Album Review: Heretics - Robert Solheim

Hailing from Norway Solheim has been releasing music since 1997 but whilst he has released EPs under his own name, albums as CURRENT and taken part in a number of collaborations Heretics marks the first full length release as himself.

And it's an interesting album. Robert Solheim's music pops like warm synapses in the brain, the fused connections of man and machine. Unlike some of his earlier work Heretics is a full on dance release, comprising of twelve minimal house and techno tracks spread over the course of almost eighty-minutes.

In the wrong hands eighty-minutes of minimal could descend into a dull dirge. Thankfully Solheim manages to keep things interesting, moving through broad, warm sweeping chords on the extended 'Taking The Challenge Again' to big chiming melodies and baggy drums on 'Cracked Reaktor'. Much as John Talabot managed to translate electronic music in a way that spanned genres earlier this year Solheim breaks minimal out from the underground to make an album with enough spark and detail to deserve a broader audience. There are plenty of moments here for the dance floor but Solheim's earlier, more ambient work comes through in the texture and detail that affords Heretics a place on your home stereo too.

At its best this album sounds like elastic melodies and cracked urban bass baking in the midday sun. Things hit a real stride towards the end. 'Syv' is a sophisticated slab of electronic soul, bumping bass and acid squelches supporting a refreshing, warm synth hook whilst 'Slow Bender' takes early rave keys and runs with them, layering vocal snippets and more lovely warm bass. 'Hurricane Love' is a boisterous bass-heavy take on electro, complete with massive drums and a healthy dose of paranoia. Things close with 'En', a slowed down re-take on opening track 'Null' that completes the cycle.

Heretics is that rare thing - an album for dancing that has brains and soul.

Heretics comes out on Aquavit records on tomorrow.

Stream Heretics on Spotify [account required]:

Album Review: Late Night Tales Presents: Music For Pleasure - Tom Findlay

The Late Night Tales albums generally tend to be of a pretty high quality, as do compilations from Groove Armada. This one sees Late Night Tales team up once again after Groove Armada's lovely 2008 installment, albeit this time without half the duo... Music For Pleasure being just Tom Findlay and not Andy Cato.

If the subtitle didn't already give it away this is a little bit of a departure for the series. Music For Pleasure is more focused on laid back easy listening than the generally more twisted, tripped-out sound of Late Night Tales. Think a bit less lava lamps, passed round joints and hours spent watching the wallpaper move and a bit more pool lounging while the sun shines down on your ice cold margarita.

Each person's interpretation of 'music for pleasure' is probably a little different so we will have to see how much consistency this series has (if it even becomes a series). Findlay's take though is a mixture of laid back seventies soft rock, 80s MoR and yacht.

It's a difficult set to argue with because a listen is a pretty gorgeous trip through pastel colours, decadent good times and earnest emotion. The whole album is really soft and warm. Whilst Ambrosia's 'You're The Woman' opens things on a slow sunset falsetto heavy track it is Robert Palmer's steel drum and trumpet celebratory 'Every Kinda People' that really kicks things into touch.

Michael McDonald's 'I Keep Forgettin' upstages Warren G's 'Regulate' effortlessly (by which it was sampled), showing real gentlemen rock smooth. Similarly 'Baby Come Back' by the Player, last seen blasting out of Bumblebee in the Transformers movie, is pure soul and coke rock and roll, just perfect for a lie down with some Don Perignon and a little soft-focused fantasy about your ex.

Groove Armada have something of a flair for making mix albums of tracks with little mixing and a fairly subtle re-edit approach is employed here. It isn't quite as lovingly applied by Findlay as on the duo's Back To Mine set but it's good all the same and generally better than the fudged mixing you sometimes get on this sort of release.

We conclude with Tom Findlay's own Balearic re-edit of 10cc's 'I'm Not In Love' and to be fair, it's pretty Balearic - soft and dreamlike with an emphasised drop and a beautiful slight return. Music For Pleasure is a bit of a dream. My only concern is it is a bit too 'now' and I can't help but feel that it won't hold interest in the same way Findlay's other compilations with the full Armada have.

But who's for worrying about that? I'm going for another martini with a twist before the sun hits the Med.

Late Night Tales presents Music For Pleasure is released on 11 June, it's available for pre-order now on Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP & CD boxset [affiliate links].

Album Review: Kandodo - Kandodo

Image source: The QuietusKandodo is the side project from Simon Price of Bristol band The Heads. A collection of nine ambient instrumentals inspired by Price's youth, spent growing up in Africa (Kandodo being the name of a Malawi supermarket he used to shop in).

The impact of Africa on this album is inescapable. These pieces of music are all fairly simply made with a combination of guitars, pedals, keyboards and some ambient field noise but the result is an album of claustrophobic heat and dusty plains. The sound calls to mind krautrock and drone with a dash of Eno. At times it is cinematic but even when it isn't this is perfect head music for losing yourself to and when it is good it is truly spectacular.

And nowhere is that more evident than on the gentle opener, the beautiful 'Dawn Harmonix'. As a warm hum gradually builds there is a delicate interplay between a guitar and base, each growing more and less distorted throughout. Things are somewhat darker elsewhere, the title track, for example, a messy melange of guitar feedback and reverb.

Overall this is a fairly noisy affair, disconcerting and slightly abrasive in places before yielding to moments of melody. Kandodo is consistently atmospheric though and the swirling textures recreate shifting sands and a thick sense of separation across long journeys. It's a wonderful trip.

Kandodo is released on Thrill Jockey on 11 June, available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP [affiliate links].

EP Review: Holiday's Over EP - Tom Demac vs. Silverclub

Canada's My Favorite Robot seem to be having a bit of a run at the moment with a series of strong releases over recent months. This one just might be my favourite.

The hot humid summer sun seems to have finally descended on London as I write this and perversely the dubby electro of 'Holiday's Over' feels very appropriate. This release sees producer Tom Demac team up with Manchester band Silverclub to create something loose feeling electronic record.

And you can tell this is a band rather than just a producer, the two original tracks here sounding much more like songs than you get from the usual dance releases on twelves. 'Holiday's Over' has layers of bass and synth that create a heavy, tangible feel whilst Silverclub vocalist Duncan Edward Jones' vocal croons his way to a broken heart. 'Throat Trip' takes things up a notch, a melange of massive Prince-style drums and the vocals of a sexual-aggressor.

Both tracks have a slightly oppressive muggy feel to them that isn't entirely inappropriate given the weather. The synth heavy funk feel combines with the dark lyrical tone to great effect too - like early Nine Inch Nails but without the obviousness of the guitars and the screaming angst.

Two remixes are on offer alongside the originals. Buzzin Fly's Flowers & Sea take 'Holiday's Over' to an even more dubby place that retains the vocals but focuses more on the spooky ambient atmospherics and drums. The Tiger Stripes mix of 'Throat Trip' shuffles to a slightly tighter, more minimal groove that makes it the most dance floor friendly track here - it isn't quite as catchy as the original but it creates a nice tight twist on it all the same.

Holiday's Over is released on My Favourite Robot Records on 28 May on 12" and 4 June digitally.

Video: Into Midnight - Jon Porras

Jon Porras is one half of Barn Owl but this video is taken from his recent solo side project, the album Black Mesa. I'd strongly urge you to check out the video above and give the album a listen - it's a spellbinding 45-minute journey.

Black Mesa was inspired by searching for hope in a barren land and it hits the nail firmly on the head. The combination of guitar and feedback perfectly distills disconcerting wandering through a desert wasteland. I've mentioned Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption before and this sounds like it is purpose built for that games rainy storms and desert rides. The soundtrack was one of the best things about that game for the way it built atmosphere. Here Porras creates music that almost hurts to listen to it's so atmospheric and emotive. Brilliant.

This video staring Porras himself fits the song perfectly too - all grainy and weirdly horrific.

Album Review: Human Woman - Human Woman

I'm a little bit in love with Iceland. The geography, the culture and definitely the music. For an island with a population of approximately 300,000 it really has far more interesting music than it ought to. Björk, Sigur Ros, Mum, Jóhann Jóhannson. The best thing about Icelandic music is nothing ever feels phoned-in. No-one is ever just riding the latest bandwagon. Every single Icelandic artist I ever heard did something they clearly cared about and usually it'll end up pretty unique.

One of the most under-exposed Icelandic bands in recent years was Trabant. Making a noisy hyper-sexualised racket that sounded like Prince singing a Freddy Mercury number backed up by the Clash, yet they somehow never really caught on, even when Norman Cook picked up their debut album for Southern Fried. And this despite playing for the Icelandic president, as seen in this bizarre sequence from the fantastic Icelandic music documentary Screaming Masterpiece.

Human Woman is the new project from Trabant's Gisli Galdur Thorgeirsson, together with producer Jón Atli Helgason, and whilst it isn't quite as downright messy as Trabant it is still pretty fabulous. There is a lot melodic bass work and tight percussion here that calls to mind the baggy trousers of Madchester and the Stone Roses via Fujiya & Miyagi. As an album Human Woman blends this with some heavy electronics to make something that has moments of dubby, detailed introspection next to choruses and lyrics from a pop song, as demonstrated by the twisted mid-section of 'White Night'. That kind of combination could feelawkward but there are no such problems here.

There are moments that veer a little more in either direction but the overall album is well balanced. 'Einn Eftir', complete with strings and a jumble of drums, may be less dance floor focused but the production is still fantastically layered to make a complex sounding whole. 'Lazer & Magic' is stretched out and disorientating whilst 'DDDI' throbs and bristles with steely guitar strums and waves of distorted melodies.

Human Woman closes with 'Sleepy', a swirling cacophony of melody, before a neo-classical ghost track. It is a conclusion that highlights both similarities with Thorgeirsson's earlier work (ambition and an 'anything goes' attitude) and yet also contrasts greatly. You cannot help but miss some of the flamboyance and the scuffed edges of Trabant even though this is perhaps the more completely realised album.

Human Woman is out now on HFN, you can order it on Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP (out of stock at time of writing) [affiliate link].

Album Review: Mathias Stubø - Mathias Stubø

Image source: Adressa.noHailing from Norway and at just 18 years old Mathias Stubø's new self-titled album is a lovely collage of electro, tight punchy drums, whirling melodies and loose moments of free-falling jazz. Both of Stubø's parents are jazz musicians and his early years listening to jazz and fusion records provide the muse for much that is offered here.

It feels like some time since we heard a left field record quite like this - a record that is so packed full of joy, with kitchen-sink eclecticism and a happy-melodies-a-plenty. Think Röyksopp and Mr Scruff rummaging through a set of old Blue Note records whilst DJ Shadow focuses on making a few beats in the back room. And beats there are, for while this isn't a dark record it can still rock hard, as on psychedelic, bass-heavy 'Fly With Me'.

This is an album arranged into two halves. Part one is entitled High Frequency Feelings and is a bit grittier with hard beats and heavier bass. Part two, Soul Touch, is where more of the soul and jazz influences break out, as on the snappy freeform drums, stuttering piano and vocal snatches of 'Oss To'.

Whilst this is clearly an album of moments and ideas rather than songs there are still some stand out moments. The big spaces and fuller vocal of 'Soon a Brighter Day' have already seen it confirmed as a single and it obvious why. The penultimate 'Knock On My Door' also leaves a lasting impact, a hopeful prayer of a song with glimmering melodies.

Mathias comes across most comfortable when the jazz flows forward though, as on 'Don't Look Down'. The bass may be large and loud but it is the trumpet work that steals the show, creating a timeless beauty within this record.

Mathias Stubø is released soon on BBE, you can pre-order it on CD from Amazon.co.uk now [affiliate link].

Listen to 'Soon a Brighter Day' on Spotify:

Video: Heartbreak - Age of Consent

Some eighties influenced electro for you here. It's very Depeche Mode and the production is pretty tight, the distortion heavy interplay between synths and vocals about two thirds in is particularly good. The percussion is also pretty good - hard and electronic yet funky.

No surprises this was produced by Luke Smith who has previously worked with Depeche Mode and Foals. 'Heartbreak' is released as a single on 11 June but you can pre-order and get the digital download imediately here.

Album Review: Kill For Love - Chromatics

Image source: The Mahogany BlogUnlike seemingly everyone else I have not have seen the Ryan Gosling movie Drive yet. Time and a lack-of-opportunity have seemingly kept it at bay. I have spent quite a bit of time the thinking about the eighties influenced soundtrack though, even contributing a few tracks to a mammoth Drive-inspired Spotify playlist made by a friend.

Trying to replicate the soundtrack for a movie you haven't seen seems like a bizarre concept, but I was seduced by the soft, melancholic electronic new wave and post-punk the movie (apparently) contains.

Two tracks featuring the production work Chromatic's Johnny Jewel featured on Drive - one with fellow Chromatic Nat Walker as their side project Desire and one Chromatics track, 'Tick of the Clock'. There were rumours that another side-project from Jewel and Walker, the appropriately named Symmetry - Themes for an Imaginary Film, was originally to be the main soundtrack for the movie. Whilst the rumours have been denied one thing is clear - the dark, eighties post-punk influenced Italo sound of Jewel is what people take away from that movie and the idea of driving at night crops up frequently in their music, titles and artwork as much as it features there.

The Chromatics have cultivated something of a micro-scene since their rebirth from punk band to soft electronic dream-makers and Kill For Love is the ultimate product of their effort. It is long at 92-minutes across 17 songs and much like Symmetry and fellow eighties influenced electronic producer M83's latest double-album, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, this feels like a soundtrack for a movie that doesn't quite exist.

But the length is justified - this is an album that shifts through ballads, mood pieces and the dark frisson of guitar heavy melancholy. The result is such that the music swings from beautiful to dark to heartbreaking and back, but the combinations and phases of this album feel as much like a cohesive story as many movies manage.

Starting with the inky black piano ballad of 'Into the Black', a cover of Neil Young's 'Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)' is a master stroke. Singer Ruth Radelet's vocals form a tribute to musical heroes set against a repeated bass line that sounds like pure Joy Division, the result sounding like Fleetwood Mac covering Neil Young with Hooky on bass.

The heavily auto-tuned vocals of 'These Streets Will Never Look the Same' almost distract from the tense strut of the guitar work but they totally justify their place later on 'Running from the Sun', another piano lead track slowly collapses under it's own emotional gravity, effortlessly showing up The Weeknd in the process.

Things get better they goes on. 'Birds of Paradise', positioned two-thirds of the way through the album (the yet-to-be-mentioned long closer aside for the moment), is a strikingly fragile piece that jumps from smokey vocals and vinyl clicks and pops to a cold, haunting melody. The vocal ends with "You are the black sky, always running for the sun... You're always running from the sun" before a long instrumental close and it is seemingly directed at the protagonist on 'Running from the Sun' (positioned with just one instrumental between it and 'Birds of Paradise').

It is exactly this kind of structure and pacing that means Kill For Love never outstays its welcome, benefiting from the director's cut treatment. Closing with a fourteen-minute instrumental in 'No Escape' feels totally natural... The entire album feels like a movie soundtrack with more to say than most actual movies. It is a conclusion that feels like the fade-to-black end credits to a weird, strung-out road trip.

Kill For Love is released on 21 May, pre-order on CD from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].

Listen to the aforementioned Drive inspired playlist:

Video: Bon Iver at AIR Studios

I'd heard about this video from a friend some time ago but hadn't got around to watching it. This morning I did, and I'm very glad... Take a look, it's a 25-minute video of Bon Iver performing, basically stripped back to just piano and vocals.

The songs themselves, taken from the last album and the Blood Bank EP together with a cover of Bonnie Raitts' 'I Can't Make You Love Me', are a step back from their originals - the video description describing them as 'abstracted'. To me they sound as though they have been consumed through a lens that puts some more space into them - they feel deconstructed with a post-rock feel that throws of some of the shackles of song-writing convention.

Very good stuff anyway. Thanks to @PaulCarvill for the tip.