Review: Over the years, Sam Shepheard's work as Floating Points has become increasingly ambitious, moving further away from his dancefloor roots and closer to spiritual jazz, new age and neo-classical. Even so, it was still a surprise when Shepheard announced Promises, a 46-minute piece in 10 "movements" featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It's an undeniably remarkable piece all told; a constantly evolving fusion of neo-classical ambience, spiritual jazz and starry, synthesizer-laden soundscapes notable not only for Sanders' sublime sax-playing and Shepheard's memorable melodic themes, but also the intricate, detailed nature of the musical arrangements. It's a stunningly beautiful and life-affirming piece all told, and one that deserves your full attention.
Review: Marseille's IOT Records is the home for Azu Tiwaline's latest dubbed out and dreamy pads and manipulated field recordings. It's her second album and is another one that stands up to her reputation for being a true innovator. Following on from Draw Me a silence in 2020, Teh Fifth Dream is an hour long session that veers from reverberating and bass heavy steppers to next level synth-scapes. Field recordings made in the desert of her native El Djerid, in South Tunisia, feature heavily as do tombak drums and modular synths from Franco-Persian spar Cinna Peyghamy.
A Song & A Photo Novela (Simo Cell Fabulous Santa edit)
Dawn Is Temporal (Beat Detectives Dawn Redub)
Milk In Water (Grim Lusk's dub version)
Rushing Into Water (Joakim's Elemental edit)
Tristeros Empire (Ido Plumes Blazer Quest mix)
Make Friends (Froid dub rework)
Review: Detlef Weinreich's latest release as Tolouse Low Trax is something of a curio, albeit one that's predictably impressive and off-kilter. It's a compilation that boasts some of his own cuts, alongside edits and reworks by friends of tracks described by Bueau B as "hits that never took the charts by storm". Check first 'Subghosts (Tolouse Low Trax Rework)', a bizarre but brilliant fusion of modular electronics and head-nodding organic instrumentation, before admiring the sparse, hard-to-pigeonhole electronic experimentation of Simo Cell's edit of 'A Song and a Photo Novella', the Autechre-esque beats of 'Down Is Temporal (Beat Detectives Dawn Rerub)', and Joakim's club-ready revision of 'Rushing Into Water'. Further inspired excursions are provided by Ido Plumes (the throbbing techno psychedelia of 'Tristoeros Empire') and Froid (the trippy IDM digi-dub of 'Make Friends').
Review: Vittoria Totale is a genuinely unique creative: a self-styled 'independent curator, language researcher and writer' who divides her time between stints in London, Berlin and Rome. Solo Voice, her debut album, is a similarly unusual proposition - a collection of written and improvised 'sound poetry' that alternates between impactfully recited poems, layered vocal experiments (see 'Sometimes', where Totale cuts and pastes phrases, the effects-laden poetic collage that is 'The Messenger Messes With The Masses', the vocalisations and spoken phrases of 'Text Me Next', and the Steve Reich-esque 'Bitte'). With Totale variously musing on sexuality, fantasy, life in the city and much more, it's an intriguing and ultimately fascinating listen.
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