Review: Nicolas Jaar – Space Is Only Noise

I love a good electronic album and ‘Space Is Only Noise’ is quite a grower. Alongside the recent Isolee album it hasn’t left the CD player and stands up to the ‘lets play it all the time at work and see if people love it or hate it’ test. It gets love and questions on what it is. So it’s slow, glitchy – well you can see from the scale below what it’s made up of.

I like it a lot and can see it being liked for a long time. If I rated things out of ten I’d give it a really good seven or an eight. It’s a great piece of work. I’d love to see what he was capable of if he sat on it for a bit and refined his output. Jaar is clearly a very very talented producer who isn’t afraid to bend the rules. Highly recommended.

I’m not sure when this is out as I lost the press release but it’s very soon if not in the shops as we speak.

[Apiento]

Review: John Stammers – John Stammers (Wonderful Sound)

I have had this one for a few weeks now so apologies to the chaps at Wonderful Sound (the label) for not getting round to posting this until now. I am really really fond of this album. It has been a hectic few weeks (moving job etc) so when I finally got round to putting it on, well, it hasn’t been off. Stammers reminds me of a northern Nick Drake in style. A gentle voice and lovely acoustic guitars only added to with other instrumentation where need be. One of my favourite moments in the album comes late on with ‘Baby Dea’ as soft brushed drums push the track along. It sort of feels like some of Michael Head’s work with The Strands. It’s a lovely album for mellow Sundays and evenings with friends and fine wine. You can find out more and buy it here. It’s out now.

(Note: The original idea of the scale below was to give you a very quick idea of how the album sounds so please don’t read it as being scales or scores of 0 – 10 it’s just there to show you that there are no glitchy AFX noises etc. Word.)

[Apiento]

New Releases: Doug Paisley / Cherry Ghost (Time & Space Machine Remix) / LCMDF (Weatherall Mixes) (Heavenly Recordings)

Nice to receive a package of stuff from Heavenly in the post. We’ve always been a massive fan of what they are about as a label and people. They seem to be about creating great moments in pop as well as having an interest in whats going on in more underground circles. We’ve mentioned their associated blog, Caught By The River, before but if you haven’t seen it have a read. It’s one of the most mellow things on the internet.

So on to the music. As I’ve said before I am not the greatest journalist in the world by a long mile so bear with me (or just ignore this and press play on the clips – much better). First up is a lovely little 7″ by Doug Paisley called ‘No One But You’. This has become the new favourite morning song in our house and is a sweet little piece with lovely organs, a gentle voice and sweet guitar. You knows those sevens you are going to put down and find again in a few years time and then appreciate how good it was, it seems like one of those. Look forward to hearing more…

Doug Paisley: No One But You (Excerpt)

Have to say we are not massive fans of the cover version anymore, it all seems a bit done to death, so if you strip Ce Ce Peniston’s song away from this one and add Richard Norris and Erol Alkan to the pot in Time & Space Machine mode you end up with a great piece of chiming melodic uptempo business. Surprisingly pretty.

(Note: I think this one has been about for little bit…)

Cherry Ghost: Finally (Time & Space Machine Instrumental) (Excerpt)

Next up is a new 12 featuring remixes from Andrew Weatherall. I think it’s kind of nice to see Weatherall back on it fucking about with electronics and dubby basslines as it sort of feels like home for him. This one is no different except for the fact that it’s all done over a nice slow disco groove. Both mixes are pretty nice.

LCMDF: Ghandi (Andy Weatherall Remix I) (Excerpt)

LCMDF: Ghandi (Andy Weatherall Remix II) (Excerpt)

Thanks to Danny at Heavenly for the bits.

[Apiento]

New Release: Discovery – Starmagic (DanceCamp)

Got this little seven sent to me in the post recently. I think it’s pretty nice that records like this still appear. I had no idea about the label, or who they are or what they do, and then you stick the needle on the record and this great little post-punk disco tune appears. This one has that Latin drum thing going on that New Yorkers (and many of the post-punk bands) seem so fond of, with a stripped groove and vocal running away on top. Kind of one of those tracks that it would have been nice to keep secret but then Alfredo from DanceCamp didn’t send it for us to do that so if you like a bit of Y Records and fancy hearing something on a modern disco tip check this one.

Discovery: Starmagic (Excerpt)

[Apiento]

New Release: James Blake ‘James Blake’

I like James Blake. I guess I’ve always been into a spread of music but when ‘CMYK’ came out R&S it sounded new and fresh. I know it’s a long way away from what we normally cover but hey it would be boring if we wrote about the same stuff all the time. So James Blake went from this twisted bass-heavy garage-business to appearing with a lovely slow beat based number called ‘Limit To Your Love’ with him showing his voice. It was a nice surprise. Anyway, I was at my mate Emma Warren’s house the other day (check her blog if you’ve not read it) and she had the new album.

Emma is a long-time journalist who wrote for Jockey Slut from the early days and then The Face and other influential types of things. Anyway, point is she got lost in a world of dubwise stuff a while back and hasn’t been out of it since. Oh and she’s got a show on NME radio that we mentioned before that runs form pure soul to the best in house with nigh on 100,000 listeners which is pretty tidy. So, she posted a review on her site which I’ve ripped wholesale here. Not to blow too much smoke, but she could write a review far better than I ever could so here you go.

My friend came round yesterday while I was playing James Blake’s debut album through the speakers in my front room. “It’s Erykah Badu with white noise,” he said, turning it up.

I’d been looking for the right R&B reference when I posted about this album yesterday but I couldn’t quite find the right one. It wasn’t quite D’Angelo and it wasn’t Curtis Mayfield, but there was definitely a specific R&B influence underneath the 11 songs on the self-titled release. And Badu’s the right reference: Blake’s voice sits over rim shots and slowed down snares on the opening track ‘Unluck’ in a way that reminds me of ‘Rimshot‘. It’s a powerful opening shot, and one that sets the scene beautifully for the rest of the record.

“Wilhelm’s Scream’ is the second single, and it’s more soulful and straightforward than ‘Limit To Your Love’, although straightforward, Blake-style, still means mournful organs hanging halfway on the horizon and submarine-depth bass implosions over circular lyrics that fall in and out of the music, which by the end of the track sounds almost like a gospel house record – albeit in about five million little pieces.

James Blake ‘James Blake’ is a properly good album. It’s strong, cohesive, and powerful. You still want more when you get to the end, and it stands up to repeated listening. I reckon that most of my music friends will like it (though there’ll always be people who either like to hate on whatever’s hot or who who find Blake’s style a touch too emo). But I think my other friends, who work normal jobs and hang out at home with their families, will like it too. But that’s because Blake has brought genuinely interesting, soulful material into his pop songs. Take ‘I Never Learnt To Share’ with it’s repeated lyric ‘My brother and my sister don’t talk to me/ But I don’t blame them’. It’s totally odd and definitely shouldn’t work (one lyric repeated ad infinitum, over restrained CMYK beats isn’t the usual recipe for a memorable pop song) but it does. And that’s one of the marks of actual genius as executed by the likes of Aphex Twin or OutKast; doing things that shouldn’t work… and making them sound brilliant.

The middle section of the album is the Bon Iver patch. I can imagine Justin Vernon listening to consecutive tracks Lindesfarne I and II and going ‘yes! that’s exactly what I meant!’. And it’s the range of this record that makes it so appealing. After riffing on Bon Iver’s themes, we get Blake and his piano, with a short, sweet folk song ‘Give Me My Month’ that Crosby, Stills and Nash would have been perfectly happy with. It sits next to ‘To Care (Like You)’ which you could easily imagine hearing at FWD>>, despite the fact that it’s gospel-tinged, falsetto R&B-goes-techno at minus eight. The album is packed with compressed silences, the kind of sonic drop-out that few people would attempt (there’s at least seven seconds of silence at one point in ‘Limit To Your Love’), and which I know makes radio engineers panic because that silence sounds a hell of a lot like dead air. John Cage would be extremely proud.

Any downsides? None that hit me straight away. It’s cool and clever, emotional not emo and packed full of sophisticated sideways soul and deconstructed songs that still feel bizarrely memorable. It’s not as in your face as ‘CMYK’ and it’s more substantial than the barely-there threads of ‘Klavierwerke’ EP. I guess the only downside is that you’ll eventually be sick of hearing it everywhere, but only in the way that Portishead or Massive Attack were momentarily diminished by being so heavily overplayed. And that’s hardly a bad thing. One lovely record.

Emma Warren’s blog can be found here and the radio shows here.

[Emma Warren/Apiento]

New Release: Hercules & Love Affair ‘Blue Songs’

Just got sent the new Hercules and Love Affair album and it’s a good one. Loads of future disco and a few slow-mo balearic disco moments for the heads. It seems to reference that Trax sound in places but manages to avoid becoming a pastiche. The only part of the album I’m not so fond of is the cover of Sterling Void’s ‘It’s Alright’ – mainly as I am not a fan of those take a cover and slow it down from the overkill adverts.

Tracks I’d particularly check are ‘Blue Song’, a lovely slow melodic number with African percussion, a sweet vocal and a lovely clarinet accompaniment, ‘Boy Blue’ a beat-less acoustic excursion which is calling out for a spacey disco remix and ‘Leonara’ which comes with a bass-line reminiscent of Nu-Shooz ‘I Can’t Wait’.

It’s an enjoyable ride.

‘Blue Songs’ is out in January (I think) on Moshi Moshi.

[Apiento]

New Album: The Orb & Youth Present Impossible Oddities

The early 90s seem to be making a bit of a return at the moment; Primal Scream are playing Screamadelica live again (and are on the Cornflakes ad (you always had the feeling Gillespie was fake)), some of that lovely deep house from then is sounding great, loafers are back, and The Orb and Youth are releasing ‘Impossible Oddities – The Story Of WAU! Mr Modo’. Alright that doesn’t join up quite as it should (excuse – I have flu), but the point is stuff from then is starting to sound and look good again. I guess it always happens across generations. Perhaps its nostalgia, perhaps the fact that some of it was flipping great.

Back then I was working for Guerilla Records. I lost a load of records one day when out and about so called Wau! Mr Modo to see if they could send me another copy of The Orb’s ‘A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain…’ as I couldn’t find the one I’d lost. The next day a whole box of 12’s turned up via courier full of white labels and versions I’d never seen before. Tons of records. That care and ‘being kind where you can’ attitude was something that I tried to take on as it was a great thing to be on the receiving end of. Point is, I liked WAU! Mr Modo for life. So buy this album. You need it.

Also on top of that, The Orb soundtracked our lives (or quite a large part of it) for sometime there. It was perfect to get stoned to and perfect for the car on the way home from the club. It was a soundtrack we could all agree on. Around the early 90s The Orb did a few all nighters at the Brixton Academy which coincided with our lot really getting into acid – a good fit. They had the sound wired all around so speeches would come from the back left, bass from the right and generally it all went down as you’d hope it would when feeling slightly out of it. In the next few years they did a benefit for the miners in Sheffield (where the label was based) with Primal Scream which we traveled to and popped in to say hello to Adam Modo (the other part of the label alongside Youth and Alex Patterson). All I remember through the haze is that he was a big bloke and the gig was great.

So the music itself… They always knew what they were doing as a label. It was always pretty out there, still is I guess, and even the pop moments like Zoe’s ‘Sunshine On A Rainy Day’ started off being pretty cool before going off to hit the charts. Then you had the early Orb releases which are getting better and better with age – a UK take on the German cosmic scene for the acid house generation. The compilation brings various releases together with the first track on the album being the demo of ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’. It sounds more like a 90s cut and paste record in this version. There’s lots of early mid-tempo house tracks (piano riff and weird noises) that sound good and Sun Electric’s underground sleeper ‘O’Locco’ appears. Shame there isn’t more actual Orb recordings but I guess Big Life own the rights to it and something happened along the way. To round-up, as a look at the eclecticism that was around before the likes of Mo’ Wax took it jazz this is a good place to start. Space is the place and all that…

‘The Orb and Youth Present Impossible Opportunities: from underground to overground: the story of WAU! Mr Modo’ is out soon on Year Zero. CD1 and 2 come unmixed with the the third being an Orb mix.

[Apiento]

Review: Coati Mundi – Dancing For The Cabana Code In The Land Of Boo-Hoo

I am guessing if you are reading this you know who Coati Mundi, a.k.a Andy Hernandez, is. Not only the comedy sidekick to the great Kid Creole but also a Latin disco star in his own right with records of the calibre of his cult-classic ‘Que Pasa/Me No Pop I’ for ZE Records. For a man three decades into his career he’s done totally the right thing and hooked up with NYC’s Rong Music crew who knew how to have fun with him in the current setting.

The album has been produced by E-Love with additional bits and pieces by Lee Douglas (who has recently been creating some great music as well as the above sleeve) and ranges from slow rolling Latin grooves through to clean electronic disco beats all topped with Mundi’s tales of life on top. It’s an entertaining ride as an album and it sounds like it was a good time in the studio. It’s also good to see a real character within those disco grooves. Check it.

Dancing For The Cabana Code In The Land Of Boo-Hoo is released on Rong Music on October 14th

Coati Mundi At Rong Music Online

[Apiento]

Review: Twin Sister – Vampires With Dreaming Kids / Color My Life

I invented the Test Pressing review scale to avoid writing about albums, but if I had to describe this one it would be as a very mellow dreamy indie sound with a bit of life in places – soft American male and female voices playing around the layers of sound. This is a 2 CD set combining their first two EPs. If you liked that melodic indie indie sound from days gone by then take a listen to Twin Sister as there’s a couple of really lovely moments here.

Twin Sister Vampires With Dreaming Kids / Color My Life is out now (I think!)

[Apiento]

Test Pressing Summer Round-Up 2010

We asked those around us for a little mid-year update so here we go… Hopefully it will inspire some digging.

Favourite Release Of The Year So Far: Parlour #2
Best Film: Nothing inspiring so far this year
Best Rediscovery In Your Record Collection: Friedemann – Indian Summer
Label: Claremont 56 / Leng
Book: Simone & Inés Ortega – The Book of Tapas
Magazine: Monocle
DJ: Chris Maude
TV Program: Bored To Death

Favourite Release Of The Year So Far: Cantoma, Pacific Horizons, Mark Mcguire, Maxxi & Zeus’ ‘Struggle’
Best Film: Haven`t watched a single film other than old japanese stuff (trying to improve my language) on cable – Sonatine on Channel Neco – someone sent me a DVD of Shane Meadows This Is England – had to switch it off after 30 mins it was so shit – UP?
Best Rediscovery In Your Record Collection: Johnny Kidd & The Pirates – Shakin` All Over
Label: Still Claremont 56
Book: Patti Smith – Just Kids
DJ: That I’ve seen this year? Max Essa, Guy Bassett
TV Program: かいぶつくん

Favourite Release Of The Year So Far…
LPs: Steve Mason, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Cantoma, Beach House, Massive Attack, Lake Heartbeat
Singles: Broken Bells – The High Road, Begin – Optical Holiday, Parlour #2, Holger Czukay – Let’s Get Hot/Cool, Loccosoulus – Little Boots, Mudd & Pollard – Vincent, Frankie Goes To Hollywood – PLeasuredome (Soul Mekanik Remix), Pacific Horizons – The Amulet, … or Sam Sallon if I’m allowed?
Reissue/Compilations: Lou Bond – S/T, Mark Cappanni – I Believe In Miracles, Various – Pomegranates, … or Down To The Sea And Back if I’m allowed?
Best Film: A Single Man, Un Prophete
Best Rediscovery In Your Record Collection: Dust Springfield – Nothing Has Been Proved, Larry Heard – Sceneries Not Songs, Orange – Le Couleur
Label: Claremont 56/Leng, Finders Keepers, International Feel, Bubble Club, … or Fascinating Rhythms if I’m allowed?
Book: Tim Lawrence – Hold Onto Your Dreams, Peter Mayne – A Year In Marrakesh, Ian MacDonald – Revolution in The Head, Stephen Fry – Moab Is My Washpot (again), Julian Cope – Head On (again)
DJ: Graeme Fisher was superb at the Acid Tree, Idjut Boys and Prins Thomas have both made me feel like putting ‘L’ plates on my record bag recently.
TV Program: I’ve become addicted to watching re-runs of an American series called Gilmore Girls, which I missed at the time and which finished in 2007. My American friends think I probably need help. Sparks appear in an episode! The new Doctor Who has been much better than I thought it would. Mary Queen Of Shops.
Spotify: Jolyon and Aficionado

Favourite Release Of The Year So Far: Four Tet ‘There Is Love In You’
Best Film: Ponyo
Best Rediscovery In Your Record Collection: ‘Rastakrsutpasta’ by Moebius And Plank
Label: Warp
Book: It Was The War Of The Trenches by Jacques Tardi
DJ: Jarvis Cocker on 6music
TV Program: New Series of Futurama

Release of the year: 12″: Coma Cat – Tensnake. Keeping the house flame alive.
Album: Peace and Love LP, Dadawah (Honest Jons). Hypnotic, almost psychedelic, nyabinghi-led roots re-release.
Film: Exit Through the Gift Shop – Interesting look at the street art world told through the eyes of the chancer Mr Brainwash who’s on a mission to find Banksy.
Re-discovery: My Ever Changing Moods (album version) – Style Council. Dug this out from the recesses of the collection last month. Beautiful stripped down version with Weller’s vocal over Mick’s piano.
Label: Cap Calcini – re-releasing a vast array of reggae nuggets on nicely coloured 7″s from the vaults of Duke Reid, Treasure Isle, Tappa Zukie, Niney the Observer, Keith Hudson etc.
Book: The Russia House – Martin Amis. The master of description.
DJ: Moonboots and Mark 7 are consistently excellent for mixes. Best live thing was Solution Soundsystem at Glastonbury – chanced upon them whilst meandering through the Shangri-La madness on Sunday night. Wicked selector running the versions with two deejays toasting over top, reinforced by live horn section
TV Programme: I have to admit to a weakness for Lost although I was cured of it by the appalling schmaltzy ending
Spotify Playlists: You can’t access it in Jamaica unfortunately so I muddle through with internet radio. Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide, Dub Xtra and MyHouseYourHouse get a regular rinsing

Favourite Release Of The Year So Far: Begin – Velocity, CDR promo
Best Film: Un Prophete
Best Rediscovery In Your Record Collection: Marc Moulin/Placebo – Humpty Dumpty
Label: Claremont 56
Book: Masahisa Fukase – Ravens
DJ: Lexx
TV Program: Sopranos (Never seen this before, just borrowed the box sets!)
Spotify: Jolyon and Aficionado

Favourite Release Of The Year So Far: Parlour 2 / Robert Wyatt ‘His Greatest Misses’
Best Film: Kick Arse
Best Rediscovery In Your Record Collection: Joni Mitchell ‘Coyote’
Label: Claremont, R&S (looking good for this year) and Island Records (always)
Book: ‘Futuretainment’ by Mike Walsh or David Ogilvy ‘Confessions of an Advertising Man’
DJ: Hard to pick from our lot but the one I danced to was Mancuso.
TV Program: Great British Menu.
Spotify Playlist: Leggattism by Rob Leggatt

Favourite Release Of The Year So Far: Dj Nature – Destiny Reprise (Golf Channel)
Best Film: Soul Kitchen
Best Rediscovery In Your Record Collection: Betty Wright – Got It Right (Moxie Edit) and Michael Franks – St. Elmo’s Fire
Label: Parlour Recordings
Book: The Crosby, Stills & Nash Biography
DJ: –
TV Program: I only watch DVD’s except for the news every not and then.
Spotify Playlist: Unfortunately not yet available in Switzerland!

[Apiento]

Review: Various Artists – Elektronische Musik

Tim Hayter takes a look at the new Soul Jazz ‘cosmiche’ compilation.

Oddly, there has never been a definitive Krautrock compilation. This isn’t it, but it’s close. There is some phenomenal music contained herein. Many of the usual suspects – Harmonia, Faust, Can and Neu! – make an appearance. What always amazes me about Soul Jazz comps, though, is that alongside the classic there is always a healthy chunk of stuff you’ve never heard of before. As in: ‘Rambo Zambo’ by Kollektiv, a monster kraut freak-out: classic flutes & bongos material.

If I have a criticism it’s that, in going up to the 80s for track selections, it gets into the synth-based material of people like Conrad Schnizler. All good, except that the sequencing of the CDs veers from wailing guitar madness to cold synths and back again with no discernable pattern.

That said, the quality is top-notch throughout. Well worth checking.

Elektronische Musik – Experimental German Rock And Electronic Music 1972 – 83 is released by Soul Jazz on the 5th of April

[Tim Hayter]

Review: Various – Todd Terje’s Remasters Of The Universe

We like this. Sounded nice in the car on a long journey and as a round-up of Terje’s remixes and re-edits it works. I hope to never hear the cover of Ace of Base in my life again but other than that this is well worth getting. Recommended.

Remasters of the Universe is released on the 24th May 2010 on Permanent Vacation.

[Apiento]

Review: Mock & Toof – Tuning Echoes

I really like this record the more I listen to it. Recommended for those who like their disco with a bit more wobble. Reminds me of the good end of Will To Powers. Get it.

Mock & Toof’s ace ‘Tuning Echoes’ is released 24th May 2010 on Tiny Sticks.

[Apiento]

Review: Various Artists – Down To The Sea & Back: The Continuing Story Of Balearic Beat – Volume One

New style of review for you all. Albums will be marked on how balearic they are (The Alfredo Scale), how kooky they are (The Kate Bush Scale), Psychedelic (Animal Collective), Jazz (Miles Davis), Disco (FK) etc etc. First up we have ‘Down To The Sea & Back’, a new set compiled by Balearic Mike and Kelvin Andrews.

Down To The Sea & Back: The Continuing Story Of Balearic Beat is released on 24th May 2010 on Wonk Music.

[Apiento]

Ikons Play Space Rock – Fuck Yeah…

A heads up on the forthcoming album from Ikons – a 7 man collective from Sweden – 6 musicians and one artist in residence. The album has has mixed by Dan from Studio and Alex Palmestal of Pistol Disco.

From the opening bars of ‘Slow Light’, the instrumental album opener, it reminds us of the Warriors soundtrack which is obviously no bad thing – all swirling synths, rolling basslines and affected guitars. The tracks develop with minimal looped vocals and driving guitars added to the mix and remind of a more uptempo Studio. Apparently they have a pretty tidy live show (think the exploding plastic inevitable) and should be over at some point this year.

If you like a bit of noise in your cosmic then you might like this. Also comes with super nice artwork. Check it.

Ikons is released via Service on April 19th. Available on CD and 180g vinyl.

[Apiento]

Review: Four Tet – There Is Love In You (Domino)

Quick review on the new Four Tet album, ‘There Is Love In You’ (nice hippie title!) here. There are some fantastic tracks ranging from mellow electronica through to some quite uptempo 4/4 business all very much in the chopped and fx’d mould of music that Kieran Hebden specialises in. My favourite track is the rolling ‘Circling’ which builds, stops, then builds again. Think it could be a grower as an album and another quality release on the Domino label who along with XL are ticking the ‘doing it right’ box at a major label level.

[Apiento]

Jockey Slut: Jon Savage On Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works

Taken from Jockey Slut No.1, January 1993.


Thanks to Emma Warren.
[Apiento]

Review: Coyote ‘Harlyn Bay’

Coyote have been releasing records for a little while now. We got sent their new album ‘Harlyn Bay’ to review so rather than one of us doing it, I thought it would be good to sit down and play it to my eleven year-old Danny to see what he thought. Current bangers for Danny include N-Dubz and ‘Pretender’ by The Foo Fighters.

‘Pacific Breeze’
It’s a good title. (Nods approvingly when track starts). It sounds good but I think by the end of this track I’ll know what the album will sound like. They all seem quite long and it might all be the same thing which I am not so sure I’ll really like. (Nice bass sound comes in). I like that. I like the little sound on the top that sounds like a scratching record thing. I think I would like it more if it was shorter.

‘Wildness’
I think this will sound the same as the other one… (Pad starts) I was right. I’d like to listen to this music when I was sleepy. It’s good.

‘Love Handle’
I don’t like the name. (Has no idea what a love handle is). Definitely more lively than the other ones. It’s got more stuff happening and I like the sounds more. They are more interesting. If it was a computer game it would be Electro Plankton.

‘California’
I think this one will sound energetic. This is confusing. I don’t know what they are saying. It sounds like someone is playing an alien noise through a funny sound system. I like the drums. They are cool and not bombarding the rest of the song.

‘Boat Trip’
This one sounds funny. It’s a bit like a funeral song. It’s the guitar bit. Now it’s more like a song that you would play at the beach on a sunny day. It doesn’t sound like a normal singing voice – it’s been really tampered with.

‘Electric Sunburst’
This sounds like a good title. It should be a bit more energetic and lively. (Track starts). It’s not as lively as the title. I really like the whoooo whoooo (phased noise). Everything on this album is backwards. Like I thought Love Handle would be really slow and it was the most energetic track yet.

‘Rootsy Stew’
This sounds like an animal one. It sounds like it’s on a farm. Sounds like a very deserted bird sanctuary. ‘Rootsy Steeeew’. ‘Rootsy get back here! – Rootsy stew’. It’s like a farmhouse song. (Sings). I like the bongo bits too. I didn’t think this would be a favourite but it’s one of my favourites so far and I didn’t think it would be. See – everything is the opposite.

‘The Beach’
I like the little kiddie speaking at the beginning. All the tracks are a bit too long for me really. Even an old man – really, really old man that never get’s bored of anything – he might get bored of it. I really like this one. This is cool and fun. The end bit was good then.

‘Poyote Sunset’
They basically have one name and they have changed it (Electric Sunburst to Poyote Sunset). I don’t really like this one so much.

‘Live This Life’
I like this one. This one rules. It sounds techno-ey. Overally I would give the album seven out of ten. All the songs are good but they are all a little too long and they do a lot of the same thing. I don’t think I would listen to this album too much but I am an eleven year old kid so what do you expect.

::

So there we go. I think he liked it though I am not sure that sunset sounds are really the key to an eleven year-olds musical heart. For me it was a very pleasant hour of nice bass lines, spot-on drums and some lovely melodies. You can hear the old dub-style basslines of 1990 and other subtle bits of history in the mix of the album. It’s the sound of two men enjoying their music and dreaming of the golden hours.

‘Harlyn Bay’ is released in June on Is It Balearic Recordings.

[Apiento]