Is It Balearic レコード& CD

Review: Fourth release on the occasional Is It Balearic..? offshoot IIBR Remixes series, sees label bosses Coyote take the Almunia track Meaning Of Time and add their trademark touches. Previously only available digitally the boys create two remixes on this ltd edition 10" vinyl. The Coyote Sunrise mix is sun kissed chugger, with looped vocals and layers of guitars all dancing arms aloft as the sun comes up. The Coyote Sunset Mix pushes the synth arpeggio to the front and strips the track back to push the vocals to the front. Deep soft drums take the track to an epic guitar drop. soft strings wrapping their arms round you for beautiful sunset moment

Review: Is It Balearic...? recordings latest is the Reflextion EP from Baldelli & Rocca. 3 electronic disco bombs and a quality remix from Ray Mang. Reflextion is a driving synth Italo disco stomper. Mr Mang adds a little acid and a touch of house. Side B's first track is a classically Italo disco dancefloor gem - lots of synth action and a flappy percussion give this a hypnotic quality ready for some smoke drenched dancefloors. Out To Lunch is a more quirky take on the same theme like a lost maxi 12 b-side of an Italian electro pop track from the late 80's. Great EP.

Review: The Is It Balearic? train just keeps on rolling as Coyote proffers up even more refined grooves from the heart of the dreamy island dance. "Deep Italian" channels the spirits of classic sensual deep house that clearly nods to the likes of Vibraphone Records for inspiration, while "Fresh Hope" creates a more bewildering experience with interloping melodies and a more insistent beat underneath. "Take Me Back" uses plucked string motifs to weave its own enchanting message, while "Long Board" gets a more plush line in synths to work to round the EP out.

Review: Swedish artist Farbror Resande Mac debuts on Is It Balearic..? following Newcastle duo Last Waltz' first appearance on the label in April. It's a full and complete debut featuring four tracks with remixes from Futureboogie's Christophe Rockers and Bear Funker Max Essa. The title-track is indeed the highlight as spacey arpeggios, sprinkles of keys and whooshing white noise hover above slow motion beats and a phat bassline. Rockers ups the tempo, adds some vocals and creates a burner for the strobe-lit dancefloor, while on the B-side Farbror Resande Mac again dips back into swirly ethereal territory with a new-agey, guitar kissed "Drakryggen". Max Essa then completes this 12" by treading a similar path to Rockers by upping the ante to provide a very groovy and chilled out reinterpretation.

Review: Coyote's long running Is It Balearic imprint score perhaps their finest release to date with this twelve inch from Hardway Brothers that figuratively throbs away at the stylus. We've been quite the fans of Hardway Brothers since they surfaced on History Clock with some unhinged proto house business towards the tail end of 2010, and it's clear that Sean Hardway's ongoing sting alongside Mr Weatherall at their sub 122bpm A Love from Outer Space parties is having just the right sort of effect on their productions. "Mania Theme" crawls into action, driven by gurgling analogues and twisting metallic rhythms, accruing laser guided synth lines and rasping percussion along the way as the track builds towards the most angelic of mid way luv'd up moments before falling foul to gravity and starting its descent again. There could be few ways to possibly improve upon the track, and a well chosen Andy Weatherall remix is one of them, aligning the track to his recent lineage of mind bogglingly good rockabilly aesthetics applied to a discotheque template. The moment where a humongous organ arises through the mist will surely remain one of this year's highlights on wax. It's might be considered thankless task trying to match such a remix, but Toby Tobias' widescreen jackers version on the flip gives the track a different context that is just as rewarding!

Review: Alongside like-minded imprints Claremont 56 and International Feel, Coyote's Is It Balearic? label - a fitting name, given the difficulty in pinpointing the Balearic sound - has been at the forefront of the nu-Balearic scene for the last five years. Here, they celebrate that fact by offering up a celebratory compilation with pal Moonboots and Coyote each selecting a disc of unmixed favourites. There's predictably plenty of sun-kissed downtempo warmth (Windsurf's sunrise-friendly remix of Coyote's "Laidback", Gavin Gordon's flamenco-influenced "El Sueno Oscuro"), alongside a smattering of deliciously baggy and wide-eyed dancefloor moments (see Max Essa's jaunty Balearic disco jam "Heartache" and a thrillingly griity Soft Rocks remix of Social Disco Club). If that wasn't enough to get the juices flowing, the collection also features some stunning unreleased material from Freshro and Khidja Looki.

Review: Is It Balearic? welcome Ilija Rudman back to the fold for the first time since the excellent True Colours album back in 2015, and the Croatian disco house mainstay sounds like he's on searing form. "Motions" is a luscious deep house jam with a throbbing low end, but made all the more powerful by the sultry vocal turn from Andre Espeut. Italo house veteran Don Carlos is a smart shout for two remixes, kicking off with the uplifting yet understated groove of the vocal version before spreading over the B side with the beatless but driving pulse of the ambient mix.