Electronic music old and new
Yet another one I have Rubadub to thank me for: Mark ‘Mother’ Maxwell was playing this in the shop during one of my visits this year and it caught my ear in between listening to a stack of vinyl on one of the listening posts. Beautifully packaged (with the LP including a CD copy), it’s… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #17: XVARR – Beyond Illuminism
This Japanese-inspired EP was released under a new variation of the Vakula alias, and it’s beautiful stuff from start to finish. While the opening title track is a superb slice of late-night deepness for the discening DJ, I’ve found myself coming back again and again to the psychedelic, beatless closing cut, The Eve of Metaphors,… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #16: Vakulism – Edelweiss Reflection
This week I managed to snag one of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-em represses of this phenomenal 12” after being too slow on the draw when it first emerged back in February and instantly sold out - although I probably would have ended up forking out top dollar for it on Discogs eventually. There’s a unique sound world… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #13: WINO-D
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
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
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
East Kilbride's finest is one of the most underrated electronic producers around, and this 2001 release on his own Ampoule label is right up there with the best of the the 00s for me. While it owes a significant debt to the dub techno of Berlin, it's head and shoulders above the legions of Basic… Continue reading Pub – Film (Springing Daisy’s mix)
Nothin' But Magic 