HOLOVR Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Over the last couple of years, HOLOVR producer Jimmy Billingham has carved out his own retro-futurist niche. While heavily influenced by the psychedelic acid lines of Rephlex style "braindance" releases, classic IDM and spacey early '90s ambient, his productions for the likes of Happy Skull and Firecracker have a vibe and sound all of their own. This instinctive fusion of spacey, head-in-the-clouds elements can be heard on the wonderful "Split Infinity", where a soulful female vocal samples weaves its way in and out of dreamy chords, bubbling electronics and snappy, broken techno beats. On the similarly inclined "Hillraiser", Billingham reaches for the 1990 bleeps and alien melodies, allowing them to rise and fall around a rolling, jazzy beat pattern. Stunning stuff... as usual.

Review: British ambient producer Jimmy Billingham aka HOLOVR has previously flaunted his wares on respected imprints such as Opal Tapes, Firecracker and Indole where he presented the brilliant Line Of Flight LP last year. "Into Light" or "Apparent Motion" could pass for The Orb or even CTI's early ambient electronica experiments, both awash in soothing analogue pads, hypnotic bleeps and faint 303 acid flourishes. On the flip, there's more quality to be found on the cosmic journey "Involution" that's full of vintage analogue synth flair, screeching and squealing all over the place; it's pure bliss.

Review: In addition to both Black Opal releases arriving this week, mother label Opal Tapes also dropped two vinyl transmissions; the first of which is Holo Earth from HOLOVR. Fans of the label will be familiar with HOLOVR, aka London-based musician Jimmy Billingham who first appeared on Opal Tapes with the Lunar Lake cassette last year and went on to contribute to their recent Cambiare digital compilation. After numerous cassette releases under his various guises, this eight track LP is Billingham's debut on the vinyl format and sounds like some of his most haunting compositions so far under the HOLOVR guise. Fans of Lee Gamble on PAN should really check this!