Review: Daydream Utopia emerges as a deep journey into atmospheric downtempo & electronica, designed for immersive listening experiences if only brief! Evoking a sense of inner and outer space exploration, the album's ethereal soundscapes offer a soundtrack for introspection and dreaming realities by blending warm analog tones with futuristic nostalgia. Chris Coco invites listeners to ponder existential questions while navigating their own thoughts, offering a place for balance, clarity and purpose should you get it. From the enigmatic "Synesthesia" to the introspective "Tokyo Ame," each composition sparks curiosity, whether it's decoding hidden meanings or exploring the depths of human connection. For lovers of ambient synth!
Review: Whenever we see the 1985 Music banner sailing into port, we know we are in for a good time, especially when it carries goods of the level of these from VIsages, who continues to impress with another killer 4 track drop. We open up with the title track 'Dol Guldur', a gnarly fusion of metallic bass tones, neurotic drums and spiced up vocals, followed by Snowy's high energy vocal performance on 'Evidently', a serious grimey throwback. Next, the more ethereal vocal slides and mind-melting synth pads of 'Panacea' flip the themes of the EP right on their head, with a killer vocal appearance from Killa P on 'The Most' giving us the final dash of juice to round this EP off in serious style.
Review: Monty Luke's Nightdubbing project on Rekids was designed to showcase the Black Catalogue boss's deep love of dub-infused house and techno. This 13-track album combines previously unheard cuts with nine tracks previously showcased across a pair of EPs of the same name. It's a fantastic set all told, with highlights including the smacked-out electro-dub headiness of opener '40 Acres and a Terrabyte', the extra-percussive deep dub-house hypnotism of 'Bob Molly', the after-hours friendly minimalism of 'Star Storms', the Detroit-goes-dub techno pulse of 'New World/Old Future', the classic dub techno warmth of 'Dark Paradise', and the dub-wise deep house dreaminess of 'Avantgarde Dancehall'. Throw in a handful of tidy ambient and digital dub tracks, and you have a genuinely superb long-player.
Review: Oli Lazarus's Reel People Music drop the first volume in a new compilation series that will see the keys to the label's vaults handed over to a number of different remixers, with the intention of breathing new live into tracks that in some cases are nearly 20 years old. The man in the hot seat for this first installment is broken beat originator and Bugz co-founder Kaidi Tatham, who takes on tracks from/featuring the likes of Mica Paris, Atjazz, Sean Escoffery,Sebb Junior, Daz-I-Kue and of course Reel People themselves. Given the source material, it's no surprise that "smooth and soulful" is the mood du jour, generally: the beats never get TOO broken and self-indulgent jazzbo flourishes are kept to a minimum. File under 'baby-making music'.
Review: Long live team Alpha Pup, an excellently organised project that have moved onto the third edition of their epic '20/20' compilation series, exploring the most lethal reaches of underground bass music. Featuring hard hitting originals from the likes of Ivy Lab, Dismantle, Rocks FOE, Bakey and more, it's clear that the team have gone all out on this collection, with sounds ranging as wide as the hardcore inspired mysticism of 'Naananaana' from Rohaan, to the industrial techno-flavours of Ila Brugal's 'Cynical'. The whole project packs a punch, but our highlights would have to include both the intense metallic madness of Deft's 'OKURTHEEXPERT', alongside Manni Dee's monstrous 'Wet Slide' creation. Top work all around!
Review: Art of Tones fantastic collaborative EP with live disco-jazz outfit Chatobaron, last year's 'Flight of the Comet', have been given the remix treatment. The EP begins with a trio of takes on 'Ban The Disco'. Crackazat steps up first with a UK garage-influenced deep house revision rich in musical colour, before Bruno Hovart dons his familiar Patchworks alias for a luscious, all-live take that sits somewhere between deep disco, jazz-funk and organic house. If you're looking for a little more energy, check Paul Cut's driving, Rhodes-laden revision of the same track. Elsewhere, the 'Raw Analog Funk Remix' of 'Pendant Ce Temps La A Vera Cruz' is a languid, warm and richly organic deep house treat, while Tiurbojazz's take on 'Flight of the Comet' is a slow-motion, sax and piano-laden head-nodder with added Balearic sunshine.
Review: Frankey & Sandrino's newest compilation Path Integral takes in some 11 tracks large with headliners such as Alex Niggemann, Skatman, John Falke, Keith Holland, Imeïa, Of Norway. With a seemingly 80s synth, punk and trance attitude presiding throughout this edition, get your Doctor Who themes from "&YU", with Jean-Michel Jarre seemigly influencing other sleeper hits like "Brainbuster" and " A Way To Say Goodbye". With subtle touches of Italo, proto-techno, heavy tech house', minimal synth and electro & punk making it into the compilation too - don't sleep on this if you get a kick out of dancers asking for track IDs. Our tip: Keith Holland's trance-and-Hacienda-inducing "Panorama".
Review: Soul Clap describe their latest offering as "expertly crafted R&B-tinged electronic music for a better tomorrow". A touch hyperbolic, perhaps but a fairly accurate description in many ways. There are four tracks, each of which is presented in full vocal and instrumental variations. The long-serving twosome first join forces with Life on Planets on 'Extravaganza', a percussively rubbery, sub-heavy shuffle topped off with impeccable lead vocals, before opting for a more colourful, synth-laden disco-meets-house flex on Ebony Houston hook-up 'Something in My Heart' (an acapella version of which is tucked away at the end of the EP). Life on Planets return on jungle-tempo breakbeat workout 'Rick Fredkin', before Saucy Lady and Greg Paulus lend a hand on the seductively sleazy and weighty EP highlight 'Keep Reaching'.
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