OLOF DREIJER Vinyl & CDs

Review: There's something special in the water here. The Knife's Olof Dreijer presents three sprawling tracks on a new EP marking the start of a fresh chapter in his career, with the opener, 'Coral', starting the scoring with a strange and captivating bit of what you might call micro-techno. A lo-fi kind of workout that marries beautiful harmonic tones with a hoover bass in a way that almost calls to mind 'Rainforest' era Mathew Johnson, only more organic and live feeling. Overleaf, so to speak, 'Flora' invites us to sit on a cloud of gentle strings and mesmerising noises, like reliving a precious but now-faint memory, delicate enough to break. Meanwhile, 'Hazel' takes us back down to Earth, its slowly unfolding, muffled steel drum melodies feeling strangely homely while also not of this place, this here and now.

Review: In the wake of The Knife, Olof Dreijer has been plenty busy behind the scenes and scattering hints of his incredible production for those paying attention. Now it feels like he's building to a wider profile breakthrough as he lands a knockout blow with this release on Hessle Audio. It's a maverick release, which is its pass into the curious sound world shaped out by Ben UFO, Pearson Sound and Pangaea, but equally it brings something new to the label. The joyous, colourful melodic daubs across the EP alone are something to make a dance collectively look up in wonder, with 'Camelia' being an especially beautiful, uplifting track to bring hope and positivity when so much club music tips towards the darkness.

Review: Olof Dreijer and Mt. Sims combine their singular sonic minds for Souvenir, an intense and experimental five-track album via Rabid Records. It is centered around the lush harmonic sounds of the steel drum and comes years after the pair first worked together with Planningtorock on the Tomorrow, In A Year album. This project was commissioned by the SFOTE organisation from Trinidad/New York who asked them to make use of a drum made by Trinidad-based legend Ellie Mannette. Over ten years they have developed their own musical language from the drum, always remaining conscious of its colonial history and how it has been so often stereotyped in the West. It is fair to say what they do with it is truly original.

Review: The high class Melodies International reissue label co-run by Floating Points and Elliot Bernard is back with the seance in its Melodies Record Club series. This time it is blistering club DJ Ben UFO who gets his pick after Four Tet had his go earlier in the year. The two tunes he pick have long been staples in his set either though on the surface of it neither are typical club tunes. They have never before been available on vinyl for that reason but we're glad they are now. 'Drums' is off Laurie Spiegel's 1980 experimental album The Expanding Universe and is all oscillating synths and computer generated percussion while Olof Dreijer from the Swedish band the Knife offers 'Echoes From Mamori' on the flip, a more tropical and whimsical cut of new age licked house made from arpeggios and frog samples.