Electronic music old and new
Going Good has become a ‘buy on sight’ label for me, and this wonderful LP from Detroit duo Cosmic Handshakes, released at the start of the year, is one of the reasons why. It works perfectly as a home-listening experience, segueing from beatless interludes to hazy Balearic jams and jazz-inflected beatdown house, with a loose,… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #10: Cosmic Handshakes – In the Mist
It’s always great to discover a new artist that’s on your wavelength, and the first two EPs from Taylor Hawkins’ Flora FM project are right up my alley. Taking the current trend for breakbeats and 90s ambient house influences, and adding a slightly tougher Detroit sensibility, these hardware-driven tracks manage to sound simultaneously old-school and… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #8/9: Flora FM
Sneaking onto my list of the year's best records just in the nick of time is this seven-track debut EP from a 23-year-old artist which blows most of 2018’s music out of the water. The standout cut is probably Rounded, which updates the classic dub techno template with fizzing breakbeats and bowel-quaking bass blasts, but… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #7: Perko – NV Auto
I have Rubadub to thank for alerting me to this stunning three-tracker released under a new alias for Huerco S. I’ve always liked his stuff but this feels to me like a step up from his previous output - it keeps the hazy ambience and loose arrangements but with a slightly more hi-fi sound, a… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #6: Loidis – The Floating World (& All Its Pleasures)
Another belter from the mighty Firecracker crew was this four-track EP by Edinburgh’s all-round good egg Gavin Sutherland. It includes a vintage from-the-vaults house gem in the shape of Late Feeling Yourself - which I’ve been desperate to own ever since hearing it dropped on a DJ mix a few years back - alongside three new… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #5: Other Lands – Pattern Transform
I dunno, you wait three years for a follow-up to a brilliant album and then two beautifully packaged 12”s turn up at once. This year we were blessed with new music from the mighty Linkwood after an extended radio silence following the 2015 Expressions LP, and it was well worth the wait. The Night Theatre… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #3/4: Linkwood
Here’s a producer who hasn’t been all that prolific recently but has clearly been hard at work honing his craft to perfection. This six-tracker covers various stylistic bases, fusing London bass music influences with hi-tech sound design and an almost IDM feel in places. These are not obvious club tracks, but they come alive at… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #2: Joy O – 81b
Welcome back to Nothin’ But Magic; it’s been a while. For various reasons I haven’t been writing much for the past couple of years, but a particularly energising few weeks on the music front - releasing a new record, throwing some parties and doing some radio - have inspired me to blow the dust off… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #1: Turner Street Sound – Bunsens Vol. 1
Nothin' But Magic 