Heavenly レコード& CD

Review: Sadly this 12" from f former 2 Bears man and rising star Raf Rundell (he of Raf Daddy fame) does not contain the original version of 'Monsterpiece', a deliciously cheery and kaleidoscopic affair that sounds like Prince after necking a couple of pills at Amnesia in Ibiza, but the included remixes are very good. Old pal, and regular Rundell collaborator Joe Goddard leads the way, re-configuring the cut as a woozy slab of vintage deep house/rubbery dub disco goodness. Speaking of dub disco, his 'Dub' mix is particularly inspired to our ears. Turn the record over and you get two more kaleidoscopic and synth-heavy takes from Harvey Sutherland. His vocal version, a Balearic boogie classic in the making, is seriously summery.

Review: The latest in Heavenly's colossal milking of the late Andrew Weatherall's extensive remix career comes in the form of a CD bundle of the first two collectible vinyl compilations, the Weatherall Remixes Volumes 1 and 2. The man occasionally known as Lord Sabre provided plenty of reworks for the London-based imprint over a 30-year period, and you'll find most of his greatest here, including the legendary two-part dub of St Etienne's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart', his peerless, 15-minute peak-time 1992 take on Flowered Up's 'Weekender', a delightfully dubbed-out, Asphodells-style rework of Gwenno from 2015, and a stunningly spaced-out dancefloor dub of Mark Lanegan's Band.

Review: Having devoted volumes three and four of the ongoing 'Heavenly Remixes' series to reworks by the late, great Andrew Weatherall, this double-disc follow-up offers a more eclectic selection of reworks drawn four almost four decades of Heavenly Recordings releases. As with its predecessors, it's a fantastic collection packed to the rafters with highlights, from the shuffling synth pop-goes-dubby nu-disco flex of Ewan Pearson's dub of Out Cold's 'All I Want' and the squelchy, acid-fired indie-dance excitement of Confidence Man's rework of The Parrots' 'Let's Go To Bed', to the psychedelic big beat brilliance of the Chemical Brothers 1996 take on St Etienne's 'Like a Motorway', the 80s new wave-goes-industrial funk excellence of Trevor Jackson remixing Raf Rundell, and the creepy late night techno hypnotism of Daniel Avery's inspired revision of David Holmes.

Review: Heavenly Recordings has always been a place where anything goes. From genuinely brave folk to dazzling disco, lush broken beat and jazz to alternative indie, the label has done it all. This fifth collection of remixes of label material focuses more on club sounds. It features a clued-up list of producers from the veterans like Ewan Pearson who adds his own unique spin to Out Cold's 'All I Want' via new school techno and noise specialist Daniel Avery and his take on David Holmes's 'Hope Is The Last Thing To Die.' Thrilling stuff, for sure.

Review: The rather legendary Heavenly label is always hard to pin down. It has put out a dizzying array of music that pretty much redefines what the word eclectic can mean. Right now they are in the midst of releasing a series of collections of remixes. Once again this one is an eye-opening and ear-popping journey through sound as a well-curated mix of artists bring their own perspectives and reframe the original tunes. They take them into new worlds and in between genres that are all best heard at night, in some well-loved space with the lights down low.

Review: The Heavenly Remixes series has served to demonstrate how keyed into contemporary club music the indie giant is, with huge swathes of their roster getting versioned by some of the finest producers in current circulation. On this eighth instalment you can hear striking new directions with the likes of Space Afrika reworking The Orielles and Umlauts tackling Katy J Pearson, while the likes of Justin Robertson and Black Science Orchestra hark back to the earliest days of Heavenly. Whether newer talent or esteemed veterans, the quality binds the whole lot together across two slabs of wax.

Review: Todmorden quartet Working Men's Club have long held a soft spot for Sheffield, with much of their music being recorded in the city under the watchful eye of producer Ross Orton. It makes perfect sense, then, that they'd commission an EP full of reworks from Steel City producers. Toddla T kicks things off in fine fashion via a rave-igniting, dancehall-tinged SoYo bass rendition of 'Money Is Mine' tailor-made for the city's Kabal parties, while bleep & bass godfathers Forgemasters deliver a drowsy, atmospheric, post-industrial deep house tweak of 'The Last One'. Elsewhere, Diseasa opts for an angular, industrial electro flex on a fuzzy re-wire of 'Rapture', Orton squelches his way through a tough-as-steel acid house remake of 'Plays', and Charla Green gives 'Fear Fear' a dystopian post-jungle makeover.