BAKK Vinyl & CDs

Review: Those familiar with the Strange Life label operated by Danny Wolfers will know it's rife with CDr material worthy of the vinyl format. Whilst our personal favourite (the bizarre Portopia by Wolfers alias Satomi Taniyama) remains looked over by labels, Berceuse Heroique were responsible for a quite sumptuous double LP edition of Smackos album The Age Of Candy Candy earlier this year. Now local Den Haag crew BAKK have got their hands on 2004 Strange Life album Dark Days for an equally classy triple LP edition. Wolfers fans not familiar with this album will immediately fall in love with Dark Days, thanks to the signature blend of goofy track titles ("Lego Resistance", "An Obnoxious Affair On Tape") and music that veers from soaring, synth vistas to grotty techno via cold, primitive electronics and more.

Review: For those turned on by the many intertwined pathways of ambient, electronica and experimental music, BAKK's ongoing "Plafond" series should be essential listening. The label's latest installment - the fourth in total - is another quietly impressive gem. We're particularly enjoying Ulla Straus' contribution, a gently unfurling A-side opener "I Forgot To Take A Picture", where trippy, fluctuating saxophone and guitar motifs rise above an atmospheric bed of drowsy chords and field recordings. Arguably even better though is Oceanic's B-side spanning interconnected suite, which gradually builds from sparse ambient electronics to hypnotic ambient techno over 20 spellbinding minutes.