City Slang レコード& CD

Review: COMA has always operated in a world where melody is in high supply and indie and electronica have collided in fresh new ways. The artist is not one to hide away from a big hook or a pop tip line and always manages to imbue their work with tons of emotion. This new album is another step forward that investigates sonic realms ask just how broad the scope of club music can really be. That means Fuzzy Fantasy is in many ways a departure from all-out dance floor focus into something more human and nuanced.

Review: Fans of luxurious, bittersweet, grown-up synth-pop rejoice - Junior Boys are back with their first album in six years! The Canadian twosome's music has lost none of its depth and sparkle, with Waiting Game containing the same key ingredients as its predecessors - namely dreamy, warming chords, soft-focus drum machine rhythms, melancholic melodies, occasional guitars and the distinctive, evocative vocals of front man Jeremy Greenspan. It's a formula that rarely fails if truth be told, so it's no surprise to find that Waiting Game is a genuinely strong set. Our picks of a very strong bunch include the simmering, sunset-friendly warmth of the CD-closing title track and the hushed, ultra-deep shuffle of 'Night Walk', where bubbly electronics, woozy pads and lo-fi electronic drums catch the ear.

Review: If you've ever fallen for the mythical Lewis album L'Amour, you'll probably get off on this. First thing's first, the two are very, very different records - Lewis' work is so soft and quiet at times it comes close to no longer existing, but the whole thing has this romantic, skin-on-skin by candlelight, whisper-in-ear quality to it that seems to go straight for the heart and make itself a home right there.

Junior Boys' Waiting Game isn't anything like L'Amour in terms of sounds, but that same sense of getting very close and very personal with what you're listening to, a record that's soon to be your lover, pervades everything here. Certainly more in the opening tracks, 'Night Walk''s warm, spring evening in Miami vibe, 'It Never Occurred To Me' and its strange, staccato use of vocoder'd lyrics and gliding refrains. Electro synth for the bedroom, no less.