CD Album Recommendations June 2015

Review: In Colour is of course the long awaited debut solo album from The xx's in-house knob twiddler Jamie 'xx' Smith, arriving through regular home Young Turks backed with a whole host of guest appearances. The more obsessive Jamie xx fans out there (of which we wager there are many) will no doubt already have burned out their laptops and retinas basking in the all too colourful pre-release streams of In Colour, but it's always nice to grip an album in your hands. The eleven tracks on In Colours come across like a low key ode to the rave from Jamie and pals, with Four Tet, Romy & Oli xx, Young Thug and Popcaan featuring, and yes there is also plenty of steel pan. "Hold Tight", which sounds like Jamie's attempt at forest techno, is a definite highlight!

Review: On the cover of his first album for a decade, saxophonist Kamasi Washington stares intently out, the universe stretching out to infinity behind him. You see, Washington is something of a Sun Ra acolyte, and there's something of the great man's spiritual, psychedelic and far-sighted feel about The Epic. Rooted in a loose, soulful and occasionally riotous blend of spiritual jazz, it more than lives up to its' name, stretching across three themed CDs. While Washington's tenor sax offers a focal point throughout, it's merely part of a greater ensemble effort - Sun Ra Arkestra style - that helps The Epic fly by in a flurry of loose-limbed drums, rubbery double bass, hammered-out pianos and intoxicating vocals.

Review: Laurent Garnier's rebirth as a producer during 2014 - a year when he released five 12" singles on as many labels - is arguably one of the most heartening dance music stories of recent times. La Home Box, released on his revived F Communications imprint, charts that rebirth, gathering together tracks from those releases with a smattering of previously unheard cuts. It offers a snapshot of Garnier's long-displayed eclecticism, featuring not only throbbing techno stompers and woozy, darkwave-influenced house, but also experimental hip-hop, synth-wave and, in the case of "Bang (The Underground Doesn't Stop)", a dash of Head High style, piano-laden jack.

Review: Trevor Jackson has long been obsessed with blurring the boundaries between art and music, so his decision to release the 12 tracks that make up Format - his first album in 14 years - across 12 different physical formats (including 8-track, VHS and reel-to-reel tape) could be viewed as a grand artistic gesture masquerading as a commentary on the disposability of recorded music. Either way, it's nice to see that The Vinyl Factory has finally made the tracks available on a single CD. Musically, Format explores Jackson's usual obsessions - industrial, new wave, EBM, electro, post-punk disco and techno, in particular - with great gusto. As a result, it's a moodier set than his more playful early work (particularly Playgroup), but ultimately more fulfilling.

Review: Irish duo Lakker have been on something of an epic musical journey over the last decade, beginning life as an experimental noise and industrial outfit (delivering an overlooked debut album in that style back in 2007), before expanding their sound to take in a far wider range of sounds and influences via 12" singles for Blueprint, Candela Rising and R&S. Here, they deliver their sophomore set, Tundra, a collection of intoxicating, atmospheric electronic compositions that joins the dots between early Aphex Twin style IDM chaos, creeping electronica, dystopian ambience and Actress style machine jams. It's hardly the cheeriest record you'll hear this year, but it's certainly a very good one. It suggests that we'll be hearing a lot more from Lakker in years to come.

Review: In recent years, the Burden brothers seem to have devoted much of their time to live performance. Singles have been few and far between, and their most recent album - in collaboration with their other family project, Random Noise Generation - dropped way back in 2006. Burn It Down, then, could be considered something of an "event" album. Happily, they've lost none of their ability to combine rich, futurist melodies and evocative chords with rolling Motor City rhythms. At its best, such as on the classic Detroit brilliance of "Whatever She Wants" and the acid-tweaked funk of "The Forgotten", it's a stunning set. While not all the album lives up to these dizzy heights, there's still enough to suggest that it should be an essential purchase.

Review: Five years on from his last studio full-length excursion on Tokyo Dawn - the future jazz epic Voltage Controlled Feelings - Opolopo pops up on Z Records with the similarly impressive Superconductor. This time round, the Swedish producer is mining his boogie and electrofunk influences, combining them with deep and soulful house rhythms to produce a swathe of killer cuts. He's joined by an impressive cast list of guest singers - Taka Boom, Colonel Red, Pete Simpson and Diane Charlamagne among them - who invariably add super-slick vocals to his colourful, synth-heavy jams. It's a formula that guarantees a string of potential underground dancefloor hits, from the soft-touch boogie revivalism of "Feels Good 2 Me", to the bass-heavy, garage-influenced bounce of "Just Feel The Music".

Review: While he's steadfastly refused to get railroaded into pursuing one particularly style - variously dropping tracks influenced by disco, deep house, Italo, electronica, Balearica and synth-pop - there's always been a melodic breeziness to Philip Lauer's solo work. This trait is, unsurprisingly, one of the most noticeable things about Borndom, his second full-length. Bright, emotive and expansive, the album's 13 tracks flit between styles - those mentioned, plus acid house, ambient, deep electro, and even a dash of eyeliner-clad new wave revivalism (see Jasnau hook-up "ESC") - but hang together thanks to regular use of crystal clear synthesizer melodies and hazy, touchy-feely chords.

Review: Former Gas man Wolfgang Voigt has always been capable of producing stunningly beautiful ambient music, though little he's released is quite as deliciously evocative and mood-enhancing as National Park. The 10th installment in his long-running Ruckverzauberung series, it comprises a single, 62-minute piece composed to celebrate the opening of Germany's new Hunsruck-Hochwald park. It was initially recorded as an installation piece to play in the park, and you almost feel a soft breeze on your skin as you navigate through his aural forest. Seeped in emotion-rich strings, subtle electronics and field recordings, it's a thrillingly positive and sumptuous recording.

Review: Crosstown Rebels boss Damian Lazarus seems to be mellowing with age - or at least getting more artistically adventurous. This follow-up to his 2009 debut, Smoke The Monster Out, was co-produced by Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford in LA. London and Mexico, with the assistance of an impressive cast of musicians from around the world. While rooted in the kind of tactile house and techno most associated with the evergreen hipster, Message From The Other Side is impressively psychedelic, otherworldly and stargazing in outlook. The album's woozy, horizontal appeal is therefore enhanced by Lazarus and Ford's use of Indian instrumentation, African percussion and impeccable keys-work from American jazz pianist Eric Lewis.

Review: France-based Chilean Ricardo Tobar has enjoyed a long and fruitful career since making his debut on Border Community back in 2007, subsequently releasing atmospheric techno tackle on the likes of Traum Schallplatten and Desire. Here, he moves to Sven Vath's Cocoon imprint with the simply titled Collection, an enjoyable follow-up to his synthesizer-heavy 2013 debut full-length, Treillis. This time round, he claims to have been inspired by "35 years of electronic music history". For the most part, that means doffing a cap to 1980s new wave, industrial, EBM and leftfield synth-pop, whilst retaining the shuffling, tactile rhythms and woozy grooves of his dancefloor-centric early singles.

Review: Scandinavian producer Peder Mannerfelt's 2014 debut, Lines Describing Circles, may have been impressive, but its spooky mixture of drone, ambient, and experimental electronics lacked focus. The same can't be said of The Swedish Congo Record, which sticks religiously to a surprising - but rather brilliant - concept. It's apparently an all synthesizer re-make of an obscure 1950s album of recordings of indigenous tribal music from the (then) Belgian Congo. With synthesizer notes being used to create both rhythm and melody, Mannerfelt's concoctions are bizarre but brilliant, and undoubtedly as intense and rhythmically dense as the album that inspired it.

Review: German duo Hauntologists have been doing their thing since the late noughties, occasionally delivering (largely self-released) 12" singles of atmospheric, bubbling techno in a typically Teutonic style. Here, they unleash their debut full-length, a nine-track assault that subtly pulls in different directions through. So, they treat us to the warm and organic shuffle of "Hush", the bleep-heavy wonkiness of "Wistful", a chunk of after-party minimal ("Suspend"), and a cowbell-heavy blend of Drexciya-style electro and Berghain-ready chug ("Turned"). Throughout, the pair's devotion to texture and atmosphere shines through, making Hauntologists a particularly potent excursion.