Electronic music old and new
Lush, dreamy breakbeat house from Vancouver, by an artist I’ve been digging for a while and who put out three solid EPs this year. Urth Man is my pick of the bunch, with a perfectly weighted bassline, sharp breaks, deep chords, twanging melodies and a touch of acid. It stays just the right side of… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #15: Ex-Terrestrial – Urth Born
Shades of Ultramarine and Jan Jelinek run through this ace EP from yet another artist and label that were new to me in 2018. The most DJ-friendly cut is probably Daniel Chavez’s remix of Stiv Heks, on side A, but it’s all about the two B-side cuts for my ears. Twilight is a gorgeous slice… Continue reading 18 for 2018, #14: Wasserfall – HESP005
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
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
Back to '92 for an absolute peach by Kenny Larkin, from the Vanguard EP on Belgium's Buzz label, who also released the seminal Virtualsex compilation. It's a strong record all-round - the title track is a beauty too - but Northern Lights really steals the show for me, and it's a reminder that Larkin really deserves… Continue reading Pod – Northern Lights
Nothin' But Magic 