Akumandra Vinyl & CDs

Review: Sainte Vie has been working away in the Mexican underground for some time, running Akumandra as a free, digital-only label to help promote all kinds of electronic music. Now it's time for Vie to step up with their first outright release, first time on wax, and hence a new era for the label. The tone is varied across the record, leading in with the worldly drum rattle and string strum of "Huracan", a whirlwind of drama and hand-played musicianship that stands out from the crowd. "Albatross" is a more introspective cut that brings Vie's vocals to the forefront, and then "Maria" chills things out further with a haunting vocal from Pascale and some delicate finger picking guitar delights over a dynamic set of drums.

Review: Mexican musician Pablo Pina, best known as Sainte Vie, is back on Akumandra with his third EP. He manages to conjure up plenty of emotion with his dense, well designed minimal and tech house sounds here. 'Heart' is the opener - a full flavour cut with rickety drums and plenty of metallic textures, slapping hits and aching chords that bring rap emotion to the club. On the reverse of this super limited 12" is the more melodic and spaced out 'Phantom.' This is one to lose yourself in on the dance floor at 5 am. Great stuff.