Search results: Alma

Review: Alma Negra steps up to Delusion of Grandeur to bring the vibes on this new 12" in a fancy die-cut and spot-varnished sleeve. The sounds are funky and disco-fried with 'Madrugada' riding on lavish horn leads and nice loose percussive beats. 'Funky Fever' ups the temperatures with some sleazy vocals riding on jangling and organic beats. 'Madrugad' then comes as a Yuksek remix that layers in more colourful synths and allows the steamy origin vocals to bring the heat and a dub mix closes down this party-friendly EP

Review: Schema Records presents Riviera, Toco's anticipated album, on vinyl here and coming a decade since Memoria. Riviera showcases diverse influences and meticulous production across a serious of lush and soothing jazz sounds with a Latin bent. With collaborations and guest appearances, including label-mate Gianluca Petrella, the album pays homage to Toco's roots: Sao Paulo's Riviera neighbourhood and Italy's Riviera Ligure. It embodies his songwriting, blending pop, lyricism, and uplifting emotions and draws from samba and bossa nova traditions. Reflecting on childhood memories and cultural fusion, Riviera offers a musical mosaic of joy and pain and captures another fine artistic evolution from Toco.

Review: Jack Antonoff's Bleachers project - official stage name for him and accompanying players - made a big impact with 2014's debut single, 'I Wanna Get Better', and continued to pull in followers across three albums, offering equal parts contemporaneity and nostalgia on record(s). Inspired by alternative, light, and pop rock of the late-1980s and early-1990s, there's more than a sense of reflecting on life's great moments about the band, and their fourth LP is exemplary of this. Rousing choruses on big hitters like 'Isimo', 'I Am Right On Time', and 'Tiny Moves' invoke a sense of real togetherness, while saxophones on several songs are deliberate reminders of John Hughes movie scores, and specifically Rob Lowe's downtrodden character in St Elmo's Fire, a prototype for the perpetually adolescent adults that now dominate the millennial generation. Other moments take things down to a more focused and intimate level, 'Hey Joe' and 'Woke Up Today', for example.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


Joao Donato is one of the most well known and prolific stars of Brasil's MPB (which is short for "musica populera brasileira") scene. He has toped several highly sought of albums and is still turning them out today despite already having assured his legacy. A Bad Donato is something of a move away from his Brazilian bossa nova roots - instead the album, which was recorded in LA, is electric and eclectic with funk, psychedelic pop and groovy Fender Rhodes driven sounds. This reissue on Verve By Request comes on nice heavyweight 180g vinyl with classics like 'The Frog' and 'Lunar Tune' still sounding fresh.

Review: Bleachers return with their self-titled new album, released via Dirty Hit. Following up their debut album Strange Desire in 2014, the band are seen to continue building on a huge, passionate following across three studio albums, renowned for their impressive live show and infectious camaraderie. There's a rich depth to the sound on Bleachers, laid out in bright, soulful technicolour. The album is frontman Antonoff's distinctly New Jersey take on the bizarre sensory contradictions of modern life, on his position in culture, and the things he cares about. Sonically, it's sad, it's joyful, it's music for driving on the highway to, for crying to and for dancing to at weddings. There's something reassuringly touchable and concrete about its sentiment: exist in crazy times but remember what counts.