Staff Picks w / c 11 November 2019

Review: As part of their on going series of special vinyl releases of radio broadcasts from days gone by, Warp this time turn to a special Peel Session put together by Boards Of Canada. Covering plenty of ground from the deep and chugging dream-techno of "Happy Cycling" to the archetypal IDM squiggles and kinetics of "XYZ" via the sort of brain cleansing alpine purity of ambient beauty "Olson". Opener "Aquarius" sounds almost balearic in comparison, with little guitar riffs, smeared chords and sampled vocals that bring to mind the finest post-rave work of Orbital.

Review: Where do you start with this epic collection? Arthur Russell should be no stranger to any music boffin, having been a tour de force on the New York underground during the 1970s and 80s. A maestro of disco, formative-era dance music, anything remotely avant-garde, despite having worked on some of the most iconic releases of the day, he only produced three albums before passing before time. "Iowa Dream" is what was left behind, or at least to some extent. Archived and - for years - never earmarked for release, thanks to the tireless efforts of composer Peter Broderick, this collection of demos, home recordings, and lost songs has been restored, edited and mixed, then carefully placed on this lovingly-conceived compilation. The result is a must-buy for fans and newcomers alike and will only serve to cement Russell's place in the pantheons.

Review: There's always a sense of reverent elation around a new drop from Theo Parrish, and he's not disappointing on this latest joint. Reports suggest this is the precursor to a new album, and there's a classic feel to this track that hints at very exciting times ahead. Parrish's sparks shine oh-so bright when he's sparring with the right vocalist, and Maurissa Rose seems to be giving him the right inspiration on "This Is For You". He's created the kind of understated soul statement that inhabits some of his most treasured albums, using a raw and simple drum machine backing to achingly beautiful key refrains that melt around Rose's voice on the vocal A side, and give rise to a sublime instrumental version on the flip.

Review: Wow. To put it mildly. It takes about three minutes of this stunning contemporary classical masterpiece to realise just how breathtaking this contemporary classical masterpiece actually is. So hard is the task of conveying the depth of its beauty we might as well give up now, although there's no harm in trying. As tragic as it is uplifting, subtle but bold, we veer from the sunrise cinematics of "In The Shattering of Things" to mournful melancholia on "We Try To Make Sense Of It All". Strings soar, keys gently play, harmonies so emotive it's enough to break your heart seem to pour from the album. Completing a trilogy catalysed by the death of a loved one, logically - for those who have ever experienced grief in its purest forms - it's as much about the power of silence and what's not there as what's in the score.

Review: Way back in the early 90s, 4Hero legends Marc Mac and Dego took a trip to Detroit and came back inspired to try their hand at techno. The resulting 1994 album "Beyond Gravity" heralded the start of Nu Era, a project since taken on solo by Mac as he continues to explore the sweet spot between hi-tech soul of all tempos and rhythms. "Evolve" follows in that footpath and in some ways goes back to an earlier techno sound. There are splashes of electro and house, and a seriously liberal pouring of Mac's broken beat tendencies in the mix here, but like all the greatest machine music, this new album from Nu Era is more than any list of reference points. It's uplifting, spiritually charged music that seeks to scrape the stratosphere in search of new expressions.

Review: Leonid Lipelis is a Moscow based producer with a deadly instinct for smouldering disco grooves. His freakiest material though tends to emerge under his Beard In Dust alias, with previous outings on Whiskey Disco and Bahnsteig 23 all essential for the outsider boogie fraternity. He's got his game tighter than ever on this new joint for Edits From, leading in with the bass-tastic slow burn of "Beardomania", rocking a b-line you know you've jammed to before, but never so stripped back. "SDR" is a sassier affair that plays with a killer cover of an Ian Dury classic, while "Philly Perc" brings you dubbed out disco drums to die for.

Review: It's always nice when an album comes with a backstory so genuinely absurd it renders the project a surrealist work of art. Welcome to "I Made A Place", the first fresh material from Bonnie "Prince" Billy in time, dedicated to life's simple and most instinctive pleasures. Because in the face of real adversity overthinking is wasting time. So here's the yarn - Hawaii, January 2018, Will and Elsa, the creatives at work here, are in the midst of an artistic residency when a warning goes off about an impending missile attack. A song is written, "Blueberry Jam"; whimsical flight of fancy laughing in the face of impending Armageddon. Thankfully the "attack" was a false alarm, but it catalysed further work resulting in this album. Complex song craft and enchanting folk instrumentation rooted in what we feel when all is about to be lost.

Review: Sometime Slum Village member turned soulful deep house hero Waajeed is the latest Motor City legend to compile a volume in Planet E's ongoing Detroit Love series. His eight selections are inspired and on-point, moving from the off-kilter MPC-house jazziness of Roddy Rod's "Overbite" and chunky, upbeat house business of 14kt's "We Out Chea", to the bass-heavy Motor City garage/broken beat fusion of Matthew Law's "Minimariddim" and the extra-percussive, underwater deepness of Damon Bell's incredible "Mermaid Blues". In between you'll find four other essential cuts, with Ladymonix's stomping, warehouse ready deep house bumper "WhoRU" standing out.

Review: Los Angeles-based electronic and alt-r&b duo Rituals Of Mine draw on some very dark personal experiences and harrowing times on this captivating new EP. That lends the music a dark and foreboding sense of emotion even without digging deep into the lyrics. "Burst" is edgy and paranoid, "Heavyweight" is more empowering with its hall of mirrors feel and hallucinatory synths, and "Bad News" ends with tender chords and lurching bass that tugs at your heart. Fans of Kelela's Take Me Apart are likely to fall for the charms of this one.

Review: Techno institutions in their own respective rights, James Ruskin and Tresor make for a formidable partnership. They've crossed paths before, but not much in the past 10 years. That changes in style with this adventurous EP, which finds Ruskin eschewing his more banging tendencies to explore the kind of experimental pastures he dabbled in with Mark Broom as The Fear Ratio. The beats fall dense and crooked on "Nepte" and "Kn Te3" does away with kick drums to summon energy from nerve-shot arpeggios instead. "Nocke" is possibly the pick of the bunch, with enough drive to really cut it on the floor, but the freshest twist on the electro template we've heard all week. Don't overlook the snarling synthwave nightmares of "Kn Am3" either, another beatless excursion that shows Ruskin to be at the top of his game.

Review: This bold project from Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 captures the world's most prominent afrobeat musicians in the midst of a world tour, entering the studio for a one-shot blast that captures the raw, unpolished talent of a mammoth ensemble locked into a groove. Kuti brought his band to the Artone Studio in Haarlem, Holland, and without rehearsal they laid down this album of effervescent afrobeat grooves in one take, cut direct to disc on the in-studio lathe in a true capturing of the moment. Every vibration in the room going through the cutting lathe's needle, now forever immortalized on this record. What's not to love about that?

Review: All hail the return of Andy Stott to Modern Love. Continuing the thread he's been weaving since the seismic "Passed Me By", Stott locks into his slow and sinewy sound world and drags us with him. With tones and textures that bend and flex around disheveled beats far beyond anyone else's musical vernacular, there really is no one doing it like this guy right now. You might hear shards of familiarity trying desperately to break through, and there is certainly a very human heart at the core of this music, but there's always something utterly other-worldly shrouded in this music, and that's precisely why it's so compelling. Essential stuff, once again.

Review: Those with long memories may just about remember Clyde. The East Midlands-based vocalist and producer released a clutch of soul-flecked fusions of deep house, broken beat, jazz, hip-hop and Detroit techno on Mantis Recordings between 2003 and 2009. Here his final single, 2009's previous digital-only "Roll The Beast", is given a belated vinyl release courtesy of his old pal Martin "Atjazz" Iveson. This time round, the original version - an inventive chunk of purple-coloured, glitch-sporting vocal deep house that portrays Clyde as Derby's answer to Prince - comes accompanied by two slick remixes (vocal and instrumental passes) from Iveson. His takes are deep, groovy, organic and fluid, with plenty of the spacey "astro" style flourishes we've come to expect from his tracks and remixes.

Review: The seriously cool Jane Weaver returns with a remarkable 10th album! Following her Modern Kosmology LP in 2017 - Loops In The Secret Society - presents a re-imagined journey through that album and 2014's The Silver Globe. The result delivers a smattering of atmospheric fragments and remakes of previous tracks that never made it to her album past and it sees Weaver venture further down the rabbit hole of abstract and ambient electronics; with tracks like "H>A>K (Loops Variation)" (named after Hilma af Klint, a pioneering Swedish abstract painter) and "Battle Ropes" instantly affecting on first listen. There's no denying the original approach that the British singer-songwriter has gone for here - single-handedly embracing techno and folk - in a look and sound that's arrives like a cosmic curveball of electronic pop from tomorrow.