Born from a recurring dream he made before putting the first touch to the tracks – involving “an expedition that leads into a glacier where an ancient ice metropolis lies”, ‘Deep Thought Glacial River’ casts its net far and wide; meshing bleached-out exotica with subdued prog folk tropes and teeming beds of organic noises to create a riveting sound fresco.
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Belong: October Language
Twelve years after its original release, Belong’s debut ‘October Language’ gets it first vinyl pressing courtesy of John Elliot’s Spectrum Spools label. The reissue launches the record into a new context, shedding new light on both its predecessors and what came after.
Efdemin: Naïf
Let’s not beat about the bush: 2017 was far from a vintage year for the commercial mix. While all and sundry have been lining up to ring the death knell, 2018 is full of enterprising projects looking to buck the trend. The commercial mix certainly still has a few tricks up its sleeve and it would be a far poorer world without it. Efdemin’s ‘Naïf’ is an incredibly strong argument in its favour.
Khotin: Aloe Drink
Fresh off a remix on Public Release’s latest EP, Vancouver-based producer Khotin turns up on the San Franciscan label again with his new solo effort, ‘Aloe Drink’. Like its title suggests, the present batch metes out four organically-grown chill house groovers, both mildly bracing and revitalising as can be; recommended for when the scorching sun’s turning the city into an open-air oven. Stream Force Of Nature’s revamp within.
Losoul: Island Time
It has been over 10 years since Losoul released his former ‘Care’ LP on Playhouse. Despite the decade wait Peter Kremeier is a man who consistently refines his craft and that’s why ‘Island Time’ is not a come back but rather a celebration album that showcases his honed skills and dedication to the love of music.
Pom Pom: Untitled
On this new release for Ostgut Ton, you’d think Pom Pom would be ready to step out of the Vantablack shadows covering their album covers. Nope: Pom Pom decides to luxuriate in it, and ‘Untitled’ is no exception to the rule.
Mark Pritchard: The Four Worlds
‘The Four Worlds’ feels strange and contextless, a peculiar statement that may seem at first like it doesn’t know what it’s aiming for. Don’t be fooled though, as this bewildered unfamiliarity is an aim in itself. Pulled away from the record and taken as singular statements, any of these eight tracks might not make much sense, but together, they cohere into something weirdly beautiful.
DJ Boring & Stanley Schmidt: Stay Young
With the lo-fi scene being accused of aesthetic first in the past, there is absolutely no evidence of that here. There is levity without ever resorting to dropping in nostalgic references that forcefully wink at you, nudging with pointed elbows. If anything, this is serious. Seriously good.
Edward: Rumours EP
Rumours is a great collection of different sounds that demonstrates his mastery over compositional control and serves as a testament to his versatility where it matters most: on the dancefloor and on the decks.
Gigi Masin: KITE
KITE is simply an album that doesn’t need to do anything beyond exist in its own little vacuum; it isn’t a profound new age revelation, but it’s great because it doesn’t try to be.
Alva Noto & Anne-James Chaton live at The Barbican
Staff writer Daryl Worthington shares his experience of UNIEQAV at The Barbican, a new audio-visual performance from artist and musician Alva Noto featuring French sound poet Anne-James Chaton.
Rezzett: Rezzett
After a string of well-received EPs on The Trilogy Tapes that’s seen them forge an eccentric signature sound halfway lo-fi analogue house and cask-aged breakbeat vintage, the pair was yet to hit the full-length format and to be honest, they managed to come up with an album both articulate and rejoicingly bleary.
Imre Kiss: Strangers
The Hungarian producer’s new offering on Lobster Theremin’s sister-label Mörk doesn’t depart from this lovingly crafted inclusive vision. There is something deeply kindly about Imre’s sound, something that transcends the mere moody nature of a track, emanating straight from deep down his soul and into his subtle electronics via some intangible process. A good man making good music.
Brett Naucke: The Mansion
In the four years since ‘Seeds’, his debut full length, Brett Naucke has produced a slew of cassette releases that have seen his music drift into a vivid, synthetic esotericism. Constantly in flux between ambient beauty and a cracked electronic reality, ‘The Mansion’ is new age music for the era of biometrics and online dating.
S.O.N.S: Shin-Okubo One Night Stand
Cinematic yet danceable, undecidedly appealed by Everestian heights all the while traveling the infra-world with eagle vision, this new outing further asserts S.O.N.S as a sure-handed producer with an unparalleled knack for crafting this subtle melange of micro-organic technoid scapes and extra wide-angle compositions.
2814: Pillar / New Sun
In ‘Pillar / New Sun’, 2814 have taken the essential parts of their sound and applied them to a new purpose, creating a spellbinding record out of it, that’s as contemplative as it is dynamic.