Single Review: Being Supreme - Fish Go Deep

Taken from their forthcoming album this new single from Irish duo Fish Go Deep is pure tension and release. Starting with a slinky, fairly standard minimal intro everything melts away after the first minute, backing away as if to make room for the incoming bass line.

And for a moment the bass line steals the show, thick and dense as it is. But the other elements gradually fall back in - spongy drums and chanted vocals and a deep piano refrain. It builds out layer after layer, the feel taught like elastic at breaking point whilst the vocals continue to chant "We are so.... Deep".

And deep it is, at least until those vocals break into a rally that culminates in a fantastic break, like a pressure release. 'Being Supreme' is a big, bold house record.

On the flip is a a dub - the vocals are used sparingly and the rhythm is thicker but the space lets piano and jazzy stabs of brass move giving things a more summery feeling.

Being Supreme is released on Go Deep on 22 June and is followed by the album Draw The Line on 29 June. Both are available to pre-order here and here respectively on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate links].

Stream Being Supreme below on Spotify [account required]:

Album Review: mst - Acid Pauli

In some ways a sufficient review of Acid Pauli's new album would simply read: "Pauli is friends with Nicolas Jaar and hangs about in Germany"

But whilst that does a pretty good job of describing what mst sounds like it doesn't really do Pauli's efforts any justice. This is undoubtedly electronic music cut from the same cloth as Jaar's - throbbing electronic IDM that can't bear to be contained by the confines of the dance floor. The German influence is also felt in the clean lines and focus of mst.

But this is Pauli's own album. For one he resists the urge to vocalise his thoughts. The echoey atmospherics of his work with alternative rock band the Notwist also rear their head. Whilst elements of this record feel like German techno it is simultaneously a messy tangle of clicks and crackles and clattering noise. So it is business on the sides but messy on top.

Much like Jaar's work Pauli's music suggests he is a better listen when playing his own music for himself than when constrained to the requirements of a crowd and a dance floor. And that makes perfect sense when you consider that Pauli's claimed ambition for this album was to create a dance record that reflected the the experience back into everyday life.

These pieces conjure a thrilling listen that act as a canvas for your own emotions, an atmospheric medium. The guttural samba of 'A Clone Is Not A Clone' gently moves through urban hustle and bustle with a gentle seeping paranoia that you'll miss if you aren't looking for it and 'Equation of Time' is could be the internal soundtrack for waiting for the bus or blowing bubbles in the bath. 'Eulogy for Eunice' peels out of the dark corner of the room like the first spit-spots of a rain storm that builds to a thunderstorm and innevitable torrential downpour. It is nine of the most atmospheric minutes ever pressed to record.

mst should put Pauli on the map but it also proves Clown & Sunset and Jaar still have much to offer.

mst is released on Clown & Sunset on 18 June.

Album Reviews: Medicine Man - The Bamboos

The Bamboos latest album, their seventh studio release, takes off where the last one, 4 left off... If you have heard the Melbourne group's other material there aren't any massive surprises here - Medicine Man is another collection of seventies inspired funk songs.

Of course it coming from the Tru Thoughts stable the whole thing smacks of quality. A collection of seventies inspired funk songs this may be, but it's never anything less than fab. The laid back opener 'Where Does The Time Go, featuring Aloe Blacc, is a middle-aged record of disorientation and the first single. It's a fitting intro and it highlights The Bamboos' strength - sophisticated playing and an understated touch that means these songs come forward exactly when they need to and only just as much as is ever required.

There are grittier blues funk numbers like 'What I Know', with just enough spit and sawdust on the vocal to make the whole thing shine when Kylie Auldist's voice really breaks free. Daniel Merriweather features amongst the stuttering drums and deep bass of 'I Never', whilst 'I Got Burned' is packed with bluesy guitar melody, brass, strings and a damaged male falsetto from Tim Rogers.

A cover version of James Blake's 'The Wilhelm Scream' is something of a revelation, coming just three tracks in and proving to be not only a credit to the band but also Blake's songwriting. Free of the latter's clicks and rumbling bass it stands up, the strings and gentle guitar licks a fine substitute as the record builds to its conclusion.

It would be hard not to love the Bamboos. This is well played funk and soul that is just crying out for some rotation on your barbecue playlist this summer.

Medicine Man is released via Tru Thoughts on Monday, available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

Stream Medicine Man on Spotify below [account required]:

Album Review: Heretics - Robert Solheim

Hailing from Norway Solheim has been releasing music since 1997 but whilst he has released EPs under his own name, albums as CURRENT and taken part in a number of collaborations Heretics marks the first full length release as himself.

And it's an interesting album. Robert Solheim's music pops like warm synapses in the brain, the fused connections of man and machine. Unlike some of his earlier work Heretics is a full on dance release, comprising of twelve minimal house and techno tracks spread over the course of almost eighty-minutes.

In the wrong hands eighty-minutes of minimal could descend into a dull dirge. Thankfully Solheim manages to keep things interesting, moving through broad, warm sweeping chords on the extended 'Taking The Challenge Again' to big chiming melodies and baggy drums on 'Cracked Reaktor'. Much as John Talabot managed to translate electronic music in a way that spanned genres earlier this year Solheim breaks minimal out from the underground to make an album with enough spark and detail to deserve a broader audience. There are plenty of moments here for the dance floor but Solheim's earlier, more ambient work comes through in the texture and detail that affords Heretics a place on your home stereo too.

At its best this album sounds like elastic melodies and cracked urban bass baking in the midday sun. Things hit a real stride towards the end. 'Syv' is a sophisticated slab of electronic soul, bumping bass and acid squelches supporting a refreshing, warm synth hook whilst 'Slow Bender' takes early rave keys and runs with them, layering vocal snippets and more lovely warm bass. 'Hurricane Love' is a boisterous bass-heavy take on electro, complete with massive drums and a healthy dose of paranoia. Things close with 'En', a slowed down re-take on opening track 'Null' that completes the cycle.

Heretics is that rare thing - an album for dancing that has brains and soul.

Heretics comes out on Aquavit records on tomorrow.

Stream Heretics on Spotify [account required]:

Album Review: Late Night Tales Presents: Music For Pleasure - Tom Findlay

The Late Night Tales albums generally tend to be of a pretty high quality, as do compilations from Groove Armada. This one sees Late Night Tales team up once again after Groove Armada's lovely 2008 installment, albeit this time without half the duo... Music For Pleasure being just Tom Findlay and not Andy Cato.

If the subtitle didn't already give it away this is a little bit of a departure for the series. Music For Pleasure is more focused on laid back easy listening than the generally more twisted, tripped-out sound of Late Night Tales. Think a bit less lava lamps, passed round joints and hours spent watching the wallpaper move and a bit more pool lounging while the sun shines down on your ice cold margarita.

Each person's interpretation of 'music for pleasure' is probably a little different so we will have to see how much consistency this series has (if it even becomes a series). Findlay's take though is a mixture of laid back seventies soft rock, 80s MoR and yacht.

It's a difficult set to argue with because a listen is a pretty gorgeous trip through pastel colours, decadent good times and earnest emotion. The whole album is really soft and warm. Whilst Ambrosia's 'You're The Woman' opens things on a slow sunset falsetto heavy track it is Robert Palmer's steel drum and trumpet celebratory 'Every Kinda People' that really kicks things into touch.

Michael McDonald's 'I Keep Forgettin' upstages Warren G's 'Regulate' effortlessly (by which it was sampled), showing real gentlemen rock smooth. Similarly 'Baby Come Back' by the Player, last seen blasting out of Bumblebee in the Transformers movie, is pure soul and coke rock and roll, just perfect for a lie down with some Don Perignon and a little soft-focused fantasy about your ex.

Groove Armada have something of a flair for making mix albums of tracks with little mixing and a fairly subtle re-edit approach is employed here. It isn't quite as lovingly applied by Findlay as on the duo's Back To Mine set but it's good all the same and generally better than the fudged mixing you sometimes get on this sort of release.

We conclude with Tom Findlay's own Balearic re-edit of 10cc's 'I'm Not In Love' and to be fair, it's pretty Balearic - soft and dreamlike with an emphasised drop and a beautiful slight return. Music For Pleasure is a bit of a dream. My only concern is it is a bit too 'now' and I can't help but feel that it won't hold interest in the same way Findlay's other compilations with the full Armada have.

But who's for worrying about that? I'm going for another martini with a twist before the sun hits the Med.

Late Night Tales presents Music For Pleasure is released on 11 June, it's available for pre-order now on Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP & CD boxset [affiliate links].