New releases last two weeks: Leftfield

Review: Three lovely, carefully terraformed dub tekno sketches from new co:clear recruit Eden Aurelius. Both in title and soundworld, these pieces strongly evoke slow-panning aerial shots of undulating terrain, gusts of wind through glistening skyscrapers and diffused sunlight through striated cloud. A stretch maybe - but a stretch informed by years of dub techno semiotics from precursors like Rod Modell and Pub, whose visually evocative sonic staging doubtless laid some of the groundwork for records like this. There's a formalism and orthodoxy to Aurelius' work, marking it apart from the glut of neu-ambient ASMR-scapes from labels such as INDEX and 3XL. Take the cathartic pulse of title track 'Plateau', for instance, which deftly weaves cavernous swathes of vocals and band-passed chord stabs into something that would sound equally at home on SUED or echospace. Real nice.

Review: South African Warrick Sony is a ground breaking composer who was behind the Kalahari Surfers project which now gets a vital spotlight courtesy of Emotional Rescue. This compilation shows how effortlessly eclectic his sound was - from jive rhythms to jazz, tabla to political speeches and much more in between. A Hindu pacifist who was once conscripted into the South African Defense Force, he founded this group as a way out getting his ides out there, calling on other musicians as and when he needed them. It was the first radical white anti-apartheid pop in South Africa and as this vital collection shows it explored polyrhythms, slow motorik, dub sound collage and even a goofy cover of Nancy Sinatra.

Review: At least one person has described Scythe's work as "expertly modulated space blues and isolationist architectures." First emerging from the ether (or at least that's how we like to think of it) through a series of clandestine cassette releases on Low Company in 2019 and 2020, Head X'Change almost feels like the culmination of all that has come before. A weird and truly wonderful place to spend time. A collaborative project between David West and R.A. Jones, elements of kosmische intermingle with a kind of earthy ambience, DIY electronics leading into white noise moments or new age melodies. At times it's so joyfully opiate you wonder if there's any way of getting back up off the pillow. In other moments, there's tension, eeriness, and uncertainty. Once you're in, it's a wild ride indeed.

Review: Unchained is the longstanding solo project of Nathaniel Davis. Gabbeh is his latest offering to the world, a suite of blissfully introspective tracks that envelop the soul in a blanket of soft, delicate moods, their sole purpose to comfort aching heads. Remarkably, dedicated fans will know you can trace the artist's lineage to noise mix tapes on CD-R, although more recent excursions into Bossa nova influenced tones perhaps help bridge the gap between then and now. Recorded at home over a three year period, from 2020 to 2023, Grenoble, Switzerland, played a big part in end results here. "I think certain songs reflect, in ways, Grenoble's natural surroundings. 'Drac' is named after the river that flows from the mountains down to the city - 'Dru' is the name of a well-known peak near Chamonix," Davis has explained. That as may be, nevertheless there's something more transportive than that here - songs feel as though they would be at home anywhere green, slow and thoughtful.

Review: Delia Recordings is a new micro-label from Nottingham that launches into the world with this very tidy new album, Then Horizon Is On The Horizon. It's a various artists collection of absorbing works curated, mixed and produced by lifelong gear collector Matt Horobin and it comes on vinyl and CD and includes postcards. The tracks are all taken from three upcoming albums the label is working on by artists Brown Fang, Torn Sail and Shrinkwrap, and bridge the gap between the local evolving Balearic scene and Laurel Canyon escapism. Gentle grooves, downbeat dub and delicate drones all feature.