Juno Recommends Balearic / Downtempo: May 2023

Review: While all of NuNorthern Soul's releases are delightfully warming, sun-baked and mood-enhancing, the label's latest release - a new EP from imprint stalwart and long-serving American producer Marshall Watson - is especially impressive. Musically, it's sun-bright and sonically enveloping, offering a calming and colourful bath for the head, heart and soul. Interestingly, there's a touch more dancefloor focus than you may expect - see the Balearic-acid shuffle of 'Open Sky', the grandiose, enveloping chords and bustling breakbeats of 'The Landscape' and the tactile Balearic nu-disco of 'Sweet Sounds' - but wholeheartedly horizontal moments are never far away. In this category you'll find delightful opener 'High Desert' and Seahawks' accompanying remix of the same track, which is as magical as you'd expect it to be.

Review: Spring has sprung and Statues bring some positive vibrations to IIB. Clear skies is a shimmering Alan Parsonsesque cosmic groove beaming out into the atmosphere Coyote soften the OG into a fading twilight reflection. The Vendetta suite create a mesmeric ambient gem The Creek continues the kaleidoscopic feel with a soothing dreamlike trip towards a lovely vocal finish. Nothing but clear skies all round.

Review: Roman producer Gaetano 'Gaeimago' Ciciriello aka Azzurro 80 debuted on Four Flies in 2021 and is already a firm favourite whose first EP was so successful it quickly got re-pressed. Now he is back with more lush sounds inspired by the 80s Italian library scene and informed by his love of a faded blue colour from which he takes his name. 'Notte Inchiesta' is a jazzy cosmic wonder with gentle Mediterranean grooves and laid-back cool, then 'Equilibrio' carries on the trip but once the sun has set with bubbling house drums and tumbling synth colours. 'Sambuca' shuts down with grand strings making for a sentimental and cinematic ambient sound.

Review: Drawn from a soundtrack Barrott was commissioned to write for the Japanese documentary Johatsu -The Art of Evaporation, this release explores ideas of living simply and focusing on kindness, grace and gratitude. Opening track, 'Kyoto', ripples into focus, floating through a blue-sky dreamscape and punctuated by hazy choral vocals. Another standout track, 'Icarus', is a jazz-electronic fusion piano piece, merging traditional instrumentation with a softly encompassing clarinet solo. A fantastic release from Barrott, taking contemporary Balearic to the next level.

Review: The legendary deep house duo Fila Brazilia return with another retrospective four-track, following last year's Mermaids' reissue. Steel Tiger Records founder Steve Cobby and lecturer David McSherry ha da whirlwind romance with the house scene, one they reignited in 2020 after a 16-year separation. 'Subtle Body' serves as an incredible reintroduction to the dynamic duos sound, tripped-out dubby beats and raw house sessions, with the title track's layered chimes, looped delay feedback and floaty chords blasting right out of the gate. What follows is an unreleased instrumental version of 'Nightfall' from the 2002 album 'Jump Leads', an industrial ambient drifter.

On Side B, the tempo and temperature rises, and we're treated to 'The Light Of Jesus', from the debut LP 'Old Codes: New Chaos'. A bumping house groove, smooth organ and sweet bass combine for an unforgettable track that has stood the test of time fiercely. The EP rounds out with 'Room '96', a live house jam from Hull's Room nightclub - a time capsule to better days. The songs here on Subtle Body might be a window into a time long past, but they remain in the present: and as long as bodies seek pleasure, and dancers want to keep going til sunrise, Fila Brazillia will endure, and soundtrack those moments for us all to get lost in.

Review: World music magpie Bonobo offers us a deep dive into his secret collection of remixes and B-sides here across four sides of vinyl here, all collected together for the Tru Thoughts label. It is a great compilation that shows off some different looks from the well-regarded and accomplished producer and live act himself, as well as other artists' reworks of his source material. He tackles tunes by Pilote and Jon Kennedy, Jon Kennedy and Quantic remix him, and there are also two top Quantic originals included for good measure to close.

Review: It's good to have this one available again. Dorothy Moore's 1976 soul classic, featuring vocals from Taka Boom, Chaka Khan & Mark Stevens, 'Misty Blue' became an Ibiza chill-out anthem in 2002. As 'Misti Blu' it got high-profile plays by Mary Anne Hobbs, Pete Tong and Mixmaster Morris and even David Mancuso charted in his end-of-year highlights. Now the sundown gem gets reissued here on a tidy 7" as a superb rework from Claude Money. The crooning vocals remain the highlight with sultry trumpets and lavish downtempo rhythms. What's more, we're told that a new live disco and house version are also to come this year.

Review: Perennial psy-trance masterminds Sphongle are revisiting their revered back catalogue with some choice vinyl reissues, and on this occasion they're looking back to 2017 epic Codex IV. On this particular record Simon Posford and Raja Ram took things in a particularly mellow, ambient and downtempo direction. Ram's eloquent instrumentation glides through lush soundscapes sculpted by Posford and vice versa, as one of the most iconic partnerships in all of psy-trance demonstrate their vision well beyond the trappings of generic definition. Cut across three mighty slabs of wax, this is another flawless immersion experience from one of the best acts to ever do it.

Review: Kicking off his new R&R imprint, LA-born and Berlin-based producer Huerta brings us TV Slang - an LP which exists somewhere between rhythmic and ambient house. For the title track, woozy voice samples drift in and out of focus, existing in a space just outside of reality. 'Stutter Dub' emerges as one of the more dance-geared tracks, yet it's still decorated with the hazy sound design of the release's ambient numbers; its buffed-out environment softening the edges of Huerta's percussion. On the B-side, 'Traces' features dreamily reverberating piano chords embellished with glittering breaks. This is a highly multi-faceted release which promises to take listeners and dancers alike into a beautifully realised soundworld.

Review: Maara is a rather exclusive and mystic artist from Montreal who now unveils a debut album on Step Ball Chain. It's an adventurous record with 12 tracks across four sides of vinyl that range from emotive soundscapes to atmospheric drum and bass via mind-enhancing electronica. An already prolific producer, Maara shows there is no end to the different ideas she has inside her here. There is both beauty and darkness to be found along the way with lush pads, earth-shaking bass and melancholic mutterings and tender whispers from her own mouth all adding colour.

Review: Nico Motte is intrinsic to the story of Antinote Records, having designed the majority of the French label's sleeves through his Check Morris agency as well as recording an LP and EP in the past. Favouring the allure of vintage synth gear and that slightly hauntological vibe which sometimes finds a home on Antinote, he returns with a new LP which paints vivid scenes in warmly hued shades, heavy on the synthesis and turning to a variety of highly visual moods. The move from the blissful sundown serenity of 'Brain Freeze' to the subtly spooky creep of 'Wew Nave' is a perfect case in point, bringing to mind all kinds of scenarios to match the music. If you appreciate the library music of days gone by and stylish, imaginative uses of classic synth sounds, you're going to love this album from the first beat to the last.

Review: Austrian duo Tosca aka Richard Dorfmeister and schoolmate Rupert Huber, are synonymous with downtempo and ambient and have been for over two decades. It's exactly 20 years in fact since their third album, Dehli9, dropped 2003 and offered two quite different sounds. The first half of the record is what you might call traditional downtempo, the second a more sparse affair defined mostly by plaintive, evocative piano pieces based on '12 easy to play piano pieces' by Rupert Huber. It's a sombre but alluring listen in which the space between the minimal notes really comes alive.

Review: Mysticisms' reissues are usually on point, with main man Stuart Leath and comrade Piers Harrisson doing an excellent job in picking superb, but often overlooked, material. Leath has done it again here, offering a fresh release for Japanese great (and Flower Records founder) Little Big Bee's 2006 cut 'Scuba'. The track itself is gorgeous - a noughties take on ambient house full of saucer-eyed melodies, sumptuous deep house beats, nu-jazz flourishes and the dreamiest of chords. The EP also contains two rather exciting new remixes from old pal of the label Apiento. He first joins the dots between ambient house, bleep and electro on his dreamy, sub-heavy '4AM Mix', before re-casting it as an immersive, mind-soothing future ambient classic on the 'M25 Mix'.

Review: Bristol-based Hippo Sound System has a sound that draws on a wide sphere of reference from Afro to downtempo, tropicalia to dub. Origins in their debut album and comes deep in sound system culture but laden with evocative details that ate you away from the here and now to a humid jungle clearing full of ancestral rhythms, jazz freedom and contemporary bass music. It's a colourful and psychedelic listen that fuses the traditional and ritualistic with the futuristic and physical. Great drops, hooky melodies and a global feel make this one of the most unique albums you will have heard in some time.

Review: Tourist's melancholic electronic palette gets revived on his second album, 'Everyday', which follows up the 2016 hit 'U'. While the former album told the story of a deep heartbreak, this one explores the calm after the storm, with this electronic traveler no longer dwelling on what was lost. Spoken word meditations on depression intersperse with ambient flows, as the album seamlessly picks up from post-intro opener 'Emily' into the future garagey tones of 'Love Theme'. It's all in one key, providing a seamless, life-affirming journey from one vignette to the next.

Review: Weird balearic acid electro and downtempo from the group known as Hektisch Sprengen DJs (known as the heads of the label Terra Magica). Their efforts until now have been to release oddball music from their contemporaries, but never before have we heard anything from the heads themselves. Drawing on Latin music styles such Cumbia, there are all manner of phoned-in vocal samples thrown in, such as Dr. Alban's refrain from the 1990s hit 'No Hash Hash, No Cocaine'. A low-end-centric, soft-edged effort to induce trance states in the listener.

Review: Quindi Records shone a light on the psych-tinted West Coast indie-rock scene with their last release from LA band Bondo, and now they're focusing on Bondo's buddies Monde UFO. The sound takes some cues from mid-era Fugazi (they've even covered the post-hardcore legends in the past) but the predominant influence is in fact easy listening Bossa nova, which guides the composition of these roughshod, lo-fi songs in a manner which is instantly odd and lovable. With space for some dub processing and lyrical tales which weave homespun tales with a surrealist tint, it's an album of surprise and instant pleasure which feels primed for lazy summer days in tranquil climes.

Review: Swiss imprint Phantom Island specialises in the kind of atmospheric, slow-motion Balearica that looks far and wide for inspiration. Their latest EP, a collaboration between live electronic performer Tillman Ostendarp and singer/songwriter Gina Ete, naturally takes a similar approach. Title track 'Le Bouqet', for example, features subtle nods towards the more atmospheric material on Peter Gabriel's 1980s album 'So' with drowsy chords, ethereal electronics, clicking beats and the sweetest of vocals, while 'Tetra' is creepy, dark and atmospheric in the extreme, with live percussion catching the ear. Elsewhere, 'Nonchalant' is like trip-hop after a hit of opiates, 'Customer Care' is a wonky number with distorted vocals, ambient textures and West African percussion, and Fuga Ronto's remix of 'Le Bouquet' is a retro-futurist leftfield synth-pop gem with added dub delay.

Review: Satoshi is well known for his work alongside Makoto but here he steps out with a first ever solo album. The title and typography and make clear reference to the legendary Aphex Twin album that very much set the temple for electronic ambient but the music inside is wholly original. It takes the form of a collection of archival works that sit next to newer compositions. Like much of the music he has made in collab with Makoto, the sounds on this album are performed mainly on his much loved and trusty Casio CZ-5000 synthesiser. Guests such as Benedek from PPU and L.I.E.S. plays on guitar, while Makoto and Kuniyuki Takahashi bring percussion.