Juno Recommends Balearic / Downtempo March 2021

Review: As the winter beats a hasty retreat, we're very much ready for a fresh dose of Balearic goodness, and who better to serve it up than Coyote? This new five tracker gives us exactly what our souls are in need of - laconic grooves lingering in an eternal sunset reverie with rock solid rhythm matched by a loose, organic flow as though the tracks just breathed themselves into existence. From the heavy-lidded dream of 'Return To life' to the super-smooth lounge pop of 'Save Me', the meditative mantra of 'The Eagle & The Snake' to the slick, catchy 'Wonderful', this is Coyote doing what Coyote do best.

Review: The always excellent Emotional Rescue comes to save us all once more with another of its perfectly escapist releases. This particular 7" comes from Silver Leaf, a short-lived mid-80s project out of Cincinnati, Ohio with a mysterious vocalist. The band was discovered by crate diggers on both sides of the Atlantic and now rightfully get brought to our attention with two brilliantly unique tunes. 'Hey!' is lush, synth driven psychedelic disco soul with a spoken word vocal and bendy chords all brimming with sunshine. 'Can We Rebuilt Our City?' then gets fully heartbroken and horizontal.

Review: Vancouver based artist Yu Su serves up a debut album on Music Form Memory here that is released in collaboration with Chinese label bie Records and follows on from the well received EP 'Roll With The Punches' from 2019. The record is named after the most heavily silted river in the world but boast glistening tracks and melodic electronica. Some pieces are s trident and club ready bliss-outs, while others and slow and dubby rivers of liquid sound. A weird and wonderful series of sound sources delta the record from oriental strings to wooden percussion, mystic voices and water effects, all making this a spell binding listen.

Review: A warm welcome back to cheeky downtempo twosome Bent, who hear offer up their first studio set for 14 years. Up in the Air is full of neat reminders that what made them so popular first time round, namely a seductive, slinky, atmospheric, sample-heavy sound that tended towards the tongue-in-cheek and was more likely to draw influence from dodgy, radio-friendly 1980s soft-rock singles and vintage easy listening than obscure Balearic beats or austere electronica. There are of course a few differences - it's far more polished than their early works, and even more musically detailed - but for the most part this is vintage Bent. Given how miserable the world is right now, it's rather nice to listen to an album that prioritises cheeriness, quirkiness and musical colour above all else.

Review: 11 years after first release, The Seahawks finally put out their 2010 album Secrets of The Deep on vinyl. It was only available as a strictly limited bonus CD back then, too, so has always been hard to come by. It is a fine collection of space ocean edits that very much set the tone for The Seahawks's sound with marina drone, deck shoegaze, cosmic yacht rock and deep drench all being fitting descriptors. Tracks like 'Hot Tub' are by now stone cold classics that have been used in many a set while 'Sun Trails' is perfect for laying back in the hot sun - just as soon as it arrives.

Review: The Grid's 1990 track 'Floatation' is a stone cold post-rave comedown classic that epitomises the sound of chill out tents of the day. If anyone deserves to chill out a little right now, it's Paul Woolford, the hugely prolific beat maker, jungle mash up artist and bass face maestro who has put out multiple albums as Special Request in the last 12 months. Here he goes slow, deep and lush on his superb 12 minute version, with piano chords and breaking waves all soothing the soul. On the flip, Richard Norris, who was actually a part of The Grid, edits that remix into something even more smooth and sweet.

Review: Isle of Jura's latest deep dive into electronic music's margins focuses on an obscure, previously cassette-only release from 1993. Champagne in Mozambique was the debut release from Ingleton Falls - AKA lesser-known producers Andy Eardley and Andy Seymour - and remains a laidback, saucer-eyed delight. Typical of the chill-out movement of the period, the mini album's five tracks effortlessly join the dots between ambient dub, psychedelic late night techno, drowsy downtempo grooves and horizontal instrumental synth-pop, with the duo peppering each production with trippy or amusing spoken word samples, intricate melodies and copies amounts of dub delay. It's a fine example of a necessary reissue: without Isle of Jura's intervention, few would be able to revel in its hazy, early morning charms.

Review: Micro-label and online record store Growing Bin Records is a real haven for those who like to find the in-between sounds, the less than popular cuts that slip through the gaps. This new collection brings together such weird and wonderful tunes across a thrilling mix of genres and tempos. Opener 'Coffee' is a tribal soundtrack of rugged bass and stringed sounds that hypnotise, 'Helium Ills' is pure ambient bliss and elsewhere Hardy Kukuk's 'Freundschaft' is a Balearic tune for slow motion Sundays. This is music that cross genres with ease, and music that soothes the mind, body and soul.

Review: Is Archive's Londinium one of the best trip-hop albums of all time? For some, it is. For many, it's somehow criminally unknown. This reissue 25 years on should change all that. The music of Archive, which was formed by Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths with singer Roya Arab and young rapper Rosko John, has aged well. The soaring strings, slowly lurching beats and meditative grooves all sit up there with any of their more famous peers, from Tricky to Massive Attack. This anniversary edition includes a 4-page booklet with song lyrics and credits, plus a hidden track.

Review: If you were judging this record's contents by the vibrant painting of waves splashing against dark-brown sand dunes that adorns the cover, you'd expect it be a deliciously Balearic and sun-kissed affair. To an extent, it is, though producer Yeahman's primary concern seems to be percussion. The vast majority of the tracks on Ostriconi, the artist's debut album, boast rhythms and drum patterns - both organic and machine-made - that doff a cap to African, South American and Caribbean musical culture. Layer on top of this electronic and acoustic instrumentation sounds drawn from all over the world (think Sitars, Flamenco guitars and so on), as well as nods towards nu-disco, deep house and dub techno, and you have a hugely entertaining set that sidesteps convention without losing any of its accessibility.

Review: "Tide Life is a fossicked assortment of personal memories surrounding the beach, the ocean and the touristical fantasy world that surround it. A childhood visit to Hamilton island...... watching Home and Away in the 90s.......or shopping in Lakes Entrance..... floating adrift in the flotsam of daily life". Or so says The Person of this startlingly beautiful 2018 release.

There's certainly a lot of audible influences, although it is possible to put a fine point on it - strangely tropical sounding, 1980s movie accidentals and montages, cartridge-era RPG video game soundtracks, and electronic soul, sans lyrics, are all pretty accurate labels. Owing as much to the likes of D?M-FunK as one-man keyboard shows in half-forgotten barrooms and deleted scenes from The Goonies, it's a ride that's brimming with imagination and inspiration for your own waking dreams.

Review: Fans have been waiting a long time for a vinyl reissue of Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree album. Loved for its neo-psychedlic sense of English whimsy, the band's fourth full length has long been out of print and was named after the lead singer had a dream about a very large tree. It was praised for its bravery and for abandoning the dance vibes of previous records for a more subtle and affecting sound. The record spawned four singles with one, 'A&E' hitting the Top 10 of the UK charts.