EP Review: Rosalind EP - Leon Vynehall

The Rosalind EP represents Leon Vynehall's sophomore release for label Well Rounded Housing Project and his third overall, with second release Gold Language coming out on Man Make Music following the his debut release, Mauve, last year.

This EP consists of two upbeat tracks followed by the title track, which closes the release out in a more laid back fashion. Vynehall focuses on a techie, robotic vision of house music. Opening track 'Untitled 017’ contains plenty of layered vocal snippets and an elastic bass, which combine with the treble-heavy percussion to give things an open, live-feeling sound.

Vynehall calls to mind early Layo & Bushwacka! and Emperor Machine in his distorted but sincere take on house. 'Title #7' throws in hi-hats-aplenty and rolling bongos to forge an atmospheric banking for a slowed-down and stretched-out classic house piano refrain.

Finally 'Rosalind' closes things with a suitably dreamy, soulful looped sample. The thick, looping melodies and sharp drum beat sound like Chill-wave produced by a Hip-Hop producer. It's a doe-eyed love letter that brings a relaxed but touching close to the EP.

The Rosalind EP is released on 5 February though Well Rounded Housing Project, preview below via Soundcloud:

Album Review: Take The Space Trane - Mark de Clive-Lowe & The Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra

The concept for this album takes a little explaining. Mark de Clive-Lowe is a Japanese-New Zealand producer, musician and DJ. Having embraced the piano as young as four he went on to become an accomplished Jazz musician. Having spent a decade in London working alongside the likes of Bugz In The Attic and Jody Watley, Clive-Lowe relocated to Los Angeles last year and released his 14th solo album Renegades through Tru Thoughts.

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Take The Space Trane - Mark de Clive-Lowe & The Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra

New album Take The Space Trane is an appropriately titled trip into both jazz's future and past. In collaboration with The Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra, Clive-Lowe came up with the concept of applying a distinctly modern take on the vintage Big Band sound. The resulting album is a combination of tracks from Clive-Lowe's career together with two new compositions and a cover the jazz standard 'Caravan'.

The result is an arresting combination. We're used to hearing elements of jazz plundered but until now the Big Band sound has generally been left to age more gracefully. Notably not everyone is pleased with the result - when performing their first show a Amsterdam's Melkweg venue Clive-Lowe recalls an audience visibly divided, with older Big Band-purists fleeing for cover whilst many younger listeners lapped up the opportunity to consume something new.

The music has an experimental, near Acid-Jazz sound at times - the brassy melodies are affronting and here, in all their polished glory, the album is quite the thing to consume. The cover of 'Caravan' is a fractured piece that layers funk rhythms with left-field experimental jazz.

The album title itself comes from the classic Jazz-player Duke Ellington's 'Take The A Train', combined with the experimental modal techniques of John Coltrane. Add in the electronic influence and you get Take The Space Trane (obviously!).

Clive-Lowe has created a very full album, with a sound and an idea that simultaneously tries to appeal to a number of styles at once but risks alienating fans of all of those styles completely. Where it slots together and hits its stride Take The Space Trane is a thrilling ride - you just need to be ready to hang on tight for the occasional sharp corner and be prepared for the fact it almost certainly goes on a little longer than necessary.

Take The Space Trane is released on 4 February through Tru Thoughts, available to pre-order on CD from Amazon.co.uk for just £7 [at the time of publishing, affiliate link]. Preview the title track below from Soundcloud:

Stream: White Blush - White Blush

2013 seems to be off to a promising start as I've already received several interesting débuts from unsigned artists. This self-titled release comes from LA-based dream pop artist White Blush, AKA Carol Rhyu. She cites influences across a range of media, included Japanese horror, Manga and Julie Cruise. And you can certainly hear these aspects come through in the floating melodies and 80s-influenced production.

Both 'Mirror' and 'Jolene' are particularly strong - dreamlike, spooky and full of layered, melodic vocals. It's another pay-what-you-want EP via White Blush, so download it if you like it.

Stream / Download: The Vigil EP - Paris XY

Paris XY are vocalist Alice Smith and musician James Orvis and their music comes across a little like Trentemøller meets Chromatics. That's perhaps unsurprising as James lists his influences as including a number of live electronic acts, of which Trentemøller is one, alongside The Knife and Simian Mobile Disco.

The combination of electronic atmospherics together with live instruments lend their début EP, entitled The Vigil, a chilling sound. There's a darkness running through that feels like diving into warm black water at midnight. They also include a cover version of Little Dragon's 'Twice', which really rides a deep, moody bass line to create something sinister yet sensual. It says a lot that the two other track on the EP hold their weight against it.

The Vigil EP is out now via Bandcamp alongside more traditional channels - you can download it for free or pay what you think it is worth.

Download: Strange Beast - Lower Plenty

This track from Melbourne four-piece Lower Plenty is pretty special. A dark, bluesy and claustrophobic tale of loneliness, this feels like a strangely urban take on country music and I love it.

Though the members have worked on other projects in the past, last year saw the release of Lower Plenty's debut album Hard Rubbish in Australia, and it's set for release globally in April through Fire records.