Indole Records founder Jimmy Billingham recounts the steps he’s made for his music to reach a state of beatless bliss.
Antonio Marini opens up about the jazz-influenced sample art he makes as Healing Force Project.
The Scottish producer will graduate to Firecracker Recordings with a new record due in September.
Two alternative takes from Max D and Morgan Buckley’s UNTHANK recording sessions have been pressed up for a limited 7″ release – stream in full here.
The collaboration from Afrikan Sciences and Gaël Segalen will surface on the Edinburgh label with a self-titled LP in August.
The collective efforts of Wild Oats, DDS, Opal Tapes, Firecracker, Antinote and more are applauded in the first column of 2016.
Anyone who has visited the Highlands and Islands of Scotland will tell you just how magical they are. While the weather is often inclement – and prone to changing several times a day – there’s something profoundly moving about the region’s black mountains, becalmed lochs, luscious forests and windswept moors. Aside from a few outlying towns and villages, the area feels undeniably isolated, a factor that no doubt adds to the allure.
Linkwood is given the remix treatment and Healing Force Project debuts on the Scottish bastion of fine deep house.
Releases from Mannequin, Firecracker, Crème, Berceuse Heroique, General Eektro and more are covered in this month’s column.
Preview the rising Vancouver artist’s new release for the Firecracker sublabel.
The Edinburgh label have collaborated with Forestry Commission Scotland for the double LP Mac-talla Nan Creag which is due for release next month.
It would be easy to cast Nick Moore in the role of deep house’s forgotten man, after all it’s been some five years since he impressed with the debut Linkwood album, System, on Prime Numbers. Moore may have since dismissed the album (he told Australian website The Orange Press in 2013 that it “pissed him off” and “didn’t sound like me”), yet System remains a set brimming with ideas that somehow managed to draw together many disparate musical strands while making perfect sense. While there were references to his early releases – notable for their ability to join the dots between soul, disco, hip-hop, jazz, boogie and deep house – it also introduced the deeper, woozier and altogether dreamier brand of deep house with which he’s subsequently excelled. It seemed to mark the end of one chapter of his career, and the beginning of another. In truth, it was more of a full stop.
The much loved cassette release will make the switch to double vinyl thanks to the Edinburgh label.
Thart’s right! A long awaited second album from the producer will arrive via Firecracker Recordings in December.
Releases from Firecracker Recordings, Ghostly Intl, Emotional Response and Desire feature in this month’s selections.
Panoram is the epitome of a curiosity. Since first making waves with his 2012 debut 12”, the beguiling Accents on Scenario, he’s very much kept himself to himself. There have been occasional interviews and a sporadic trickle of new material on his Soundcloud profile, but little else. He cherishes his anonymity, refuses to release pictures of himself, and generally makes music that’s bafflingly hard to pigeonhole. We know this much: he’s Italian, based in Rome, and once attended the Red Bull Music Academy. That’s pretty much it. He’s a man who delights in flying under the radar, occasionally releasing music that impresses with its simple beauty and impressive inventiveness.
It’s quite staggering to think that Vakula only first emerged five years ago with the One Night In Konotop City 12” on Quintessentials. From a spot of relative isolation deep within the Ukraine in his home city of Konotop, the producer trekked his sound into the heart of the house and techno scene without conforming to any particular rules, and now his discography stands proud if not a little intimidating.
Records from Eglo, Public Possession, Optimo Music and Emotional Rescue all stood out for their own distinct reasons in July.