Review: While he's used the NAD alias for numerous commissioned re-edits and reworks, it's been a decade since Idjut Boy and Record Mission co-founder Dan Tyler last released an EP under the alias. Given his track record as a dub delay and space echo living editor, this surprise outing in the excellent Duca Bianca imprint is a more than welcome development. He begins by dubbing out, extending and rearranging a Germanic new wave gem ('Dow Wordy', with its dead-eyed spoken word vocals), before showcasing a lower-tempo, French language obscurity on the Balearic-not-Balearic shuffle of 'Histoire De Cul'. 'Krapps Smack' sees the Oslo-based Brit add extra layers of echo-laden insanity to a low-slung, extra-percussive punk-funk number, while 'Release The Pigoen' is a spacey, slow-motion AOR gem drenched in effects and saucer-eyed intent.
Flamenco Sketches (DJ Mitsu The beats remix) (4:25)
Flamenco Sketches (4:44)
Review: The third volume of the Incense Music compilation series, Incense Music For Dining Room, curated by Toru Hashimoto (Suburbia), comes new iterated on a split 7". Carrying over its themes of fragrance and music, 'Flamenco Sketches', named and remixed after Miles Davis' classic jazz bit, brings an exquisite reed diffusion of live-feel beats and scooped-out bliss-sound. With cover art by Jiro Fujita (FJD) and mastering by Calm, a key figure in the Japanese jazz, chill-out, and Balearic scenes, the record promises serenity: DJ Mitsu the Beats ensures a quietly contented DJ's touch. Side B offers another lo-fi cover of 'Flamenco Sketches' by Nobuyuki Nakajima, lowering the pace to an unassuming, dozy, guitar-blessed tread.
Review: This is a second new and standalone 7" that is taken from Incense Music for Bed Room, a new compilation series from Incense Music that was curated by Toru Hashimoto and legendary Japanese downtempo and Balearic master Calm. On the A-side, we delve into Haruka Nakamura's beautiful tribute to Bill Evans' timeless piece 'Soiree'. On the flip, 'Valsa de Euridice' is a rendition of Vinicius de Moraes' classic from Etepalma, the inaugural 2006 album by Nobuyuki Nakajima. Renowned as a composer and pianist, Nakajima presents a captivating interpretation that captures the essence of the original piece. Together, these tracks offer a harmonious blend of homage and reinterpretation.
Review: Narco Marco returns to Pace In Stereo for more adventures through yesterday's tomorrow. As ever, the production is incredible, offering two tracks that pack a timeless sound informed by Italo, early electro-pop, cold and synth wave, a twin delight that somehow serves as the ideal home or headphone listen, yet is also dance floor ready and primed for proper parties. Starting on the slowest, tempo wise, 'Bald Tag' doesn't exactly owe a debt to Kraftwerk but certainly offers a place for sounds could have evolved in the back catalogue of the German pioneers. It's a weird and warbling, stepping, highly musical ride. 'Ice Tea', meanwhile, opts to get more of a stomp on, glittering harmonies painting stars in the sky above, vocals swapped out for more melodic depth.
Review: 'Incense Music for Dining Room' is the third release in the acclaimed Incense Music compilation series curated by Toru Hashimoto, with artwork by Jiro Fujita and mastering by Calm, who is one of Japan's leading figures in jazz, chill-out and Balearic music. The 7" comes with two standout tracks: side-A features a beautiful reinterpretation of Yusef Lateef's 'Love Theme From Spartacus,' famously sampled by Nujabes on 'The Final View,' while Side-AA delivers a mellow, jazzy take on Joe Thomas' 'Coco' which also known as the basis for Buddha Brand's 'Buddha's Holiday.' It makes for a refined blend of nostalgia, jazz and chillout for discerning diggers.
Review: NT is Nail aka Neil Holliday, one half of Bent and a master of UK tech house. But here he shows a different side across six majestically Balearic groovers. That draw on everything he has done before to send you out to sea on gentle waves of shining synth goodness, downtempo bliss and dreamy, chubby, soft focus drums. 'Beside Boa Linn' is a soothing summer sound to kick off then 'Going Out To Feel It' is a spiritual house cut for sundown, and 'Don't Hide Away' is slow motion disco brilliance. The trip continues with the star-gazing 'Evening Fixture', Eddie C style guitar licks of 'Walk In Romance' and romantic lullaby 'Dreams On Hold.'
Review: The third volume in the Insense Music compilation series, Insense Music for Dining Room, deepens its exploration of ambient, jazz, chill-out and Balearic sounds, all of which are perfect for serene dining moments. Curated by Tohru Hashimoto with artwork by Jiro Fujita and mastering by Calm, who a key figure in Japan's music scene as well as a renowned Balearic boss, this 7" release shines from the off: side A features Yakenohara's subtle, exclusive take on Bill Evans's 'Peace Piece' which blends his genre-fluid skills as rapper, DJ and producer. Side B offers Noa Noa's warm tribute to Bobby Hutcherson's 'Montara,' a hip-hop sampling favourite. The release precedes a full compilation dropping this May.
Review: Back in 2011, Nicolas Jaar joined forces with fellow Clown & Sunset contributor Dave Harrington for the Darkside EP, an impressive trio of untitled tracks that pitted the formers scratchy, near-paranoid production style against the latter's penchant for lo-fi indie-rock inspired fuzziness. Here, the duo dusts down the Darkside alias once more for a first collaborative album. Predictably, it's an impressive set, offering a collection of downtempo tracks that shuffle between crackly, out-there atmospherics ("Sitra", reminiscent of much of Jaar's Space is Only Noise album), echo-laden alt-rock experimentalism ("Heart") and heart-aching fragility (the James Blake-ish "Greek Light").
Review: Thievery Corporation veteran Eric Hilton is on a roll with his Montserrat House label, operating out of DC and adding new layers to his considerable legacy in downtempo sounds. As was teased by the 'Amor Astral' single from 2023, this new album finds Hilton working closely with long time Thievery collaborator, Argentinian singer Natalia Clavier. Her coolly soulful tone hovers over the buttery funk jams Hilton lays down, where the drums are tight and crisp and the basslines wrap themselves around the groove with snake-like grip, all the better to sink into when you need a little chill-out time from a certified master of the art.
Review: For sensitivity and naturalism in experimental music, Gosha Martynov & Natasha Sinyakova seize the crown with their new album Imena Rek. On their first foray into the physical, the duo expand the spectral ambience and medicated breaks of their earlier work with lithe touches of organic jazz and Cafe Del Mar cool, creating a complex assemblage of dreamy downbeat and emotive electronica that's entirely easy on the ears. The record is an ever-evolving, life-giving slough; we wade through many restorative swamps, each bearing its own sonic, ecosystemic character. The fen's mouth stretches open wide on 'Pozhaluysta', tempting the listener with an open-skied siren song set to skittish drum pats, while things grow hazier from 'Osvobodi Menia' and thereafter; the trip-hop influence is almost entirely naturalised, shedding the genre's usual rough-edged clicks and pops for a preferential sawn-off, willowy sound, that retains its smoothness even in moments of irresolution and tension, as on 'Rany'. And the slow mangrove whirl 'Iskra' really flaunts the pair's talents, with beautifully played pan flutes, and resonant silicate rustles, convoking a new hallowed ground; we wind up mentally clutching at damp mosses, imagining ourselves laid arrest in a sodden but warm bayou, as we're serenaded by two Armenian-American master musicians.
Review: There's no better example of a follow-up LP this week than Nation Of Language's 'A Way Forward', which brings up the rear and engulfs 'Introduction', the band's 2020 debut. Put simply, this album is krautrocky, whereas the last one was closer to synthpop. This subtle change came as a result of Ian Devaney, Aidan Noell, and Michael Sue-Poi attempting to "trace the roots of their sound", "hoping to learn something from the early influences of our early influences", from big names like Can through to Laurie Spiegel and Cluster. Recorded through the past year's lockdowns, a long-form mood of relentless melancholy is the result, blending driving drum machines with intense reverb and yearning male vocals - 'The Grey Commute' and 'Former Self' being emotive highlights. Keep an eye for the limited red and blue split vinyl version of this one.
Review: Futreu cult classic alert: Wilurarrakutu is the captivating debut album from Papunya-based young Aboriginal Australian artist Keanu Nelson in which he blends intimate storytelling with minimalist, DIY electronic soundscapes. Sung in both Papunya Luritja and English, the eight tracks draw from Nelson's personal notebooks and feature Casio keyboards, drum machines, and subtle synths all with a made--on-the-kitchen-table vine. Created in collaboration with Sydney producer Yuta Matsumura, who Nelson met during a chance visit, the album reflects influences from Papunya's gospel traditions and reggae beats shared in the remote community. Nelson's lyrics touch on family, heritage, and culture, balancing joy and melancholy meaning that Wilurarrakutu offers a tender sonic reflection of home and identity.
Review: Keanu Nelson is a young Aboriginal Australian artist from the remote community of Papunya, northwest of Alice Springs. He paints in the Western Desert movement style and, on this album, sings poems from his notebook over minimalist Casio beats programmed by Yuta Matsumura. His debut album, which came on the Altered States label, now gets re-issued on a larger scale. Inspired by local gospel and reggae beats, Keanu's songs explore family, home, and loss and he sings in a blend of both Papunya Luritja and English. The result is a haunting, original sound that is part Francis Bebey, part Suicide, and one that feels both familiar and groundbreaking.
The Sei - "Let It All Go" (Glitch Garden's Stella Polaris remix) (5:24)
R Missing - "Heavens Lower" (TOM & His Computer remix) (4:08)
Tina Dickow - "Moon To Let" (Sekuoia's Stella Polaris remix) (3:56)
Tom Adams - "Seven Birds" (BSB's Stella Polaris remix) (5:17)
Mads Bjorn - "I Have Nothing To Say" (feat Rick Astley - Cemetary's Stella Polaris remix) (7:37)
Grand National - "Talk Amongst Yourselves" (Leo Ryan's Stella Polaris remix) (5:34)
Funkatarium - "Jump" (Black Hawks Of Panama & Massey Chill Out At Stella version) (5:57)
Beg Steal Or Borrow - "Do Androids Dream Of Modular Synths" (7:25)
Glitch Garden - "Sprout" (6:57)
Review: Stella Polaris has long been focused on showcasing quality Scandinavian electronica, chill-out, downtempo, leftfield indie music with 18 years of festival offerings and associated label outings. This new compilation is another bumper mix on double gatefold and coloured wax with a specific focus on female producers. There are chugging cosmic delights like Lucca's Pitch Down Stella remix of Groove Armada's 'Time & Space,' while Cemetary's Stella Polaris remix of Mads Bjorn's 'I Have Nothing To Say' feat Rick Astley is a cinematic and atmospheric sound with celestial melodies and an airy synth groove. Furterh cuts from Sekuoia, Beg Steal Or Borrow and Glitch Garden make this a brilliantly interplanetary listen.
The Love Feeling (feat Brian J Of The Pimps Of Joytime) (6:11)
2 Sips & Magic (4:02)
Just Move (feat MC Kwasi - Zeb edit) (4:37)
Brookarest (feat Costel & Robert Of The Taraf De Haidouks) (4:28)
Didibina (feat Falu) (3:28)
Gira Do Sol (feat Liliana) (3:52)
Calle Sol (feat Tempo & The Candela Allstars) (2:37)
N'Dini (feat Ismael Kouyate) (4:16)
Review: This is the first pressing of Nickodemus' classic Sun People on translucent yellow vinyl and it comes from Wonderwheel. Originally released in 2009 by Thievery Corporation's Eighteenth Street Lounge label, the album features tracks inspired by Nickodemus' global travels and the people he met on the way. Known for his NYC summer soundtrack with Turntables On The Hudson and 20 years of worldwide tours, Nickodemus crafted songs for sun lovers and optimists here and as such listening toit leaves ou with a warming glow. Collaborators from Guinea, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Romania, India, Turkey, the UK and NYC contribute to this vibrant album and make it a truly cultural affair with hits like 'N'dini,' 'Sun Children,' and 'The Love Feeling' all sounding great.
Review: Vinyl Lovers brings you NICO’s, 'The End'. Originally released in 1974 and produced by John Cale, this found NICO caught in a dark no-mans land inhabited by ghosts of her past, the late Jim Morrison on 'You Forgot to Answer' and her cover of the Doors 'The End'
Review: South Carolina singer and producer Niecy Blues describes her songwriting process like an undertow: "I feel a strange pull, and let it carry me, following swirling leaves/whole days roll by, forgetting about the body." Their full-length debut, Exit Simulation, captures this sense of deep-rooted divination, cycling between simmering ballads, ghosted r&b, downtempo gospel, and looped vocal improvisations - often within the same track. The title is taken from a science fiction novel she read during the purgatory of the pandemic, alluding to a dimensional ideation of departure - "the permission to imagine leaving." Recorded in her current home of Charleston, she characterizes the album's mood in terms both reflective and raw: an exploration of things suppressed, foundations beginning to crack, "talking myself off a ledge." The music of Niecy Blues transposes reverie and reckoning into emotive devotionals of keys, guitar, bass, synth, and bewitched voice, steeped in sacred atmospheres gleaned from a youth spent in a religious Oklahoma household: "My first experience with ambient music was church - slow songs of worship, with delay on the guitar - even if you don't believe, you feel something."
Review: Having delivered a seventh studio album of a long and productive career as Nightmares On Wax last year, George Evelyn has been treated to the full retrospective programme by Warp in 2014. Earlier this year the label issued a best of, artfully punned NOW Is The Time, this week has seen Warp reissue in deluxe format all of Evelyn's six previous and widely loved long players. All of them are in stock at Juno and worthy of your time, though Carboot Soul is a particular favourite amongst the review team here. The Quincy Jones sample on opener "La Nuit" never sounded so good!
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.