Staff Picks w / c 22nd May 2020

Review: Miles Sagnia has a deep-rooted backstory in the UK underground techno scene. Under his own name and as Miles Atmospheric he's produced consistently compelling techno for labels like Finale Sessions, FireScope, Aesthetic Audio and Applied Rhythmic Technology. Such associations point to the soundworld Sagnia inhabits - a harmonically balanced strain of deep-diving brain food that favours expressive musicality and inventive programming over rigid functionality. Having previously appeared as Miles Sagnia on Ornate back in 2010, he returns to the label as Miles Atmospheric with three cuts that explore melancholic moods through artful interplay between beautifully rendered synth tones and intricate drum machine excursions. These tracks still move with purpose and presence, but the end goal is more cerebral than physical - a perfect fit for the immersive experiences Ornate has always strived to promote.

Review: It's hard to separate Blake Mills the legacy from Blake Mills 'this is what you're listening to right now' whenever you encounter the man in question. This is his fourth solo album since deciding to move out from the shadows back in 2010, but it's the product of lessons and techniques learned from decades of working and producing for big names - Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes, Perfume Genius, to name but a handful. Over the years he has garnered an exceptional reputation for adding understated but incredibly effective layers of musicality, hence the praise from guitar greats like Eric Clapton. In practice, what that sounds like on this record is a hushed and delicate masterpiece showcasing an accomplished songwriter and instrumental hero at his best. Slick and sophisticated, direct but apparently destined to wander through soft but rich string and piano tapestries.

Review: When Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess dropped 'Empathy For The Devil' back in February it burst onto playlists like the scorching sunshine it sounds like. A jaunty, carefree slice of summer pop, complete with proclamations of "What will be will be", it marked the return of a Britpop hero who is one of the era's most talented, likeable and consistent - his work after those heady days has remained highly original and varied. Those looking for more of the same on this, his fourth solo album, will be pleased to know it's hardly lacking in good vibes. 'Sweetheart Mercury' follows the aforementioned single and album opener, and it's equally sublime and bouncy. In fact, anyone looking for something subdued must wait for 'Undertow' and its piano and vocal build, which is still a track of strength rather than vulnerability. Packing a powerful punch while never failing to explore new ideas, it's exquisite, timeless and essential.

Review: Damon Gough's millennial-era massiveness was never going to be easy to maintain. Such was the strength of his first record, preceding singles, that score to British smash hit movie 'About A Boy' and LP three, 'Have You Fed The Fish?', the Manchester maestro could have hung up his yarns then and retired comfortably. He didn't, and gradually moved towards 2010's 'It's What I'm Thinking Pt.1 - Photographing Snowflakes', a far more introverted work you needed to spend time with. So a return to the release schedule after the subsequent hiatus, perhaps presumed retired, was never going to be predictable. Take it from us, though, 'Banana Skin Shoes' is another Badly Drawn Boy album and a career landmark for more reasons than a comeback. Lyrically never more confident - even forsaking subtle metaphor for brazen emotions at times - and instrumentally innovative, intriguing hooks and curveballs abound, it could be his best to date.

Review: Donny Benet is many things to many people - but everyone agrees you want him at the party, where he's likely to be the last one standing. Glossy, over-produced 80s pastiche disco pop is always going to be divisive, but despite the overbearing commercial feel here the Australian curio is one of the most honest and real artists out there. Real enough to include a karaoke DVD with his first album. The balding and mustachioed synth master is on fine excellent here, although the context is different to previous outings. Made in hotel room isolation at a time when a world tour was postponed due to a global pandemic, it encapsulates the need for optimism and fun at a time when nobody really knows where the planet, or modern society, will be in 12 months. Indulgent, open and smooth beats to take the blues away.

Review: If you're unfamiliar with the name Phillip Sollmann it's important to lay out the land first. This is the real name of Efdemin, one of techno's most respected and revered players who calls Berlin's much-feted Berghain and Panorama Bar home, and the moment you know this the omnipresent rhythms driving this distinctly not-really-dance-music nine-tracker forward make perfect sense. Tracks like 'Rara' will be a joy for more adventurous DJs but also work incredibly well as standalone listening pieces. Wooden percussion mimicking the kind of top ends we associate with bouncy but tough club stuff, sans kick drums and bass. 'Micro', which follows, applies the same principle to layers of chime. Elsewhere, things veer into twisted pseudo-rave - 'U/O''s lengthy refrains and drones create the impact of a 5AM breakdown in some strange otherworld, while 'Mono' closes it out on a huge, smile-inducing high.

Review: Listening to Lee Okkyung doing her thing - or rather things - is real a delight. The South Korean-born, New York-based composer and improviser lays claim to an impressive formal education courtesy of the highly respected Berklee College of Music in the US. Specialising in writing and scoring, you can envisage the narrative potential of each arrangement here, where the serene and beautiful - informed in part by classical tones of the Far East - frequently dissipate into the experimental, cacophonous or accidental. The result is an album that can be traditional when it chooses to be, clearly the product of a formally trained musician, and yet is also surprising and playful, and at times somewhat challenging. Cellos, harps and pianos sitting front and centre, with a range of effects, white and found noises adding fathoms of depth and possibility to the mix.

Review: Poitiers isn't often regarded as a contemporary music hotspot, but its against the backdrop of that small French riverside city that Kognitif creates the unique but familiar beats on 'Soul Food'. Informed by trip hop, experimental hip hop, tripped out soul and downbeat lounge styles, it encapsulates the impending summer perfectly, providing the impending summer comes with sticky evenings and crimson sunsets. Tracks like 'Letter To My Last Love' wouldn't sound out of place on 'Since I Left You', the seminal debut album from The Avalanches. Brash, bold and confident brass leads the charge on big beat-leaning 'Yeah Yeah Yeah', which comes complete with huge soul vocals. Then you have sultry and smooth fare such as 'The Message', the full-sounding R&B pop of 'Whatever', and the closing Ibiza chill of 'Walking On Sunshine'. Fresh and cool as you like.

Review: Since making a name for himself on Livity Sound, Joe Baker AKA Forest Drive West has plied his wares on some seriously impressive techno labels, not least Whities, Appian Sound and Echo Chord. Now he's gone one better by joining forces with Delsin to launch a brand-new label, Mantis. This inaugural release is a smart showcase for his distinctively polyrhthmic club sound, with opener "Hidden Place" delivering a heady, mind-altering blend of broken techno rhythms, spaced-out dub techno electronics, and the kind of immersive chords that tend towards the claustrophobic. "Invisible" is a little bolder, faster and more intense rhythmically, though the musical textures and motifs surrounding it remain spaced-out, while "Radiance" is a delightful journey through techno deep space powered forwards by another distinctively off-kilter rhythm.

Review: Those interested in the roots of UK bass music have been well-served of late, with a number of books and compilations focusing on the first wave of British dance music in the late 80s and early 90s. Soul Jazz's latest compilation is a superb addition to this growing list. It showcases music made in the post-bleep and early breakbeat hardcore period, where basslines got bigger, drum breaks faster, and ragga influences started to come to the fore. The selections are on-point throughout from the dub-wise rave rush of Babylon Timewarp's "Durban Poison" and the bleep-and-breaks-meets-proto-jungle shuffle of DJ Dubplate's "Tings A Go On", to the rave-rap goodness of The Freaky's "Time & Age" and the heavily edited darkcore/early jungle insanity that is Krome & Time's terrific "Ganja Man". In a word: essential.

Review: Chicago stalwarts Cratebug and Jamie 3:26 were relatively little-known when they joined forces to create this killer rework of Loleatta Holloway's Salsoul classic "Hit 'N' Run" way back in 2011. The interpretation, which laces choice passages of Holloway's impassioned vocal over a loopy and driving house groove reminiscent of Paperclip People's "Throw", first appeared on vinyl as part of Lumberjacks In Hell's now impossible-to-find Chicago Service compilation four years ago. Happily, Salsoul has decided to reissue it on this must-have, single-sided 12". It's more of a remix than a re-edit, and is guaranteed to get things going at peak-time. Basically, it's a banger, and you need it in your box.

Review: Hot on the heels of "2017-2019", his second album of angular, off-kilter electronics and mechanical rhythms work under the Against All Logic alias, Nicolas Jaar offers up a 12" containing two eyebrow-raising collaborative cuts. Legendary alternative artist Lydia Lunch, who also features on the album, pops up on A-side "Illusions of Shameless Abundance", adding a out there spoken word vocal - much of which is presented as a series of overlapping loops - to Jaar's skewed modular electronics and trippy, out-of-this-world sounds. Estado Unido and FKA Twigs lend a hand on flipside "Alucinao", providing gently soulful lyrical flavour to a distorted, thrillingly aggressive South American electro rhythm, sweaty pots-and-pans percussion and metallic melodic elements.

Review: The latest release on Steve O'Sullivan's revitalised Bluetrain label offers up a trio of cuts from the archives. All were produced during the mid-to-late '90s period when O'Sullivan first launched the label and used the now familiar alias. The A-side features a superb, dub-fired "Alternate 1997 Mix" of O'Sullivan classic "Midnight Creeper" in which deep space electronics flutter away atop crunchy machine beats and a booming, sub-heavy bassline. Over on side B O'Sullivan is in collaborative mode, first joining forces with Ben Sims on the deep, warm and hypnotic techno pulse of "Where's Burt? (Extended Version)", before hooking with Wis on the sparse, dubbed-out peak-time brilliance of "Echo Freak (No Lightweight Stuff Edit)".

Review: Having allowed pal Hubble to handle the first vinyl release on his Hellium imprint, Maayan Nidam is rightly at the controls on release number two. What we get is a trio of untitled tracks, beginning with an A-side excursion that tends towards the more aquatic and opaque end of the deep techno spectrum - all gentling pulsing ambient chords, fluid electronic motifs and a kick-drum driven groove so deep it could well nestle at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. He opens the B-side with a more angular and off-kilter chunk of modular techno (think broken rhythms, melancholic chords, distant percussion hits and undulating acid lines), before rounding things off with a more spacey-sounding slab of deep sci-fi techno.