson steps up first, offering two wonderfully deep and soulful versions that make great use of the original's lovely Cuban percussion and vocals. The Detroit-influenced Astro Dub is particularly delightful. Chancha Via Circuito recasts the jaunty original as a blissful chunk of Cuban space dub - all roomy sub, touchy-feely harmonies and hip-hop tempo percussion - while Alex Patchwork drops a bouncy, organic house interpretation. Excellent stuff, all told.

Review: Gilles Peterson has always remained committed to innovation, experimentation and new talent. His own Brownswood Recordings imprint has been the perfect platform for him to help who he terms as "unsung heroes and emerging talent" to get released and reach more people. The fifth instalment of the series, this mix compilation does exactly that whilst shifting across genres and styles seemingly with each track on a CD that highlights Peterson's eclectic tastes further.

Although these are artists and tracks that Peterson has been using regularly in his live sets and radio shows, they will largely remain unknown to many. As such it is a great delight that on this offering, we get to hear the fragile and emotive soul-kissed electronic a of Ragen Fykes' "Love Life", the slow and hazy jazz-house of Ron Basejam's "Into My Life" and Michael Olatuja's "Hold On" before moving on to the shy, fractured pop of Samuel & The Dragon's "Rising Up" and the hip hop infused breaks of "Happy" by Daru.

Some were released some time ago now and appear here as an attempt to reach more through this release's attachment to the bigger name of Gilles Peterson. However, some are seeing the light of day for the very first time as exclusive tracks to this compilation. Artists include Ron Baejam, Daru & Rena and Electric Wire Hussle as Peterson explores music that harbours more interest than most other club music. Ranging from Soultronica to Hip Hop and from Jazz to Nu-Soul, there's enough there to keep even the most eclectic music fan engaged from start to finish.

Review: Here, one of the highlights of last year Havana Cultura set - a showcase of great contemporary Cuban music, played by of the country's finest musicians - gets remixed. Joining the breezy, floor-friendly original are reworks from London Latin jazzers Sunlightsquare and, most notably, Switch & Sinden. The latter's rub is in many ways typical of their work, a spiraling, brain-melting fusion of heavyweight Cuban drums, piercing electro stabs and woozy trumpet cut-ups. Sunlightsquare opts for a more natural approach, delivering two sparse, organic versions built around re-recorded percussion. Both are delightfully loose and should appeal to those searching for original Latin flavours.

Review: Brooklynites Half Seas Over really impress with this self-titled debut on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood imprint. Comprised of singer Adam McBride-Smith and pianist Elen Mehler, this release follows on from Mehler's The After Suite album from last year, which saw the pair join forces on a couple of tracks.

While The After Suite was rooted in jazz, this new fully-fledged collaboration has liberated the pair to create something that will appeal to a great swathe of music fans. Unashamedly mellow and melancholy, the instrumentation is sparse but played to a truly captivating standard. Mehler's piano must take the lion's share of credit ? check out his staccato, nerve-jangling playing on ?Rake? for one example. But there are also drums and the occasional accordion (which nicely evokes the genesis of their name ? a slang term for drunken sailors). The virtuoso double-bass on opener "Get Me To The Station" especially will have your jaw slowly dropping in admiration of the dexterous playing.

While most of the songs are slow and sentimental, a couple of jolly and upbeat songs make the cut. "Sunday's Empire" has a rollicking bar-room vibe, while "Sad Mona" has a pleasing bossa nova lilt to it. They give the album a wider range as McBride-Smith's smooth, Chet Baker-style voice cooing and emoting nicely throughout the album. Combining jazz, folk and blues so effortlessly, this album manages to touch on a lot that has come before - Tom Waits, Talk Talk and Jamie Cullum to name but a few ? but manages to set itself apart nicely from the rest.