Jimmy Edgar's been dropping some tight numbers for a while now (check out 'This One's For The Children' on Spotify) and this remix of Py's 'Polyethers' is pretty strong. Edgars sometimes suffers a little for a lack of vocal inspiration - his vocals can get a little tired - so it's refreshing to hear him work with someone else.
'Polyethers' is out through Champion Records on 30 June - listen to the Jimmy Edgar mix below:
Must is Spanish Producer Pablo Bolivar's third album and is a showcase of his dubby warm house sounds. There are hints of varying styles across the album's 55-minutes but there is also a consistent atmosphere of lush laid back Spanish vibes and very few vocals.
The album opens with the slow moving 'Rise You Demons', a track full of stumbling, echoing drum beats and gentle electronic melodies that captures the feel of a Mediterranean sunset. 'Eleven Years' is the logical next step, a slight shift in gear as the lights come on - a more measured rhythm carrying a similarly contemplative tune.
With the help of Fabel, Bolivar delivers a sun kissed jazzy piece in 'Off Soft', complete with gorgeously soft percussive remedies and a gently played melodic hook. The jazz influence is retained for the vibe and composition of the slightly moody 'Diamonds', the track here that Pablo sounds most at home on - it's carefully crafted, tight and atmospheric.
Mantra provides the only vocal on 'New Order' - a track similar in feel to 'Diamonds' but the vocal adds little and if anything the track is symptomatic of Must's primary flaw - for all the attempt to vary styles and a measured length it still feels at times like it runs out of places to go. 'Keep Moving' manages to do little more than it's title suggests, a looped groove that pushes some unconstrained rhythms but little else.
But most moments here shine in their own, subtly refined way. Either side of 'Keep Moving' are 'Don't Hold' and 'Heat' - the former using progressive synths and a stomping beat to build an uplifting, funky piece of electronic music. Album closer 'Heat' is a slow ambient track assembled around the sounds of nature, insect noise and bird calls providing the foreground to a subtly emotional conclusion, and again, it's Bolivar at his best.
Must is out on 17 June through Avant Roots, pre-order on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link]. Stream 'Rise Your Demons' and 'Midnight Frogs' via Soundcloud below:
Starry-eyed soft krautrock here from No Middle Name, the new nom de plume of David Bailey, one half of The Title Sequence. This is the debut single from No Middle Name due out on 8 July through Mollusc Records.
There's a lush, dreamy feel to 'Another Season' - the press release name-checks Wild Nothing and Youth Lagoon. Whilst the melodies and wandering-cloud feel of those artists is there this feels a little more electronic than either and it's rather catchy.
No Middle Name came about after a chance meeting at a garden party in Dalston led to Mollusc Records' Rory Mansielf giving Bailey the keys to Glove Box studio so he could make an album. Seven intense weeks later Bailey emerged with an album somewhat different from the acoustic material the label expected. The album is apparently similarly focused on lo-fi dream pop - we will all have to wait to hear it but in the meantime check out the single on Soundcloud below and Bailey's radio show series on Mixcloud:
Alex Barck, source: Paul Clement / Debr.is
Next week sees Alex Barck follow up with the third of his vinyl only EPs (Re-Set & Don't Hold Back) that are leading up to his solo album Reunion and it's another highly competent disco house release. This EP works with the theme dictated by the title, Sky High, and in a style that has been typical of Barck's solo material for this Reunion project it's all blue skies and sunshine and ocean horizons.
The release opens with 'We Get High', an disco track that packs in some soft electronic rhythms, bouncy reverb-laden drums, subtle keys and some lovely strings. The soulful vocals tell a tale of contentment and an emotional high - the beat dropping as the vocalist claims "It's enough... To be with you...". I'm not sure what Barck was taking whilst on the Le Reunion Indian Ocean island from which the forthcoming album takes its name but he really seems to have come back rather loved up.
The second original track, 'Skydancing', is a little more playful and upbeat but similarly obsessed with the sky and feeling high. It's excitable and energetic in comparison to the relaxed satisfaction of 'We Get High'. A rude shuffling bass and calypso rhythms give the track a holiday vibe that is hard to resist but doesn't quite pack the emotionally charged punch of much of the rest of Barck's work that we have heard this year.
Finally the EP is rounded out with a remix of 'We Get High' by Kalabrese, who applies his trademark free-form disco funk style. It's thick with atmosphere like it's been left out on the windowsill and started to melt. Heavy and dazed from the sun it has lost much of the peaceful feel of the original to become a dubby tightrope walk - gentle looped keys and a strummed bass line providing considerable tension.
Yet more here to be excited about now that Alex Barck's Reunion album nears...
Sky High is out on 10 June through Reunion, available to order through Amazon.co.uk on vinyl now [affiliate link].
Mexican producer Miguel Puente's new EP From The Moment drops on Miguel Campbell and Matt Hughes' Outcross Records this week and it's a slinky release featuring some stark electronic disco that builds nicely on last year's What You Do.
The EP opens with 'Only You', a funky electronic groove with layered vocal samples. It's a fairly muted start compared to what follows, particularly 'Keep On', which represents some serious low-end trouble, a lairy bass line and garage-y female vocals playing up a grimey basement feel and complementing the synth work.
The EP's title track is a little tighter than anything that precedes it, a straight four-four drum pattern providing the backing for some more soulful female vocals whilst Puente mixes in a series of effects, giving the track a rave-y sci-fi sound. Final track 'Be No Good' is Puente at his most rounded - deep bass and looped dubby vocals samples creating a darker, more emotional track. It shines thanks to its clattering drum patterns and the use of a strong vocal hook.
From The Moment is released tomorrow through Outcross Records - preview via Soundcloud below:
