Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Matthew Halsall initially crafted Bright Sparkling Light as an exclusive for his 2023 EU and UK tour. He then decided to put it out on vinyl and has now put together this special Japanese Edition which features its three exquisite suites, each averaging seven to ten minutes. Halsall's affinity for hypnotic drones, tenor sax progressions intertwined with lush flute loops and evocative depictions of Newborough Forest shine through here on an album that beautifully bridges the transition from dewy morning to creeping crepuscule. It's a natural, organic soundtrack from one of jazz finest contemporary talents.

Review: Lol Hammond is a former member of Spiral Tribe and early live techno act The Drum Club who now makes music on his own as Wah Wah Planet. Back in 1990 is when he penned this fantastic five track Balearic house EP alongside Russell Crone and with female vocal contributions from Lucy Sian. It very much lay out an early blueprint for UK street soul and the opener on the A-side 'Jewel' explores a romantic theme with hooky pop lyrics. Things get more left of centre on the 'Love FXU' with three trips into a smoother sound world perfect for sun kissed island dancing and with influences ranging from early breakbeat and trip hop to elements of dancehall music.

Review: Japanese Wunderkind Hakushi Hasegawa made their Brainfeeder debut back in 2023, dropping the incredible Somoku Hudo after a slating of similarly super jazzbreaks released independently until that magical moment. Having not yet made their mark with a wider international audience, it was up to impresario FlyLo and co. to 'break' Hasegawa, resulting first in an infamous Fuji Rock festival appearance and now a resultant repress of the initially digital mini-album. Somoku Hudo is a surreally intense jubilant jaunt through hallmarks of J-pop, neo-jungle and cutecore, ever veering on the chromatic and rhythmically errant. A crude comparison would be if Mario Kart met Tennyson met Sunik Kim, though even this is just a first-listen comparison; an auditory encounter with the Real, if you will, it's difficult to capture Hasegawa's music totally in words except for its seeming invitation to make references to other sources - which, huzzah, indicates new experimental electronic ground has been trodden!

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


Putting the Head into Headland, New Zealand beat conjurer Gene Warriner gets his cosmic thing on for this superb System release. Each track laden with weight and hypnotic charm, 'Dogtooth' sets the scene and lures into the mist with its slow and sludgy diversions. It's followed by a whole stack next level sorcery; 'Roamer' is a disarming creeper from another dimension, 'Industry' was actually made out of your dreams while 'Sour' was made out of your nightmares. Finally Epoch goes bananas on the remix as he takes Headland's last single 'Garbo' and takes it to some very strange places. System smash it once again.

Review: Texas based producer Ben Hixon has been garnering a wide following with his clever old-skool influenced house tracks. The feature track 'ND Fresh', spreads its' wings over the entire A-side. This house builder has the ability to tear the roof of the party. A strong, tribal and urban builder that creates a scene on the dancefloor. With his background as a multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer, you get an interesting and unique approach on rhythm within the house genre. The two B-sides offer up some great material as well. 'As You' is a soulful stunner that gives off strong deep Chicago vibes. 'I Smoke!!' is the banger of the bunch that will send any party into overdrive. It's great to see and hear someone is making such strong house music from the south there in America. Top Notch!

Review: Dolfin keeps it as classy as ever with this floaty new 12" from Ben Hixon and Stefan Ringer, two quality operators if ever there were some. They offer up just one cut on this single-sided slab of wax but a fine one it is too - the dusty drums have a certain heaviness to them while the wispy pads and noodling bass lines keep you suspended in mid-air. The seductive vocals bring a hip-hop energy to the deepest of grooves and ensure this one is going to get some emotions flowing when dropped in the small hours of the night in a cosy back room.

Review: Vega Records finally drops this EP from Honeysweet having teased tunes from it on the Vega Records 5 Pack Unreleased III. It's a superb house offering with lashings of soulful groovers, all produced by Josh Milan. First out of the blocks is 'Last Night Changed It All' featuring Lawrence Clark on sax. It's a jam that will pack out the floor but brims with real musicality from the magical Rhodes, picked bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drums. 'Crazy' is a more raw, textured percussive sound but then come plenty more feel-good grooves for sun-kissed dance floors such as 'Being Free.'

Review: This new 45rpm single on Humble Action includes the original version of 'Musical Healers' by Hummingbird as well as a remix by Aryeh Yah. The a-side version is a nice twisted dancehall cut with some hot stepping rhythms that sound like they could well have been sampled by The Streets at some time. It's a future sounding cut even now with its sleek synth leads. It's a real trip too at over eight minutes long, and the remix is no less adventurous but has a more heavy low end.

Review: The fourth record from the French electro label Perfusion. So far, each release features multiple artists showcasing their own brand of the next generation electro. Nite Fleit's 'Off Radar' is an audio attack on your senses, a sometimes abrasive, crunchy, raw, heavy bass stormer is not for the faint of heart. Swooh's 'The Streets' also has an over-arching sci-fi sound to it revelling in the history of electro. For the second side, High Fidelity's 'Say My Name' adds a rave-punk attitude to the mixture of electroclash, gabber and techno. The EP rounds out with a breakcore romp with Juicy Selekta's 'Stackin' Up!' that features some hip-hop samples. If electro-shock was a genre, you'd point people to this track. Intense.

Review: Seaweed Rythm Vol 1 assembles an accomplished crew of techno explorers for a fine gatefold double 12". Revered underground old timer Mihai Popoviciu opens with the gentle dub delights of 'Lit' then Rowlanz gets intensely romantic on the dub house of 'Hold Me Down' and YSC cooks up a superbly bubbly bassline and slinky groove with a tough edge. There is then some lovely crisp electro depth from Andu Simion on 'When They See Us' and further highlights from Per Hammar on 'Sub Motion' and the icy minimal breaks of Cesare & Disorder's 'Choramingando.'

Review: Reissued on Gondwana after an unexpected sea-change, Matthew Halsall's Bright Sparkling Light was originally conceived as a tour-only exclusive, its three exquisites, averaging seven to ten minutes per suite, serving only the most loyal and dedicated of fans eager enough to clasp their mitts around the limited edition at the time of his EU and UK tour in October-November 2023. Now, its rarefied airs get dropped; so too do the folk scramble to lend it a second listen, discovering Halsall's preference for hypnotic drones, tenor sax progressions crafted around lush flute loops, and portrayals of the artist's favourite rural location: Newborough Forest, both at daytime and nighttime. 'The Tide And The Moon' is the closing highlight, nicely closing the gap between dewey morning and crept-in crepuscule.