Review: When French fashion designer Vanessa Seward launched her summer collection earlier in the year, the catwalk show was accompanied by previously unheard music from Bertrand Burglat's Tricatel label. This expansive EP showcases those tracks, many of which seem to have been inspired by the designer herself. Check, for example, Burglat's two-part "Vanessa's Way", which gleefully joins the dots between vintage lounge music, easy listening disco and the rubbery bottom-end bounce of dub disco. Chassol's "En Femme Francaise", featuring a delicious bilingual spoken word vocal and Air style lounge music flourishes, explores similar territory, while Anita Lane's "Do That Thing" is a prime chunk of sleazy, string-laden disco. Arguably best of all, though, is the rip-roaring disco-punk madness of Burglat's heavyweight "Lightyears (Cool & Bright Vanessa)".
Review: Two years on from his last album-length outing under the Lane 8 alias, tech house/progressive house fusionist Daniel Goldstein returns with an action-packed set featuring a mixture of songs and instrumentals. "Brightest Lights" is melodious, imaginative and musically intricate, with Goldstein effortlessly jogging between sun-baked mid-tempo workouts, icy synth-pop influenced goodness, cheery dancefloor workouts and the kind of glistening electronic goodness that sounds as good on the radio as it does in the club. At a notably dull and depressing time of the year, this kind of celebratory musical positivity is more than welcome.
Review: Fresh from a few fine outings on his own This Is Not Happening label, Daniel Goldstein AKA Lane 8 returns to Anjunadeep, a label he's been associated with for the past six years. The headline attraction is undoubtedly title track "Field", a wonderfully evocative, sunny and positive chunk of synthesizer-laden Balearic house rich in childlike melodies, morning-fresh electronics and life-affirming chords. Ryan Davis provides a deep and hypnotic tech-house take that's available in short and extended formats, while Goldstein's own extended rework of "Field" is notable for its deliciously blissful, stretched-out breakdowns. To complete the package, Goldstein joins forces with Tinlicker for two versions of the trance-influenced, melodic house throb of "Anthracite".
