Back catalogue: Balearic/Downtempo

Review: The classy Tech Startup label keeps it pretty high brow again here with a new minimal EP that is for heady floors and dancers who are happy to immerse themselves in ambient sound worlds. 'Terra Preta' is a floating escape to the stars, then 'Tone Dial' has the same sweeping synths but with supple deep techno rhythms. 'Reprise' is a complete flip with acid laced broken beats demanding a physical response and 'Stone Please' then trips you out with some deft loops and sine wave made.

Review: Lost in Music: Post Industrial Dreamscape is a powerful film made by British artist Jermaine Francis. This is its soundtrack and it is a collaboration between Tony Bontana and Francis himself. The soundscape mirrors the film's moody and smoky dissonance as it delves into Post-Industrial Britain's social and political landscape through Francis's life. After being inspired by seeing the film, Full Circle saw potential in the track and remixed it into a loose yet mechanical sound with trippy synths and churning bass, while Ukrainian artist Shjva added her own interpretation that is a much more heady and dee bit of techno with cosmic synth overtones and an otherworldly feel.

Review: Here we go then. Listening to the first two track on Soft Power, Ezra Feinberg's intoxicating third album is quite simply exhilarating. We begin with the gentle and playful, inquisitive electronic balladry of 'Future Sound', which seems to be the very noise of stargazing itself, captured through keyboards and synths set to 'weird'. The title number is equally beguiling, strange and otherworldly. So by the time we're at 'Pose Beams', the track's more solid structure feels like we've finally grounded ourselves, ready for blast-off. That comes with the appropriately-titled 'Flutter Intensity' - which gathers its rhythm like rocket fuel before launching into the stratosphere once again. And it's here we stay, floating on planetary rings and gravity-free air, for the remainder. A record that lead you feeling very fuzzy inside.

Review: Lance Ferguson's work with The Bamboos and Menagerie has been critically acclaimed, but he is just as essential as a solo artist.This new release is a freshly scored soundtrack for the 1981 French film of the same name. It was a romantic thriller directed by Leroi Alarie that was once thought lost until a 35mm print was recently discovered. Alarie was dissatisfied with the original score so asked Ferguson to compose new music for the film ahead of its restoration and re-release. Ferguson's dreamy, instrumental funk sound does a great job of capturing the film's sun-drenched atmosphere and subtly infuses it with 80s vibes next to more contemporary sounds. It's fair to say that the soundtrack very much enhances this rediscovered European arthouse gem.

Review: One of Norway's finest jazz artists, Alex Figueira, shares a surprise mini-album via Jazzaggression, whose solar-punky, psychedelic description of the record is as gleeful as the implied beam of light which emanates from behind the artist's front-cover printed visage, and on which the warped art nouveau typography detailing its title wafts: "a vibrant fusion of tropical rhythms layered with a dazzling array of synth-driven psychedelia." Said to have played every instrument on the LP himself, Figueira's ends are irreverent and sun-soaking; his ultra-obscure Norweigan tropical music scene is married well to the all-improv, time-pressed nature of the recordings going in, all of which were immured and hothoused behind the walls of Utrecht's Studio Pelto.

Review: This double record - originally released in 2002 - is a deep dive into the duo's creative process, reimagining the 1991 classic through multiple sonic lenses. The London duo bring an album's worth of reinterpretations, starting with the evergreen original version's ethereal pads and hypnotic breakbeats. T2 merges the iconic melody with playful elements blending dreamy basslines and warm builds with subtle psychedelic hues. T3 extends the atmospherics and psych guitar wails in the final stretch triumphantly. T4 drifts into ambient psych-rock while T5 is a harsher more abrasive version. T6 is a slow, genre-blending piece with psychedelic undertones and emotional weight, gracefully building toward a euphoric blend of organ notes, complex drum patterns and smooth saxophone. Finally, T8 closes with lush downtempo elegance, layering sitars, sax and processed vocals from the original track for a mesmerising finale. Old skool fans will lap this up all over again.