Review: Producer Blair French makes an impressive debut on MotorCity Wine Recordings with his "Ancestarians" EP. The release finds him adeptly bridging the worlds of soulful Detroit deep house and laidback Balearic grooves, carving out a distinct musical identity. The Physical Mix of the title track lays down a midtempo, jazzy groove primed for the dancefloor, infusing pan-African rhythms and a rich interplay of live instruments. In contrast, the Spiritual Mix ventures into more atmospheric, ambient realms, highlighting French's varied musical influences. Kicking off with a vibrant bounce, "Champagne Kiddie Pool" melds bright cavaquinho tones with an infectious dembow-inflected groove, conjuring up a summertime beach vibe. The EP's closing cut "Sandbox Fossils" ratchets up the energy level with its dynamic drum programming, shimmering keys and a standout bassline performance.
Review: With Innamind Recordings being such a forward thinking label project, we were absolutely thrilled to see this one land in our store as Ago steps out for a full length LP project, showcasing his versatility within the expansive realms of 140. What a project it is as well, from the smooth celestial synthesis of 'Above' and 'Deer' to the more dubwise influenced rolling percussion of 'So I Smoke' and 'Dragon Love'. Our highlights for this project however have to be the unpredictable yet incredibly smooth sounds of 'Blur', along with the sumptuous dubby switch ups and tumultuous sub pressures of 'Deer Dub'.
Review: Already a legend of the game in many people's eyes, Phaeleh makes yet another monumental return with this latest collection on Undertow, exploring the most beautiful elements of 140BPM based creation. We begin with 'Once Chance', a thought provoking swim through silky vocal sweeps and glittering pad textures. From here, a more shuffling set of drums are rolled out for the room filling vocal displays of 'Outside The Lines', doused in stunning synthetic harmony from start to finish. To close, we are very pleased to see a final dive into some garage-driven goodness as the high energy drum crunches of 'Walk Away' take the lead role, topped off of course with some more of those stunning melodic inductions, shimmering bass booms and emotional vocal slices to match. Fabulous stuff!
Review: Since first finding fame as an integral member of the Def Jux crew in the late '90s/early 2000s, Blockhead - AKA NYC-based producer James Simon - has contributed three albums of heavyweight beat science to the vast Ninja Tune catalogue. This fourth full-length for Coldcut's long-running imprint sees him in fine form, offering a typically chunky selection of sample-heavy beatscapes. Musically, it's flexible, overlaying his usual solid beats with elements of folk-rock, grungy indie, jazz, blues, film soundtracks, country, B-music and dreamy pop. The resultant fusions are thoroughly enjoyable, offering a kaleidoscopic mix of pscyh-hop heaviness, hazy trip-hop revivalism and jaunty, floor-friendy rhythms.
Review: After his In The Wild LP dropped on Ninja Tune last year, Drew Lustman continues on an exploratory path for this new EP, revisiting tracks from the album, inviting remixers in to play with the parts, and offering up some fresh excursions into the unknown via tape processes and other such studio experiments. "Greater Antilles VIP" is certainly a patient creation, moving through orchestral swells loaded with melodrama and quietly tense moments of earthen percussion. u-Ziq delivers a remix of "Rolling" that harks back to the good old days of British electronica with its overdriven alien beats and melancholic synth swells, while Brrd goes positively ambient with his grainy version of "Frontin". Lustman's own broken beat revision of "Do Me" dazzles with autumnal grace, and the additional experimental pieces shed light on further experimental alternatives to the typical FaltyDL sound.
Review: This EP finds Kevin Martin zooming in on some of the themes of Angels & Demons, the long awaited new LP from The Bug, naturally showing a diverse approach across the spectrum of his dread-filled half-step swagger. Two versions of "Void" drape themselves across the first side in a heavy-lidded fog of distant melodics, static interference and restrained beat business, while on the flip "Black Wasp" likewise takes two strung out routes through submerged menace and laconic grace. Like a sharp slap about the chops, side three finds Manga spitting out a monolithic grime performance over "Function", while Daddy Freddy is on side four with a perfectly devilish turn on "Blaow".
Review: The alias of Californian Joe Corrales, Yppah's third album for Ninja Tune sees the producer build on his mix of psychedelic soul and rock with a more electronica-orientated sound on Eighty One. The lush waves of shoegazey organs on opener "Blue Schwinn" set the tone nicely, with similarly dense songs like "Happy To See You" and "Paper Knife" providing a pleasing link between rock and the detuned haziness of artists like Balam Acab and Evian Christ.
Review: Wolverhampton based duo Richard Roberts and Andrew Harber aka Letherette return on Ninja Tune with their new full length: a 40-minute mix of previously unreleased productions have been unearthed in conjunction with their recently released second album for "Last Night On The Planet". This collection which explores ambient and deeper beats territory was originally released on a limited run cassette, but will see a digital release in 2017. Harber has stated that the tracks were "saturated onto cassette (Marantz CP430) a number of times to give it a crusty, aged and brittle edge, the playlist was conceived on a typically bleak night-bus ride through Birmingham."
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