Balmat Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Anagrams is an Atlanta-based collaboration between Jeff Crompton and JD Walsh which finds the Balmat label moving beyond the typically electronic ambient music they've carried to date, instead embracing a mellow strain of instrumental music drawing on jazz, folk and country and landing somewhere in the liminal space between. Crompton plays alto and tenor sax, electric piano, organ and clarinet, while Walsh stretches out on experimental guitar approaches, adventurous synthesis and drum programming. It's a delicate affair, as it typical for Balmat releases, and imbued with a warmth that can only come from sincere human interaction.

Review: Miami duo Coral Morphologic has linked up with Nick Leon for a debut collaboration here, Projections of a Coral City, which lands on the cultured Barcelona-based label Balmat. It's a lush listen that very much soothes mind, body and soul with its widescreen ambient synth scopes, suspensory pads and painterly strikes of sound. The mood is carefree and dreamy, occasionally rueful and introspective and always realised in a beautiful fashion. Here's hoping this might be the first of many collabs if this is the sort of work these artists can cook up together.

Review: Minor Science is a UK artist who has been exploring the worlds of bass, techno and experimental music over the last few years. This new album on Balmat is the third in a collection of releases that have come across several formats and platforms. Essentially he is reworking stems and source material first intended to be used in his live show into tunes that stand alone. What results is a quiet album of atmospheric and storytelling ambient with plenty of found sounds, odd FX, vocal snippets, watery floods and many more such details. Occasionally they come at the expense of tunes with real meaning but the beautiful catharsis that is 'Life Texture' is worth hearing.

Review: Veteran producer and the founder of Planet Mu, u-Ziq (real name Mike Paradinas) presents what is arguably his best album yet, though it will fly under the radar for those who are only interested in his early work. Like something between domestic house, beatific trance, and watery music for Atlantean holiday-letting, 1977 says it's a nostalgia trip to when Paradinas started making music under different monikers, when in actual fact it's the kind of thing we haven't ever heard him do to such an affecting extent. A family affair, Paradinas' partner Meemo Comma's voice peppers the album in a ripplingly soft manner, while a washed-out lounge mood, worthy of re-soundtracking the film Solaris, continues the album's instrumental charge.

Review: The past is on the mind of Mike Paradinas aka Mu-Ziq here. 1977, as its name suggests, looks back, but not to punk but to the equally siesmic year zero of the 90s ambient revolution. Definitely showcasing the more mellow side to his productions, the album glides gracefully through clouds of sugar sweet melody, his grasp of which remains as distinctive and recognisable as anyone's in the game. 'Allegro' sounds like a Philip Glass track trapped in ice and sprinkled in snow, 'Houzz' is a low key groover like The Black Dog used to make... But ultimately all you need to know is that another 15 great new prodeuctions by Mike Paradinas are in existence - and on vinyl to boot - and that alone should be enough to send you scuttling off to buy it pronto.