Downtempo Recommendations March 2014

Review: Ramshackle by name, ramshackle by nature on this excellent slab of Balearic business from the Aficionado camp, which features four unreleased gems from the archives of Brenda 'Beachball' Ray. The sultry "Love To Dance" sets the tone nicely, and can best be described as Arthur Russell orchestrating proceedings at the Compass Point Studios and is further blessed by Brenda's whispered vocals. New Age vibes abound on "Coolin' In The Rye" and things get even more tropical on "Theme From Another Space". It's the last track that's our personal favourite however, with "Translantic Dance Trance" the sort of proto 4/4 business you can imagine Max D rocking in a DJ set.

Review: Paris-born, Montreal-based producer Valentin Stip has previously impressed with two albums of scratchy, decidedly experimental IDM for Nicholas Jaar's Clown & Sunset imprint. Here, he pops up on Jaar's Other People imprint with a woozy, dreamy and largely soft-focus foray into the world of sparse ambience. Sigh is surprisingly subdued, but no worse for that. When he reaches for rhythms, such as on the Indian-influenced "Pendule", the beats provide texture, rather than the focal point. When he eschews them altogether, such as on the weary "Tableau II" and rush-inducing "Aveu", there's more space for his heady soundscapes to slowly unfurl. On the rare occasions that he brings both strands together, such as on the beautiful "Alethia", the results are utterly spellbinding.

Review: Having released a quartet of albums in 2013, you'd think ambient adventurer Brock van Wey would fancy a rest. Not a bit of it. Here, he drops another full length, the decidedly Balearic and surprisingly touchy-feely I'll Only Break Your Heart. In 90s ambient fashion, the album's four tracks are decidedly long, allowing van Wey to develop themes without sticking to traditional song structures. For those who enjoy spine-tingling soundscapes and wide-eyed, evocative compositions, this is clearly a good thing. The intricate piano-and-vocal excursion "Feel, Unfeel" - pleasingly sparse and drenched in delay -and the epic ambient dub exploration "Appear, Disappear" are arguably the highlights, but as usual it's all of an impressively high standard.

Review: **Repress** The Music From Memory label was launched by Redlight Records founders Tako Reyenga, Abel Nagenast and Jamie Tiller earlier this year, sporting a proud mantra of "giving overlooked and unreleased music that we love a second chance". The focus of attention for Music Of Memory's second release falls on the works of celebrated ambient composer Gigi Masin. Born in Venice, Masin's work has been sampled by the likes of Bjork and To Rococco Rot and his albums attract feverish acclaim, with Wind, Masin's privately pressed debut LP a desired rarity for the only the most well-heeled of second hand collectors. It's from this album and a selection of Masin's other released works that Music From Memory draw from for this stunningly meditative double LP retrospective Talk To The Sea, which also includes a healthy amount of unreleased material.