Ghostly International Us Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Bullion continues to perfect his endlessly charming strain of modernist synth pop with this new album for Ghostly International. The lead single from the album sets the tone beautifully, as the mighty Carly Rae Jepsen lends her voice to 'Rare' for a blissful, woozy ride through exquisite song craft that calls back to AOR and soft rock as much as synthwave. Further guest spots arrive from Panda Bear and Charlotte Adigery, but as ever Bullion's own charisma remains the driving force on this latest dose of honey-coated audio pleasure from a master of the art.

Review: Seth Haley begun has career as Com Truise with a bang, releasing two superb albums on Ghostly International in as many years. Curiously, it's taken him five years to conjur up album number three, the typically spacey, melodious and intergalactic Iteration. As you'd expect, his usual musical reference points - Vangelis's Blade Runner soundtrack, early synth-wave, skewed lo-fi boogie, late night radio instrumentals - are all still much in evidence, as his is passion for dusty old synthesizers, cheap drum machines and ear-pleasing melodies. In effect, it's business as usual, though when the music is this cheery, tuneful and atmospheric, it would be churlish to complain.

Review: Some seven years after his last full-length excursion, Fort Romeau has finally got around to delivering a new album. Beings of Light is every bit as gorgeous and picturesque affair, with the Chester-born producer adding waves of attractive synthesizer sounds, colourful electronics, cascading guitars, dusty samples and loved-up riffs to sturdy deep house beats. The album's multitude of highlights include bluesy, post jazz-house number 'The Truth', the tech-tinged late-night wonkiness of 'Power of Grace', the sturdy and druggy after-hours chug of 'Ramona' and the dreamy lusciousness of title track 'Beings of Light'.

Review: Galcher Lustwerk is one of those artists who has a completely diehard fan base. And for good reason, he is an idiosyncratic producer who collides myriad different sounds. Rap, funk, blues, beatboxing, techno, electro and bass are all fair game to him. His fist ever mixtape was a stream of sonic consciousness that has never before been released on vinyl. But now Ghostly International step up and press it to two 12"s, with both black and coloured green versions as well as a CD version available. It was a fine announcement of his arrival back then and still stands apart today.

Review: Dylan Khotin-Foote is the Vancouver talent who is now very much at home on Ghostly. Back in 2020 he served up his post-rave, post-techno, post-ambient fusion album Finds You Well and now comes an equally new take on drone and ambient across 11 new tracks. The artist's unique hazy downtempo is heightened here by a first ever vocalist appearance - that is Montreal-based Tess Roby who lends a subtle sense of humanity and extra soulful layer that helps bring the tunes alive like never before. Though slower than before, this is another sublime offering from Khotin.

Review: Canada may not shout as loud as the US, UK or Germany when it comes to electronic music, with the exception of Richie Hawtin perhaps, albeit frequently assumed he's American, and is actually part-British. Nevertheless, the larger North American state has a truly remarkable legacy in house, techno, ambient, and synth-y odds and sods.

It's proof the apple never falls far from the tree, given proximity to some of the bonafide birthplaces of those sounds - Chicago and Detroit. Edmonton's Khotin is indicative of the difficult to define tones that emanate from the Maple Leaf and its people. So much texture, pouring with emotion, and fundamentally born of new ideas, or at least different ways of thinking. Release Spirit, his third album on Michigan's Ghostly International, is thoughtful, intelligent, downtempo electronic stuff, crafted with love and attention to detail.

Review: This is what happens when acclaimed Los Angeline harpist Mary Lattimore enlists Slowdive's Neil Halstead fo production duties. A lush, and liquid listening experience that is as graceful as it is confident, blurring the lines between classical and ambient in a way that seems to echo centuries of traditional, almost Medieval tones and contemporary electronic adventures alike.

Lattimore's work has previously been described in terms of 'dreamscapes', and few have been painted more vividly than Silver Ladders. These are deep dive arrangements that expand and contract like breathing, allowing the artist's signature instrument to shine while submerging it in swells of refrain. Movement is constant, and yet the record feels mill pond still. Hardly par for the course, even in the fertile sonic ground she works in. Step inside and prepare to be captivated.

Review: Mary Lattimore is one of the foremost harpists of her generation, a status duly restored with the release of her latest LP, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada. Named after a hotel in Croatia about which Lattimore recalls many blissful holiday memories, the LP laments the oncoming threat of loss, as Arkada now faces plans to be renovated. Through this immediate story, a wider picture of collective mourning is painted - the album is a collaborative affair, enlisting the many famous faces of shoegaze, folk and goth stardom, namely the likes of The Cure's Lol Tolhurst, Rachel Goswell and Meg Baird - producing a sound that is as eerie as it is serene.