Search results: Amber

Review: As Autechre set out on an extensive live tour, Warp has decided the time is right to reissue their 1994 classic, Amber, on vinyl. Given that it's been unavailable on wax since then, and second hand prices have shot through the roof, this is undoubtedly a good thing. It remains one of the legendary duo's standout albums: a peerless collection of brilliant IDM tunes offering a perfect balance between the glistening, atmospheric melodiousness of their early work, and the crunchy, mathematical rhythms of their later releases. There are moments of eyes-closed calm ("Silverside"), bubbly, melody-led workouts ("Montreal", "Slip"), far-out electro missives ("Glitch"), and the odd icy epic (the brilliant "Further").

Review: A b-sides and rarities album turned-gem, 'The Amber Light' is Jane Weaver's sequel to the 'The Silver Globe', and contains more heartfelt takes on her classic synth and indie folk style. Featuring contributions from Tom Furse and Suzanne Ciani, this album proves that even in extremely active careers, there can remain fossilised pockets of emotionality; a rawer take on the artist's practise, it was miraculously recorded between tours.

Review: Ian Dury's debut studio album New Boots and Panties!! made a big splash upon release in September 1977. It was a broad stylistic work with a wide range of influences from pub rock to funk, disco and early rock and roll as well as British hall music. Most of the tunes are love songs with plenty of evocative character stories and tales of the working class folk of London's East End. It was often thought by fans to be the standout album of Dury's career.

Review: If you've seen the TV series The Last Kingdom chances are you're pretty hyped about the idea of a feature length movie. Before that, though, we get Destiny Is All, an album made up of sounds from the super-popular Viking drama that stands out for many reasons. Whether you consider this dinner party music is a question of taste, but in the grand scheme of tunes made to score historical shows this is a cut above so much.
Forsaking tradition in favour of innovation, the arrangements here seem to transcend the period in which the narrative was set, and yet are so evocative of that age. A time of heroes, myths, legends, thunderstorms, rituals, runes, and an overwhelming sense of adventure, all those things are captured here but through the combination of orchestral bombast, choral voices, chants and electronic equipment.

Review: For most Star Wars fans, the spin-off series' and standalone films have been some of the best additions to the franchise. Now you can savour some of the excellent soundtrack work from those additions to the canon on one classily presented compilation. There are pieces from The Madalorian, Rogue One and Solo which will plunge you back into the expanded Star Wars universe, whether that's the good times with Grogu or tense missions with Jyn Erso you're reminded of. Presented in a gatefold sleeve and pressed onto 180 gram vinyl, this is a collectors' edition, no doubt about it.

Review: UK based musical collective Jilk have made a name for themselves as specialists of a particular type of understated electronica. Some, including their own members, have compared it to the sound of a haunted bedroom, which kind of makes sense. It's intimate, there's a deeply humanistic and acoustic bent to the work, and so much tangible atmosphere you can sense the spirits surrounding each arrangement.
Syrup House is no exception to the rule, but we do find the gang bringing elements of analogue house to the fore, and merging this to great effect with dream pop and tender instrumentation. Deep, immersive music that is at once playful yet thoughtful, reflective but forward thinking, and - at times - surprisingly dance floor ('128 Rushes', for example). A quiet epic, for want of phrasing that feels a little less cliched.

Review: Manchester jazz and broken beat cats GoGo Penguin are masters of the long player, with several behind them on labels like Gondwana Records, Blue Note and Sony. It is now to the former they return with a Deluxe Edition of V2.0. As always their broken beats and magical musical interplay are on full show with pianist Chris Illingworth's classically-styled melodies next to the dance energy of the bas from Nick Black and stickman Rob Turner. Plenty of rich structural and harmonic ideas are explored in free form here with this version coming on gatefold translucent light green vinyl.

Review: The first anyone heard from Robert Fleck was an early drop on Well Street back in 2018, and it's been quiet since then. Anyone following Well Street knows it's a hot tip for upfront artists in the fractured fissures of the UK underground, and Fleck makes a welcome return to prove the point. There's a lot of different touchstones you could point to on this release, from nimble-footed broken beat and a whiff of nu jazz orchestration, not to mention a bass music sensibility and an appreciation for deeper strains of UK techno. But more than all that, Fleck merges his unique spread of influences into something fresh and unique, comfortably slipping between conventional genre markings with the kind of flair we've come to expect from Well Street.

Review: Before landing a privileged spot on the legendary Blue Note label, Manchester's GoGo Penguin had released a string of LPs, through Gondwana Records, that have become notoriously difficult to find. Moreover, they are respected by the very best of the contemporary DJs, including Worldwide FM's ever-present Gilles Peterson. This deluxe edition of V2.0, the ensemble's second studio album, will provide you both with a decently-priced copy of the vinyl edition, along with plenty of added bonus takes and interludes that were missing from the original cut. Thanks to subtle waves of electronica and improvisation, GoGo Penguin are putting the "contemporary" into jazz and, along with that, providing us with an LP that is changing conceptions of the genre for younger audiences.

Review: Armin van Buuren's A State Of Trance Year Mix 2023 is yet another meticulously crafted journey through the best trance music of the year from the Dutch genre king. Spanning over two hours, this mix showcases the genre's continued diversity and evolution and features tracks from both established artists and rising talents. With seamless transitions and expertly curated selections, van Buuren captures the essence of the trance scene in 2023 with all the usual hallmarks - from uplifting melodies to driving beats, euphoric atmospheres to epic synth lines. As such this it a must-listen and more proof no one quite knows the genre like Armin.

Review: Uganda keeps on giving, with the country currently at the forefront of sub-Saharan Africa's electronic underground: a fertile corner of the world in terms of emerging and established talent. Enter Hibotep, a Kampala-based rising star who was born and raised in Ethiopia but grew up in Somalia. Joining her on this EP, another one to know from the Ugandan capital, Hibo Elmi, a DJ, filmmaker, fashion designer, installation artist, rapper and studio head considered to be one of the most important female dance music makers on the continent right now. Running the gamut from 'Amber''s dark, hypnotising dub-hop moves, through 'Ebwino's sparse, weightless tones, which eventually give way to playful stepping rhythm beneath the relentless microphone skills of MC Will'stone, and 'Saffron' with its slow mo, exotic shuffle, if those responsible for this EP themselves reflect the incredible diversity of the city's scene, the sounds do the same.

Review: 'Symmetry Systems' is the new LP by Dennis Huddleston AKA 36. Inspired by Warp's 'Artificial Intelligence' releases from the early 90's, it's a melodic, synthesiser-driven record, with a wink to the past and a nod towards the future. "I have a deep love for those early Warp albums, particularly the Artificial Intelligence compilations. It was a wonderful time for UK electronic music. That beautiful, warm machine sound, with an optimistic (if somewhat naive) vision for the future. I found the whole thing incredibly inspiring and wanted to revisit those memories, albeit with a 36 twist" Like 'Wave Variations' before it, this record explores various approaches to the theme, with each track directly inspiring the next one. All tracks are sequenced in the order they were made. 'Symmetry Systems' is a collection of hypnotic machine music, made with a delicate human touch.

Review: The first release here from Dutch label Modern Balance by Perfect Moment. Our Reality is an impressive four tracker featuring some collaborations with some well known and up-and-coming producers. Side A features the spiritual deep house of the title track (feat Nathaniel Asamoah) which really channels those Prescription Records vibes of old, while the cavernous and glacial 'Another Reality' (feat Amber Vineyard) takes a more ominous turn. Over on the flip, Baltimore legend Karizma lends his Midas touch to a properly deep re-rub of the A1 cut, as does 25 Places on the False Reality Treatment - which pushes the track into emotive and life-affirming territory.

Review: An air of mystery surrounds this new While My Sequencer Gently Bleeps project, but what we do know is that they have two superb EPs dropping at the start of 2024. This one, OK, opens with 'Amber' which is a nice undulating and deep cut with lush synth smears. 'Emptiness' hangs synths in the air over more lithe broken beats and 'Felt' is a stripped back rhythm with majestic chords, blurts, bleeps and more all adding colour. 'Hesitation' and 'Burton' round out this sublimely supple and subtle synth record.

Review: Cave's recent streamed live performance at an empty Alexandra Palace was an audacious move, but one that definitely worked. It's captured here in its 22-song entirety, as the former Bad Seed works through various career highlights accompanied only by a piano and the weird atmosphere of one of London's most iconic concert venues devoid of its audience. Highlights include a burningly intense version of 'The Mercy Seat', the battered spirituality of 'Into My Arms' and the open hearted emotion of 'The Ship Song', but the whole thing not only works in its own right, but also as a marker in sonic form of these strange times.

Review: Following a couple of decent but arguably overlooked 12" singles, Tecwaa has decided the time is right to drop his debut album. The Swedish artist proceeds to languidly shuffle through evocative, occasionally icy tracks that variously draw influence from deep house, 1980s wave music, spiritual jazz, leftfield synth-pop, trippy electronica and chugging psychedelic disco. It's an interesting and entertaining set, with each success delay-laden track delivering a new twist on his hard-to-pigeonhole late night/early morning sound. By the time the bubbly, acid flecked "Those Cosmic Plains" rounds the album off, you'll be ready to listen to it all over again.

Review: It's taken a while for Nick Cave to get round to releasing a follow-up to 2005's self-explanatory B-Sides and Rarities compilation. We'd argue that it's been worth the wait though. The 16-year gap between the releases has allowed for a wider sweep of the iconic artist's archives, so much so that it features no less than 27 tracks stretched across two coloured slabs of wax. Record one focuses on B-sides, bonus tracks and rarities, including a duet with Debbie Harry and a superb live version of 'Push The Sky Away' with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. It's the second record that will most excite fans though, featuring as it does unreleased material. There are plenty of unheard songs of course, but also early recordings of such fan favourites as 'Skeleton Tree' and 'Bright Horses'.

Review: Nunorthern Soul's fourth vinyl outing encourages you to sit back, relax, and sink into some truly horizontal sounds awash with Balearic bliss. James Bright kicks off the session with the warm glow of 'Amber' and its slowly percolating beats and painterly synths. Be.Lanuit's 'Nana A Leon' has a starry eyed charm that will get you gazing off into the night and elsewhere Norht Of The Island's 'I Feel' has a chugging groove and exotic synth work bringing plenty of colour. This is a high class EP of richly detailed downtempo brilliance.

Review: Leading British composer Craig Armstrong truly broke through with his second studio album As If To Nothing in 2003. It came five years after his 1998 debut The Space Between us and now celebrates its 20th anniversary with a deluxe reissue treatment that sees it get remastered at half speed for extra loudness and clarity. This special edition also comes with heavyweight villa and an embossed sleeve making it the ultimate collectors' package. The modern classical sounds contained within have more than stood the test of time, too.

Review: Andy Ash is one of the UK's most low-key house producers. He has released on an array of smaller boutique house labels and always brings some broad influences as well as great knowledge of the classics. Now he pops up rather out of the blue on Quintessentials with a superb album of stylish as well as useful house. There are steamy Windy City vocal cuts like the opener, jacked-up workouts like 'Life' raw yet somehow soulful groovers like 'I'm Here' featuring a well-placed sample that older heads with recognise and beautifully deep, balmy and heads-down numbers like 'Another.' A real house album for real house heads.