Downtempo Recommendations April 2014

Review: Wrong Island Communications return with a fourth transmission and a second for M O O N, the awkward to type guise of Bostonian Stephen Gilarde who inaugurated the label in fine style last summer. Putting aside all mention of Gilarde's famous grizzly uncle, the Particles EP once again draws from the sizeable archives of M O O N material that can be found on the musician's bandcamp page and a round of applause should go to Wrong Island Communications granting them the vinyl pressing they deserve. "Plus Four" is the sort of track label owners everywhere would exclaim "That's an A-Side" in response to hearing, a furious eight minute attack of cheap synth bleeps and punishing drums. Face down M O O N goes deep on the John Carpenter vibes with "Delay" whilst it's easy to visualise a neon daubed Ryan Gosling driving through LA in the twilight hours to "Dust".

Review: It's been some three years since the release of Dive, the most recent full length from Scott Hansen's decidedly Balearic Tycho project. Here he returns to regular home Ghostly International with Awake, his fourth full-length. It sees him in fine form, delivering a sun-bright set that melds blissful guitars and shoegaze textures with hazy electronics, warm grooves and orange-hued atmospherics. Hansen is a master at creating unashamedly positive, evocative music, and Awake is full of these kind of smile-inducing moments. Aside from being impeccably well made, it is also pleasingly cheery. If you've yet to succumb to his charms, Awake is a great place to start.

Review: Paris-born, Montreal-based producer Valentin Stip has previously impressed with two albums of scratchy, decidedly experimental IDM for Nicholas Jaar's Clown & Sunset imprint. Here, he pops up on Jaar's Other People imprint with a woozy, dreamy and largely soft-focus foray into the world of sparse ambience. Sigh is surprisingly subdued, but no worse for that. When he reaches for rhythms, such as on the Indian-influenced "Pendule", the beats provide texture, rather than the focal point. When he eschews them altogether, such as on the weary "Tableau II" and rush-inducing "Aveu", there's more space for his heady soundscapes to slowly unfurl. On the rare occasions that he brings both strands together, such as on the beautiful "Alethia", the results are utterly spellbinding.