CD Album Recommendations June 2014

Review: Despite a career in electronic music that stretches right back to the mid 1990s, this album marks the first time that International Feel boss Mark Barrott has released music under his own name. That's a surprise, but then the whole project - quickly recorded and mixed during a period spent living in Ibiza - has a delightfully spontaneous feel about it. Exotic, humid, atmospheric and richly immersive, Sketches From An Island sees Barrott in full on Balearic mode, laying down a series of instrumental soundscapes variously influenced by Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Peter Green and the Orb. It's pretty darn good, too, sounding like a sassier, more cultured version of his 2007 Future Loop Foundation set Memories From A Fading Room.

Review: It's been some two years since the release of German producer Manuel Tur's last LP, the bizarrely titled Swans Reflecting Elephants. While that set was largely dark, moody and atmospheric, there's a cozy positivity about much of this belated follow-up. While there are hypnotic, late night moments (see the after party wonkiness of "About to Fall"), as a while Es Cub is a much more upbeat affair. Check, for example, the drifting Balearic house brilliance of "EL Soplo", whose extended breakdown serves to highlight the brilliance of Tur's yearning, metronomic groove, and the dizzyingly bright "AraAnam". Amongst the heartwarming deep house explorations you'll also find "Es Dub", a thrillingly sparse and atmospheric chunk of slow house that more than lives up to its name.

Review: It's been some six years since Mr Scruff's last album, roughly the average length of one of his marathon DJ sets. Much has changed in the musical landscape since then, but the tea-loving Mancunian is still ploughing his own mixed-up, soul-influenced furrow. That means tracks that comfortably meld hip-hop, dub, jazz, dubstep, downtempo groovery and - most pleasingly - broken beat. It's actually the album's "bruk" moments - the Vanessa Freeman-voiced West London soul of "Come Find Me" and thrilling Robert Owens hook-up "He Don't", in particularly - that really set the pulse racing. Of course, confirmed fans will find plenty more to enjoy, from the baggy sweetness of "Render Me" to the classic Scruff-isms of "What", which sounds like something from his 1997 debut on Pleasure Music.

Review: Plaid duo Andy Turner and Ed Handley have been active since the late 80s and are as synonymous with Warp Records as Autechre or Nightmares On Wax. Plaid have few rivals when it comes to mixing choppy electronics with intricate melodies, an approach that seems as fresh and rewarding as ever on Reachy Prints, a tenth album of a celebrated recording career. According to Warp, the nine tracks here find Handley and Turner opening the listener up to the possibility of a sonic "journey into a subterranean world" and you might view such press release speak with a pinch of salt, but tracks such as "Hawkmoth" and "Slam" feel like vintage Plaid.

Review: Spanish producer Raico Pena has a reputation as something of a prodigious re-editor, but in recent times he's (perhaps wisely) decided to focus more on original production. The result is Rebirth, his debut album of original productions. As you'd perhaps expect, his musical outlook is warm and sunny, with much of the album offering atmospheric, tactile takes on synth-heavy nu-disco and Almunia style Balearica. It's enjoyable stuff, all told, with enough odd turns - see the jangling nu-disco pop of "Rusos Theme", guitar-laden Iberican disco-rock of "Dreamer" and Baldelli-ish chug of "Time & Space (Cosmic Club Version)" - to keep things fresh.

Review: After dazzling with disco promise with their eponymous 2008 debut album on DFA, Hercules and Love Affair have settled into a wide-eyed, revivalist house groove variously influenced by the productions of Victor Simonelli, Kevin Saunderson, David Morales and Ten City. This third album from Andrew Butler's ever-changing combo continues in a similar vein to 2010's Blue Songs, delivering a warm, enticing, entertaining and occasionally poppy blend of classic US garage, early Italian house, early '90s New York house and groovy crossover late '80s acid house. It's soulful, immaculately produced and thoroughly radio-friendly. It's also enjoyably quirky, with eccentric turns and tongue-in-cheek lyrics aplenty (see the hilariously sweary backing vocals on "My Offence").

Review: This fourth album from British techno veteran Inigo Kennedy - his first since 2010's decidedly ambient September Pieces - has something of a "catch-all" feel. You see, Vaudeville refuses to stick to one sound, style or groove, instead referencing the many styles of techno and experimental electronic music that have inspired the popular producer over the course of his 18-year career. So, there are murky, IDM-inspired techno floorfillers (the melodious but faintly foreboding "Requiem"), early British psychedelic techno ("Plaintive"), dense, darkroom grooves ("Vallecula"), classic Yorkshire bleep and bass ("Petrichor"), Kompakt-ish organic techno ("Winter"), and spooky, droning ambience ("Narrative").

Review: Yet another coup for Mudd's Claremont 56 imprint, Paqua first made their rocky, psychedelic Balearica known to world with the sleazy, guitar-twanging chugger "Late Train" in the summer of 2013. Following it with beautiful "Dinosaur Zappa" shortly after, the UK/US band suddenly went quiet on us, leaving us thirsty for more of their heady cosmic brew. Mercifully they've returned... And have done so with an entire album of material. Ranging from the string and strum bliss of "The Visitor" to the "Horse With No Name" style pace and folky delicacy of "We Are What We Are" via the Motown-style funk missile "Ruby Running Faker", Akaliko is stamped with indelible cosmic authority thanks to its dynamic compositions and tight instrumentation. As spellbinding as it is essential.

Review: After a few 12" shapes entrees last year, Southern Fried introduce the main courser that is Like A Machine, the latest long player from Andy Meecham's The Emperor Machine project. A mainstay of J Saul Kane's seminal DC Recordings label, it's nice to see Meecham's been granted the opportunity to continue The Emperor Machine's ongoing hardware experiments unfettered by Southern Fried with Like A Machine twelve tracks deep with wondrous synth-fuelled, funky cosmic electroid disco. Once again it's Meecham's production range that shines through on this fourth LP as The Emperor Machine with the moments that explore loose limbed punk funk such as "The Point" and "Voices" particularly rewarding.

Review: It's been 13 years since Will Holland delivered his eclectic, electronica-heavy debut album under the now-familiar Quantic alias. In that time, he's turned into something of a globetrotting fusionist, variously turning his hand to heavy revivalist funk, Cuban beats, cumbia and sweet downtempo grooves. On Magnetica, his ninth album as Quantic, he draws together all of these strands, delivering a dub-heavy set that does a brilliant job in showcasing the sheer breadth and diversity of his influences. With plenty of Latin instrumentation, a huge cast list of guests and nods to early influences such as hip-hop, reggae, electronica and folk, it feels like the culmination of a thrilling, 13-year journey. As a result, it's arguably his strongest set for some time.

Review: Typical. You wait ages for one CV313 record, and three come along at once. Hot on the heels of the recent release of the much-delayed Dimensional Space album and Live @ Primary CD comes Altering Illusions [Chapter 1], a notably warm, attractive and enveloping two-disc compilation that mixes classic and hard-to-find material with a slew of previously unheard alternate versions. Fans of Steve Hitchell's atmospheric fusions of drifting chords, locked-in techno rhythms, electronic noise and heavy dub bass will find plenty to enjoy, from the 23-minute ambient exploration "Beyond The Clouds (Reprise)" to the classic deep dub techno of "Seconds to Forever (Original)".

Review: This is a fascinating collaboration on many levels. For starters, it pits the John Carpenter-inspired dystopian electronics of Italian producer Heinrich Dressel (AKA Valerio Lombardozzi) against the barely heard electronic explorations of Francesco Clemente, whose last output of note was a crunchy Italo-disco 12" on Creme Organization back in 2004. The intrigue doesn't stop there, either; Il Faro sees the two producers largely abandoning their own styles in favour of claustrophobic soundscapes, horror-influenced ambience and faintly threatening electronica. The results are uniformly excellent, veering from the religious leanings of the intricate "Wind Sighs Down The Reef" and "N38", to the bubbling, Halloween-style Giallo pulse of "Just Passing Through".

Review: Mix reggae, a bit of dub, UK street pop and most importantly disco and a bit of soul, and you've pretty much summed up the superb talents of Hollie Cook. Daughter to Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, she presents her third album in four years and it's tracks like "Tiger Balm", "Postman" and "Twice" that really hit the spot. While for something a little more laid back check out "Win Or Loose" and "Looking For Real Love". A quality well rounded production.

Review: Yes Son! The debut Beautiful Swimmers album finally arrives on compact disc! For those cultured ears familiar with the smattering of Beautiful Swimmers cuts that have surfaced since Ari Goldman and Max D joined forces, the tone of Son will be no surprise. Nine new tracks feature here along with the previously issued "Swimmers Groove" and "Big Coast" as Beautiful Swimmers gleefully run the gamut of their collective influences. Elements Chicago jack and proto-house, to hip-hop, disco, boogie, dub, '80s afro grooves and new age ambience are all apparent here and it's one of those LPs where every cut is suitable for one particular moment of a night's dancefloor activities.

Review: Diesel and Dave Jarvis' Moton series launched back in 1996, and - alongside imprints from the Idjut Boys, Harvey and others - was instrumental in shaping the leftfield disco/Balearic re-edit scene. It's still going strong, of course, dropping new edits of essential oddities, but here Diesel and Jarvis look back, offering a tweaked CD re-issue of the previously vinyl-only 1999 compilation Moton Long Play Volume 1. Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the dubbed-out, slightly housed up tweak of Billy Paul's "East" and stripped back take on Sugar Daddy's "Bites The Dust" (yep, a version of the Queen fave), to the drum solo madness of Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Vital Transmission".

Review: Church is jazz keyboardist, broken beat legend and future jazz producer Mark De Clive-Lowe's latest album for US label Ropeadope.For those who dig his musically rich blend of jazz, hip-hop, downtempo beats, global influences and club-friendly rhythms, Church is certainly well overdue. Predictably, it's a fine set, dripping with winding horns, intense rhythms, skewed electronics, impeccable keys (naturally) and heady, late night soul. Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the head-nodding soul-jazz bagginess of "Now Or Never", and languid lounge jazz of "Sketch for Miguel", to the voodoo rush of "Nova Rhoda", which comes layered with tribal chants and dense African percussion.

Review: Multidisciplinary artist Fatima Al Qadiri aligns with Hyperdub to release Asiatisch, a keenly anticipated debut album that's described as a "simulated road trip through an imagined China". First coming to prominence on the UNO label in 2011, Al Qadiri has subsequently provoked critical acclaim for the 2012 Desert Strike EP for Fade To Mind that played on her time spent living in Kuwait as a child, while her work under the Ayshay moniker for Tri Angle explored vocals in a unique manner. Asiatisch expands on the political themes of Desert Strike in a new and unexpected way, and acts as a homage to the style of grime known as "sinogrime". Asian motifs and melodies are prominent throughout whilst conceptually Al Qadiri runs through "the fantasies of east Asia as refracted through pulpy Western pop culture". If that wasn't enough to sell you on the concept, opening track "Shanzhai" is a "nonsensical Mandarin" language cover of Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U".

Review: It's some 11 years since Franco-German trio Rework impressed with their stylish debut album Fall Right Now, and seven since their last full-length, Pleasure Is Pretty. You Play, then, is long overdue. Interestingly, it sees them blending their usual minimal wave, dark synth pop, skewed deep house and scratchy minimal techno influences with a new-found love of hypnotic, tech-house influenced dancefloor grooves (an unsurprising move, given that this album is appearing on Visionquest, rather than long-term home Playhouse). It's a move that largely pays dividends, delivering an enjoyably stylish set of club tracks that brings their unique trademark sound bang up to date.

Review: Any new album from The Roots is cause for celebration, but there's something extra special about this 11th studio set from the eccentric alternative hip-hop heavyweights. Like much of their best work, And Then You Shoot Your Cousin has a concept; according to rapper Black Thought, it's a satire on violence in hip-hop and American culture in general. With members of the outfit playing different characters at different points on the album, it comes on like an alternative hip-hop opera, or a musical with sampling, rapping, acapella tracks, scratchy beats, hip-hop soul anthems and brilliant piano work. In other words, it's an album by The Roots, and frankly it's excellent.