Spacetalk Vinyl & CDs

Review: Inspired by his neon-lit walks around London's docklands, crate digger Ilan Pdahtzur's 2019 compilation Night City Life marked him out as a dusty-fingered crate digger and record collector with a distinctive, synth-heavy musical vision. It made him the toast of the selector/collector community, but more than that it was a genuinely superb selection of obscure, hard-to-find cuts. This belated sequel is every bit as essential and filled, unsurprisingly, with rare and lesser-known gems. Highlights are too plentiful to mention, but our current favourites include Sharon & Tracey's 'The Sheik' (a belly-dancing inspired slab of TB-303 bass-driven house hedonism), Jennifer's 1992 Euro-house gem 'Come Into My Life', Scicilian musician Claudio D'Ignoti's boogie-era treat 'Ache Per Noir', and the fashion scene inspired leftfield synth-pop of Lena's 'Embrasse-Moi (Strumentale)'.

Review: Spacetalk Records returns from a period of hibernation with something special: a new collection of ultra-rare, little-known nuggets from label co-founder Danny McLewin AKA Skyrager. Unlike his previous compilations as part of Psychemagik, there's no killer concept behind Traces of Illusion, just a desire to share some of the dusty obscurities he's found during years of determined crate digging. Musically, it's a mixture of psychedelic folk, leftfield synth-pop oddities, blue-eyed soul, acid-fried blue-eyed soul, Balearic boogie, Americana, ambient jazz, AOR, late 80s dancehall-soul and even a spot of grizzled progressive rock. In other words, it's as educational as it is entertaining, and packed to the rafters with private press treats and impossible-to-find curiosities.