Staff Picks: 5th February 2021

Review: Innovative Dutch label Nous Klaer Audio bring two innovative artists together for their first ever collaborative work, and what work it is. Their unique techno universes come together across two sides of wax in sumptuous fashion. Amandra is on drums and Mattheis is on synths throughout, and the two warp and wrap around each other, with ever shifting tonal timbres, suggestive rhythms and thoughtful ambient all making this a deeply thoughtful and escapist record that is never less than captivating. The two friends have excelled here, so let's hoping there is more to come from them.

Review: Flowered Knife Shadows is, by anyone's book, a rather odd title for an album, even one with clear experimental intent. It comes courtesy of Exael, a producer from Germany whose previous under-reported outings have shuffled between fractured techno, droning tones and unsettling ambient. This time round, she's drawn on an even wider variety of influences and inspirations, flitting between throbbing industrial techno (the hectic hum of 'Quikgel'), deep space ghetto-tech ('Kotch Metish (Exael Remix)'), sludgy doom-tronica ('Boneheaded'), IDM (the Autechre-in-deep space flex of 'Fig Jelly', and the melodious fizz of 'Anc), and - as you'd expect - hushed mutations of ambient electronica ('Ko').

Review: When it was released a few weeks ago, the first volume of Ivan Smagghe and Vladimir Ivkovic's two-part IDMEMO: A Future of Nostalgia compilation delivered a killer collection of largely forgotten or overlooked gems from the Artificial Intelligence-era of electronica and ambient techno. The second installment is equally as inspired, with highlights including the ever-changing, acid-flecked exoticism of the Black Dog's 'Psyil Cosyin', Autechre's haunting, 12-minute remix of Seefeel's 'Spangle', the Tangerine Dream-does-ambient trip that is Beautyon's 'To Swing Pil', and the stately beauty of Beaumant Hannant's 'Utuba (Reprised Version)'. Look out also for a largely unknown - and pleasingly melodious - remix of Soft Ballet by Richard D James under his infrequently used Polygon Window pseudonym.

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: Australian Latin combo OYOBI step up here with a fantastic remake of the stone could Gamble & Huff classic 'Don't Let It Go To Your Head'. Commissioned by Groovescooter for its 45 imprint, it's got twinkling late night chords and plenty of Latin percussion, xylophone sounds and that soaring vocals to melt your heart. On the B-side is an original Oyobi cut that heads to the dance floor on busy rhythm section work and starry-eyed chords. Both are essential little gems.

Review: Although he's never quite tasted the success his astutely observed '80s electrofunk and disco workouts deserve, Leopard Da Vinci has nevertheless released some inspired music over the years. This expansive 12" single - his first for some time - contains more future classics, too, with lead cut 'Garde Fou' delivering the perfect blend of slap-bass, lo-fi drum machine hits, chiming synthesizer melodies, and sleazy French spoken word vocals. It comes accompanied by cheery and up-tempo bonus cut 'Summer Drive' and a wealth of remixes. Of these, we're really enjoying the kaleidoscopic electrofunk explosion that is the DJ Fiction remix, though the slicker, nu-disco-meets-deep house revision by El Kazed is also rather good.

Review: Coyote offer up some of their wares to the Balearic gods for this remix excursion. Hardway Brothers get two chances to exercise their dubbiest tendencies over 'Sun Culture', leaning in on the live bass and losing themselves in a swimming pool of delay for the heaviest lidders to get blissed-out to. On the flip, Woolfy and Projections face off on a version of 'Shimmer Dub' that comes on with an easy, wistful demeanour that eventually bursts to life in a rush of 80s-licked boogie abandon. 'Ranura De Marihuana' gets reworked by Max Essa, who lays the vintage synths on thick and comes up trumps.

Review: The traditional album and EP formats have been on the wane for many years now - we don't consume music in the same was as we once did, that's for true. But in the era of quarantines, forgetting what month it is (let alone the day), and endless attempts to stay entertained, those frameworks make even less sense. Or at least that's what Animal Collective seem to think.

So while this can be filed under Extended Play, it's actually a more complex work befitting out time. Wildly experimental, think a jam session painted in psychedelic hues, where rhythms and ideas converge in a strange, thick soup-like arrangement that evolves, reinvents itself and - perhaps most importantly - keeps ears glued to the speaker for its duration. You'll need to go a long way to find a better source of aural pleasure right now.

Review: By now, long time veteran DMX Krew is very much one of the Hypercolour family. This is the studio magician's fourth album with the UK crew and is another fine feather in his already very resplendent bow. It features all his signature melodies, mechanical beats and expressive sound designs across two super slabs of wax. As usual it is a distinctly hardware heavy sound that results in rich analogue textures throughout. From the sci-fi fun of sludgy opener 'Unconnected' to the broken rhythms of 'Wetware' this is another classic.