Reviews Archive - Page 28 of 86

James Zabiela: Balance 029

Commissioned mixes have been through their driest 12 months in recent memory, creating a palpable appetite for something fresh and lavish. James Zabiela’s ‘Balance 029’ is beyond a marker for a brand new year, it is a brand new star in the most exclusive of constellations.

Deeat Palace: Deeat Palace

Fresh off an excellent split of AFX-indebted electro and chopped-and-screwed rap courtesy of Crave and Lieu Noir, Parisian label Mind Records returns with Deeat Palace’s self-titled debut, serving up a pair of blustery mind-benders, harnessing the power of convulsive noise strata and rogue synth waves rising from the abysses. Not for the faint of heart.

Anenon: Tongue

Start to finish, from the chord changes to the building rhythms, the field recordings to the trickle of keys, Anenon is giving us something here that’s elevated, personal, raw… Tongue is regenerative.

Ingleton Falls: Champagne In Mozambique

Responsible for just a pair of confidential releases between 1993 and 1994, Ingleton Falls mainly made a mark with their now highly sought-after tape, ‘Champagne In Mozambique’ – a five-track EP that Isle Of Jura first re-released back in October last year on cassette format and have now pressed onto black plastic for the first time ever.

Leslie Winer & Jay Glass Dubs: YMFEES

YMFEES is a work of euphoric deconstruction, boldly smashing conventional narratives and demanding the listener make their own meaning.

L’Amour Fou: Dujuan

Dujuan is not a surprise nor is it a revolution. Instead it offers the kind of well-crafted and beautiful spins on deep house we’ve been waiting for quite some time, whilst the genre seems to have reached a through as of late.

Leonardo Martelli: Menti Singole Vol. 2

Over two years ago was released Leonardo Martelli’s first EP on Antinote, ‘Menti Singole’ – an arresting four-tracker on which each cut bears the name of an imaginary male figure, with its own idiosyncrasies and distinct mood. Today the Italian producer returns with the second volume to the diptych, ‘Menti Singole Vol. 2’, this time gathering four numbers named after female names.

Isorinne: Speechless Malison

‘Speechless Malison’ is a deeply textural experience. Although this should be no surprise to followers of Michel Isorinne’s works to date. If your wallet can suffer a small additional amount of thinning in this post festive season, dive in. For this is arguably his finest creation to date.

Florian Kupfer: Contact EP

Florian Kupfer’s ‘Contact’ EP is a fitting release for L.I.E.S. – rough, unfinished and daring. ‘Contact’ might be the easiest track to digest, but it is ‘Z’’s exploration of approximation, that digs the deeper here.

NSRD: Workshop For The Restoration Of Unfelt Feelings

Although not explicitly protest music, the very existence of NSRD was an act of defiance, their bold experimentation a franticly impassioned attempt to assert identity. Listening now, the 1980s context is not obviously apparent, but the strive for individuality comes through in amazing clarity.

DJ Richard: Path Of Ruin EP

With DJ Richard convincingly meditating on winter and its inherent melancholia. His handwriting is apparent, but never loses its verve – no matter how harsh the weather is outside.

Tom Hang: To Be Held In A Non-Position

Jimmy Asquith is best known for heading up the suite of Lobster Theremin labels, it’s distribution arm, and its fledgling London based record store. Just recently, he has started to make himself known as a producer in his own right, rolling out an EP and archive out-takes releases under the moniker Tom Hang. Now, following these initial exploratory expeditions, is his debut album ‘To Be Held In A Non-Position’.