The best new albums this week

Our writers’ top albums from the week’s pile

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Various Artists – Autonomy: The Productions Of Martin Rushent (Ace)

Appreciate that it is perhaps a little on the nerd side to have a favourite producer, but Martin Rushent is the big chief. It seems I’m not alone in this school of thought.

Autonomy: The Productions Of Martin Rushent has been compiled and the sleevenotes written by Gary Crowley, clearly a man who also has a favourite producer. “The first time I noticed Martin Rushent’s name was on a single lent to me by my school pal Stephen Porter in early 1977,” says Crowley. That single was the heavily bracketed ‘(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)’ which opens this collection. And what a place to start, but first a little rewind.

Rushent’s CV is almighty. He started out at Advision Studios in London’s Fitzrovia working on sessions for the likes of Fleetwood Mac, T Rex, Yes and ELP. He was a tape op for Tony Visconti early doors and made it up the ranks to head engineer. At the peak of his powers he quit and went freelance. Employed by United Artists he worked on sessions with Shirley Bassey and convinced the label it’d be a good idea to sign The Stranglers and let him produce them. Which they did. He was at the desk for their first three albums. He followed that up with the first three Buzzcocks albums… and then he made The Human League’s ‘Dare’. Between 1977 and 1981, he produced defining records across three genres – punk, new wave and synthpop. Let’s just take that in for a moment shall we?

There is a Martin Rushent sound, which you can hear in track after track on this collection. Whether it’s synths or guitars everything is crisp and clean. Even when a guitar is distorted, like on Buzzcock’s ‘Autonomy’ (included here) it still sounds crystal clear. Everything he touched packs this kind of audio punch. What Martin Rushent did was make pop music, music that popped. And boy did it pop.

There’s some great moments of synchronicity in Crowley’s choices, especially around the making of ‘Dare’. The 1978 punk-pop of The Rezillos’ 1978 punk-pop ‘Destination Venus’ is where band’s Jo Callis enters the tale, going on to be recruited when it came to the making of ‘Dare’.

There’s also 999’s ‘Homicide’, the opening track from their 1978 album ‘Separates’, which is just far too good. One story about how The Human League ended up working with Martin Rushent has it that Phillp Oakey was a huge fan of ‘Separates’ and asked for Rushent to produce ‘Dare’ off the back of it. Of course, the other part of that story is that when Rushent decided synths were the way forward and kitted out his Berkshire-based Genetic Studio with the very latest synthy goodness, he tried it all out on his pal Pete Shelley. They were demoing what they thought was the fourth Buzzcocks album, but when Rushent played the demos to Virgin A&R big chief Simon Draper who was blown away by the new sounds. Shelley went on to release the tracks as his debut solo outing and Virgin bagged themselves a producer for The Human League.

It’s a shame there isn’t a track from Shelley’s ‘Homosapien’ here, but such is the vagaries of licensing. You hope the reason is there’s a reissue on the way. Fingers crossed for an expanded edition and unreleased Shelley tracks soon eh?

Following the huge success of ‘Dare’, Rushent’s work with Altered Images was transformational, taking them from being a mini-me Siouxie And The Banshees to Top 10 pop stars. His remixes were key in opening the eyes of hormonal teens who had the hots for Claire Grogan and discovered the fine art of the 12-inch version as a bonus. Rushent set out his remixing stall with The League Unlimited Orchestra’s ‘Love & Dancing’, an instrumental/dub version of ‘Dare’ and while the 12-inch mix of Altered Images’ ‘I Could Be Happy’ uses many of the same tricks and features here, his ‘See Those Eyes’ reworking is an utter masterpiece. Here’s a thought. How many people grew up on Rushent remixes went on to be a part of the acid house explosion later in the 80s?

We could be here all day talking about this 19-track collection and I’ve already sailed through my word count, but just before we wrap up there’s a couple of long-lost 80s outfits featured who really benefited from the magic touch. The 12-inch version of Leisure Process’ ‘A Way You’ll Never Be’ is stonking, as is the 1985 club mix of Then Jerico’s ‘Big Sweep’. And who knew Rushent produced The Go-Gos? He served up their third album, 1984’s ‘Talk Show’ and they never sounded better as the superb ‘Beneath The Sky’ here shows. Elsewhere there are tracks from Generation X, XTC, Rachel Sweet, The Members (he produced ‘Working Girl’ for heaven’s sake), Hazel O’Conner and The Associates – the stories of his time working with Billy MacKenzie are pure gold.

Sadly, Martin Rushent died in 2011 aged just 62. It was a terrible loss. What he could have gone on to do is anyone’s guess. What he left behind is utterly peerless. Hats off here to Gary Crowley too. “A cluster of musical diamonds” he calls this collection. He’s not wrong. This is an almighty tribute to a true great.

NM

Beverly Glenn-Copeland – The Ones Ahead (Transgressive)

The story of Beverly Glenn-Copeland is a truly heartwarming one which draws parallels with other spiritually-charged artists such as Laraaji, who never pursued music as a pathway to fame and fortune but were instilled with a gift that couldn’t help but spread across the world. If you track back to his earlier albums of folk rock fusion from the 70s and the landmark Keyboard Fantasies from the mid-80s, Glenn-Copeland’s music is instilled with the depth of expression which marks out the truly great singer-songwriters of any era. Still, he remained something of a cult figure until Keyboard Fantasies was rediscovered in 2015.

Since then, key reissues have come through to break Glenn-Copeland’s spectacular music to the wider world, and now he receives something approximating the recognition he deserves. As such, The Ones Ahead arrives as his first new album in 20 years with a greater sense of ceremony than previous records might have enjoyed. It’s a bold, expansive record which draws in collaborators and reaches across cultures to express urgent messages for all of humanity to reflect on. ‘Stand Anthem’ especially delivers on this intention with its anthemic drive as Glenn-Copeland spars with his Indigo Rising bandmates to call us to tackle the challenges we face, “so that life can endure”. It’s a monumental song with a dramatic tone which could just as easily be the crescendo to a Broadway musical, albeit without the saccharine banality which usually accompanies such showstoppers.

From the outward-looking to the inner expressions, Glenn-Copeland remains true to his intention to communicate with universality. Album opener ‘Africa Calling’ gives him space to reflect on his own West African roots and connection to the wider African diaspora, while ‘People Of The Loon’ reaches similarly wide sonic spaces with an infectious stomp of MIDI brass and timpani drums. There’s plenty of balladry from ’Harbour Song (For Elizabeth)’ and ‘Love Takes All’ to ‘Ones Ahead’ and ‘Prince Caspian’s Dream’, but even the slower songs are imbued with a fierce spirit thanks to Glenn-Copeland’s eternally powerful voice.

In the way it moves beyond his past works to explore new instrumentation, The Ones Ahead proves Glenn-Copeland is still a curious, developing artist in search of new musical forms. But more than that, a consistency draws a line right back to the albums of the 70s – a strength of voice and expression which could never be dulled by time.

OW

Dot Allison – Consciousology (Sonic Cathedral)

Making your debut with an album like ‘Morning Dove White’ it would’ve been pretty easy for Dot Allison to keep treading that One Dove path, but where’s the art in that? Striking out on her own in 1999, ‘Afterglow’ was an evolution and she’s continued to push forwards until we find ourselves here, with her first offering since the expansive folk-fuelled ‘Heart-Shaped Scars’ in 2021, which in turn was her first release for a decade.

She has made her return in some style. From the shimmering orchestral techno of opener ‘Shyness Of Crowns’ it’s clear that ‘Consciousology’ is a whole other level. Dot herself sees the album as a psych version of ‘Heart-Shaped Scars’, which is spot on. She describes the record as having a far fuller, more immersive sound. “It’s a more wayward, bolder, rule-breaking partner” is how she succinctly puts it.

Inspired by her musician mother and botanist father, its earthy themes are, says Dot “an imagined voice of a conscious universe expressed through music”. And with a palette that takes in everything from strings to modular synths to acoustic guitar, it is very much one for the headphones. There are some stella guests on show too including the London Contemporary Orchestra, Ride’s Andy Bell on guitar, Dorit Chrysler on theremin and Hannah Peel who contributes glorious orchestral arrangements. Indeed, ‘Bleached By The Sun’ is so drenched in strings it fair make the heart burst.

While Dot is decades removed from her One Dove beginnings you can’t help hearing what went before in her current work. ‘220Hz’ in particular shimmers with the distant ghosts of that classic debut. Analogue synths fizz away over bruised string sweeps and ethereal voices. Weatherall would’ve had a field day. Indeed, he is remembered here on ‘Weeping Roses’ which is inspired by a tape he gave Dot in the 90s and in particular two songs on it by revered US folkster, Tim Hardin.

‘Consciousology’ is so delicate in places that her voice feels as if it could just shatter, and yet there’s a great strength here too. The assured songwriting and sublime production makes ‘Consciousology’ a beautiful record by an artist at the peak of her powers.

NM

Gerry Franke – Melancholic Shacks (Tax Free)

The best labels are those which muster a cult community around them, and Tax Free feels like just that sort of label. There aren’t big names and trendy remixers looking to push the profile, just a clandestine collective of heads singing from the same idiosyncratic hymn sheet. Gerry Franke is one of the more consistent figures from the Tax Free sphere, and his music is inwardly focused enough to fit the label’s contented rejection of direct genre studies in favour of a more esoteric mood.

Sonically, Franke places a generous emphasis on experimental guitar work and applies it to rhythmic mantras with a motorik impulse. For all the percussive propulsion, though, there’s also a lightness of touch which keeps the album fresh and engaging from start to finish. From the wandering bassline of jazz funk ode ‘Oleo (Sonny Rollins)’ to the neatly clipped glockenspiel cascade of ‘Sono’, Franke knows how to keep his mixes airy, even when they’re frequently busy. This means subtle tweaks and modulations shine bright as they playfully interrupt the largely meditative flows.

At times, the combination of neatly arranged chimes and pings and dry-signal bass feels like an ode to smooth 80s production, but Franke also knows how to sneak subtle modern touches into his production. The dynamic layering of dub impulses on ‘Cabra’ is accomplished and immersive, while ‘Alharab’ rides a pedal note insistent enough for you to savour the subtlest modulations.

Coming on like a sketch pad from an artist with sizeable experience under their belt, Melancholic Shacks is by turns chilled and pleasantly scatty. Vague parallels might be drawn with the likes of the Wah Wah Wino crew and their explorations in between angular art rock and kosmische hybridity – there’s a shared sense of navel-gazing surrealism underpinning everything. But Franke doesn’t often swerve towards noisy disruption, instead delivering his dose of weirdness with relaxed intention. It’s another fine portal into the unique M.O. of Tax Free, a decidedly intriguing label on every release.

OW

Sandwell District – Feed Forward (Deluxe Edition) (Point Of Departure)

When does a collection of techno tracks become an album? It’s a subjective point, obviously, and there are plenty of EPs which feel more nuanced and engrossing than most double packs masquerading as ‘artist albums’. As a genre, techno has probed the divide between expressive listening music and pure functionality more than most. The Detroit innovators from the first and second wave especially imbued the music with a sense of widescreen romanticism, and certain spin-off scenes have run with that scope to create evocative, emotionally complex electronica that happens to have a 4/4 pulse (or sometimes not).

Karl O’Connor and Peter Sutton certainly brought something evocative to techno when they established the Downwards label and gave the likes of Surgeon their first outings, but it was pushing against the hard edges of a genre yet to find its full form with the boisterous intensity of youth. 10 years on, Sandwell District felt like a cloudy, malignant riposte to the boom and bust trends which had befallen the genre with the rise and creative plateau of loopy techno and the upsurge in self-consciously cool minimal, creating their own definition of reduction which bedded knotty detail and hypnotic repetition into the sediment from the bottom of the canals they traversed in Birmingham and Berlin alike.

Feed Forward, released eight years later at the tail end of the Sandwell saga, was something different altogether. The music was maturer once again, feeling more stubbornly fixed into an anti-fashion trajectory and yet also more sensitive and vulnerable. ‘Svar’ feels as though its fabric could unravel with the slightest tug, while the strafing white noise figures at the front of ‘Immolare’ have a strangely soft landing in front of the yawning chasms of tone and tension discernible in the far distance.

But in the main, the album is romantic like the most fundamental techno. ‘Speed + Sound (Endless)’ is shaped out by impossibly sensual arpeggios and their attendant harmonic pads, while the two-chord touch of ‘Grey Cut Out’ takes a textbook techno melodic phrase and stretches it out like a gauze between disparate mountain peaks. The dots back to classic Detroit are most literally joined on ‘Falling The Same Way’, coming on with the cinematic poise of Carl Craig’s finest work and yet adding a dimension of resignation to the emotional make-up of the track where Craig might favour hope. ‘Surrender To The Unknown’, previously unreleased and dug out for this new edition, goes further into heart-rending synthetic orchestration with an all-consuming sadness which threatens to subsume the thrust of the Berghain-ready kicks underneath.

 The album radiates these qualities and so many more without ever asking for your opinion. Understated, fathoms deep and exquisitely rendered, its near-mythical status (thanks to its initial DIY release) is more than justified, a reissue long overdue.

OW

Posture & The Grizzly – I Am Satan (reissue) (Near Mint)

As San Diego pop-punk giants Blink-182 have recently reunited with founding guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge and just finished the US leg of what has already been their most profitable and successful tour to date, it’s worth noting that the past decade with Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio had as many detractors as praisers.

One artist who chose to poke fun at the absence of DeLonge’s signature whiney drawl on the band’s 2017 effort California, was Jordan Chmielowski of underground emo outfit Posture & The Grizzly, who makes little effort to hide his DeLongian worship, from his similar vocal cadence, to his choice of Gibson equipment, to regular insertions of Blink covers at live shows.

While the online comments were a simple jest to one of his greatest influences, the post led to a mass surge of fans discovering his 2016 opus and sophomore full-length I Am Satan. Channelling the darkest aspects of Box Car Racer and the self-titled Blink era, into a drug-addled mid-western emo fever dream, the project served as a sobering and stark look at mid-twenties malaise, addiction, failed relationships, insecurities, body dysmorphia and debilitating depression.

From the acoustic-led lullaby of ‘I Am Not A Real Doctor’ to the lovelorn ode to MDMA on ‘Mandy’ to the scathing self-analysis and detailing of minimum wage confines on the vicious ‘Acid Bomb’, the work resonated with thousands who clicked with the bittersweet sound of adolescent influences being repurposed for a truly harrowing and melancholic insight into their generation’s myriad of plaguing issues.

Long out of print since its initial run, the album has only swollen with appreciation while the band’s exceptional self-titled follow up in 2021 rekindled avid questions of a much desired repress. Whether your punk predilections skew towards late nineties skate era, or you enjoy your emo with a notable slice of youthful nostalgia, Posture & The Grizzly delivered a criminally overlooked masterwork with 2016’s I Am Satan. Equal parts catchy and devastating, humorous and harsh, insightful and uncomfortable; the project enthrals with its sonic promise of a Blink-182 from a darker, less renowned alternate reality, and maintains attention with Chmielowski’s brutal honesty and ear for melodious angst.

ZB

Various Artists – Continuing A Worn Out Tradition III (Archaic Vaults)

Archaic Vaults is a label operating out of Berlin dealing in furtive strains of ambient and experimental music that has, up to this point, primarily operated within the tape-based realm. There are plenty of names in the label’s past releases which might be less familiar, but the likes of Flora Yin-Wong, bookworms, Christoph de Babalon, Florist and Susu Laroche have all graced the spools thus far. Now they make the leap to vinyl for the third instalment of their compilations series with an overview which roughly maps out founder Severin Black’s spheres of interest, striking upon a variety of energies while maintaining an air of mystery common amongst cassette-oriented operations.

There are plenty of murky excursions into the underbelly of tonal work, not least from Black himself working with Zeynep Agcabay on the bloated low-end and icy pads of ‘Tethered Snakes’. Geklaper deals in blown-out notes of sustained synth and Saint Abdullah creates an unsettling mood spelt out by bell-like chimes and sampled vocals, but there’s also space for some lighter emotional content. Chantal Michelle’s ambience comes in thick, textured waves not dissimilar to Tim Hecker, while Ciaran Jacob and Flora Yin-Wong thread delicate string plucks through a shroud of patient chord blooms. But it’s YL Hooi who creates one of the compilations stand-out moments with a fractured dub deconstruction that spells out a sonic clarity a few steps on from the charming lo-fi of her album for Efficient Space in 2021.

OW

Ruth Mascelli – Non-Stop Healing Frequency (Disciples)

You might have caught Ruth Mascelli’s outstanding foray into the seedy underbelly of late night narcotic house on 2021’s A Night At The Baths, or perhaps you were already up on their role in queer punk icons Special Interest. If their previous solo album was a loving trip into the clandestine world of bath houses, this new work casts a caring glance on the people who fall prey to opportunist monetisation when they desperately seek help in the cold infinite of the internet.

As ever the themes are more nuanced than one simple message, but this tender concern feels like an instructive mood for the various approaches Mascelli takes on this record. There is avant balladry with a strong vocal core on ‘History’, skewed tonal lounge jams aplenty and occasional swerves into grittier production (check the brilliant ‘Mind War’), but even in the more forbidding moments there’s a softness of touch which projects sincere love and pain.

It’s a record to cradle and be cradled by, with a strident embrace of the sweetness we all need to comfort us and the grubby interference which inevitably comes along to shake us from our slumber. Whether with words or plaintive key sequences, Mascelli says plenty as they mark out another point of intrigue in their burgeoning solo career.

OW

Signs Of The Swarm – Amongst The Low & Empty (Century Media)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based deathcore behemoths Signs Of The Swarm return with their most malevolent project to date in the form of their fifth full-length Amongst The Low & Empty. Marking the end of a six-year relationship with Unique Leader Records, who’ve distributed all of their full-lengths thus far (apart from the independently released 2016 debut Senseless Order); the project is their first since signing to legendary label Century Media, and it’s evident that the band have not taken the opportunity lightly.

While initially skewing closer to brutal death metal and slam, the nuanced progression of their sound over the course of the past decade has seen not only a refinement but a reimagining of what deathcore can be. Yes, you still have the beastly gutturals and shrieking howls of incomparable vocalist David Simonich (who’s been with the group since the departure of founding frontman CJ McCreery, who would depart to join Lorna Shore before being kicked out due to abuse allegations), and there’s still countless heaving breakdowns every where you turn, but in the words of John Travolta’s Pulp Fiction character Vincent Vega – “It’s the little differences.”

For instance, the grooving bedlam of the lead single title-track recalls the djent grooves of Meshuggah, while the glitching menace before the nauseatingly heavy breakdown that closes out the claustrophobic ‘Tower Of Torsos’, exude a sense of detailing and specificity most peers in their respective scenes don’t necessarily bother imbue into their compositions.

It must also be mentioned that it’s bizarre than drummer Bobby Crow handled bass duties from 2016 to 2020 before settling back into his original position behind the kit, as his octopus-like fluidity and machine gun ratatat blast beating ability serves as the lynchpin to the group’s overwhelming sonic backbone; knowing precisely when to obliterate or allow his bandmates a moment to showcase their (almost) equally impressive chops.

Brutal, technical, and demented, for a genre that seems constantly in peril of falling into utter stagnation, Signs Of The Swarm have delivered an intensely powerful testament of malodorous intent.

ZB

NHK yx Koyxen – Climb Downhill 2 (Bruk)

Kouhei Matsunaga is one of those prolific misfits who create a genre unto themselves. Trying to stay across his many subtly adjusted aliases is not exactly straightforward, but following the thread leads you to a vast swathe of impressive accomplishments. He was releasing on seminal clicks n’ cuts label Mille Plateaux as early as 1998, gracing a dizzying array of seminal outliers since from Tigerbeat6 and WordSound to Important, Skam, Diagonal, DFA, L.I.E.S., Pan and scores more you might not have heard of. Stylistically, he slips and slides but there’s always a crunchy, DSP finish to his music whether it’s more angular and abstract or strapped to some sort of discernible groove.

Now Matsunaga arrives on Bruk, a low-key label which has teetered around the edge of electronica with releases from the likes of FFT. Matsunaga delivers their first album in a knotty tangle of scuffed up beats and freaked-out synths which successfully maintain his position outside of any obvious reference points. There’s a low-slung funk to the beats which could happily sidle up to some of the more hip-hop minded output on Skam, but the rest of the sonics sound too sprightly and playfully wonky to rest there.

At times the synth riffs are actually quite catchy, as on the electro-tinted opener ‘Fluido and Piacing’, while ‘cosmos smooth’ lurches slow and hard with the same drunken, dirty swagger as vintage Mr Oizo. ‘Witch of Nikolai Gogol’ and ‘Spider of Hanns Heinz Ewers’ prefer unnerving, illogical melodic parts which serve to disrupt and plunge the album into true outsider territory. But Matsunaga will never be pigeon-holed, and that’s why you can also get treated to a masterful 10-minute exercise in tracky, grubby, wonky minimal techno which comes on like STL swapping his dub tendencies for acid. If you’re looking for a smooth trajectory, head elsewhere, but the brilliance and originality of Matsunaga’s work is fully in display on this sizeable album offering.

OW

Caterina Barbieri – Myuthafoo (light-years)

Her approach may be absolutely defined by sequencers and sound generators, but Caterina Barbieri has ably positioned herself as one of the foremost proponents of minimal composition in the present day. Ecstatic Computation managed to attain a sort of modern classic status despite its stern focus on repetitive patterns modulating imperceptibly. The immediacy of her music is its appeal, and what appears fragile and patient at the beginning can mutate before your ears to becoming hulking and transcendent without you noticing the incremental shifts.

Mathematics weighs in Barbieri’s considered approach, and she allowed that to play into the pieces which make up this companion album to Ecstatic Computation. Derived from live performances where she struck gold in the exploration of her sequencer, these further synth sermons feel more than distinct enough from their 2019 counterparts to really be considered on their own terms. In full-bleed harmonic bliss, tracks like ‘Myuthafoo’ and ‘Alphabet Of Light’ tell distinct stories with simple phrasing.

No matter how long a set of notes cycle for, the music is never static, and as she teases the variations and opens up the foundational patterns to the elements, Barbieri shows how much power and presence she can elicit from that seemingly modest starting point.

OW

Agriculture – Agriculture (The Flenser)

Los Angeles based self-described “ecstatic black metal” outfit Agriculture have slowly become one the most talked about acts in the extreme metal underground, with near hysteric levels of hype growing for their self-titled debut full-length.

Signed to The Flenser, a label known for its championing of the leftfield extremity of artists such as industrial-tinged noise rock outfit Chat Pile and blackened jazz absurdists Mamaleek, it’s no real surprise that so many in the scene are gravitating towards the group’s euphoric and uplifting re-interpretation of black metal motifs.

While last year’s EP The Circle Chant conjured an aquatic acquiescence with its use of frenetic tremolo picking, blast beats and howling vocal shrieks all angled in such a sonic manner to feel enveloping and warm, as opposed to the traditional frosted machinations of the genre, their album goes a step further in its coalescing of brightened atmospherics with overwhelming, transcendental chaos.

From the vulnerable poetics on display throughout the mesmerising eight-minute set-piece opener ‘The Glory Of The Ocean’, to the three-act structure of ‘Look Pt. 1’ to ‘Pt.3’, Agriculture make a strong case for the Venn Diagram intersections which can often occur between the realms of black metal, screamo and post-rock, but they do so with such nuanced dexterity, as for it to feel blissfully cohesive and utterly natural. This is black metal in its most effervescent, harmonious and delicate state, yet make no mistake, the tides can shift with little warning from harbour to horror.

ZB

Porn Sword Tobacco – Pocochin 03 (Pocochin)

Henrik Jonsson has done a fine job of carving his own niche as Porn Sword Tobacco. Nearly 20 years ago he was making elegant electronica for City Centre Offices, but he’s since aligned with SVN and the Acido bunch and more recently been orbiting the misfit world of Sex Tags Mania collaborating with DJ Felt Burger and doing plenty of other stuff besides. After a couple of appearances on SJ Tequila’s first label Shot of T, he’s now slipped over to a new label from the fellow Fett Burger acolyte and notorious Teknobusker.

Pocochin is in its early stages, but it seems to be reliably carrying the kind of informed but free-wheeling machine gear you often hear coming from these corners of house and techno. In fact, Jonsson’s B3 track on this mini-album is bursting with Sex Tags sass, riding on a throbbing Italo bassline arpeggio laden with sizzling drum machine jack and an array of playful tweaks, wiggles and squiggles splayed across the top of the mix. It’s simple and perfectly executed, showcasing Jonsson at his most playful.

The same could be said for ‘Start N’ Stop Action’ – a collaboration with Tequila which goes all-in with the 303-tweaking acid gear. Decent contemporary acid is all about the other flavours which set it apart, and the clue is in the title as the action slips in and out of earshot with some slippery FX and mixing desk jockeying which gives the track a wonderful looseness. There’s even some braindance to be savoured on ‘Papa Geil The Author’, which is 101 sweetness and light up top and crunchy breaks down low. It’s Porn Sword Tobacco at his most boisterous, and in the process he demonstrates his ability to absolutely nail all kinds of approaches with his chosen tools.

OW

This week’s reviewers: Jude Iago James, Zach Buggy, Oli Warwick, Neil Mason.