Album Review: Butterfly Case - Cuushe

 Butterfly Case is Cuushe's second album, following on from Red Rocket Telepathy and the Girl You Know That I Am Here But The Dream EP, and it is out now on Japan's Flau label.

Cuushe is inspired by dreams and that is instantly obvious in the starry-eyed and dreamlike melodies. Fuzzy ambience, layers of melodic vocals and distortion form a dense sense of otherworldly desire. It gives the sense of being locked up in the sometimes forlorn, sometimes enraptured and ecstatic doodling and daydreaming of a teenager or the subject of a Wes Anderson or Sofia Copolla movie.

This tangibly emotional edge is never far for the surface, etched out in broad daylight on tracks such as I Love You, Swing Your Heart and I Miss You. When Cuushe is up the melodies are beautiful and uplifting, I Love You dizzy in an excitable and heady rush of bouncing synths, reverb and intense feelings of caring for someone that are delivered with a sense that they are tumbling out of her mouth simply because she can't hold them in any more. It is mirrored by the distraught and broken I Miss You - a track ice-like in sound, creaking like icebergs that move so slow whilst Cuushe deploys emotions through the tracks of her tears, obscured beneath the layers of production but still audibly hurting.

There are some more intensely upbeat moments too. The track Butterfly is a breathy and uplifting burst of energy that shines with driving bass lines and a catchy vocal hook, creating one of the album's most instantaneously pleasurable sugar hits.

It is the almost overbearing sense of the saccharine that holds Butterfly Case back if anything. Much like the movie directors she is likened to, Cuushe won't suit everyone's palate, the emotions too rich and the melodies too light to grab, yet it is hard not to love the dreamy naïveté she offers up.

Butterfly Case is out now on Flau. Available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links]. Spotify users can stream in full below: 

Video / Single Review: Us - Movement

This new sophomore release from Sydney's Movement has been out for a few weeks now but I've only just had time to really digest it and it's deserving of a listen.

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Us - Movement

Us is a deep and sexy tangle of 90s R&B and rough rumbling bass dance music. Movement wear their hearts on their sleeves and this is a record that gives a voice to the inner thoughts of one half of a couple on the brink of… well, something. A confidence exudes as the vocals define the inevitability of reciprocated feelings and yet there is a nervous anxiousness - "And I could take you right now", the falsetto male vocals assert one moment, shortly before questioning "Did I push it too much". As a result the track bristles with a sort of confidence undermined by a very real sounding uncertainty and a sense of gender politics, the hollow and ambient sound only adding to the sense of mis-firing connections.

Us also includes two remixes. San Francisco's Giraffage lays down a sea of complex synth stabs, bass and glossy funk keys that opens the track up to create something a little more sensual. Kowton provides the concluding mix, moving in the other direction, offering up an intense bass-heavy version threaded with steel drums and urban intensity.

Us is out now through Modular, available to purchase on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link]. Check out the video on YouTube above or listen to the EP in full through Spotify:

EP Review: Space Me Out - Downtown Party Network feat. Egle Sirvydyte

Space Me Out doesn't sound like the sort of thing I expect to hear from artists called Downtown Party Network but it is pretty glorious all the same. Far away from the jump-up party sounds their name suggest this Downtown Party Network track is a spectral and sunny electronic-influenced ballad.

Egle Sirvydyte's delicate vocals create a beautiful centre for this record, delicate as she lays down the verses and breathless and drenched in reverb as she repeats the track's title for the chorus. A warm, round four-four beat provides a little momentum but it is the friction of an electronic bass line and glistening piano that provide the real counter to those vocals. And it's pretty lovely.

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Space Me Out - Downtown Party Newtwork ft. Egle Sirvydyte

Three remixes feature. First up is regular Needwant star Mario Basanov, whose work I have praised in the past even though he occasionally falters. Here he plays it clean - this is a version almost as laid back as the original, and whilst at times he layers in some slightly darker bass it still continues to respect the original. It's very tasteful, but given the quality of the source and Basanov's way with warm Balearic epics it feels a little... tame.

Musk's version is a little more raw, some deep bass and lots of reverb adding a little grit to the mix whilst the vocal is manipulated into a series of percussive cuts. It is clearly more of a club cut but still retains the feel of the original. The final mix comes from Berlin's Hannes Fischer, who gives the track an intelligent tech-house vibe, not far from a Luomo track. It is a considerably tighter version but retains a soulful feel, warm synths and electronic patterns adding some depth and body to the track.

A quality and refined take on electronic soul. Space Me Out is out on Silence Music now soon, and you will be able to buy the MP3 from Amazon.co.uk here [affiliate link]. Listen via Soundcloud below:

www.facebook.com/downtownpartynetwork Downtown Party Network released their first single Days Like These back in 2009, which quickly become an earworm for clubbers in Lithuania, Ibiza, the UK and everywhere else. The mission had to be continued, so summer of 2009 was greeted with the second record on Eskimo.

Album Review: Americana 2 - Various

  Americana 2 is the latest compilation from BBE and it celebrates some of the American folk and soul influenced sounds of the 1970s and 80s. I've not heard the previous album in this series and I'm not massively familiar with the blue eyed soul scene it ploughs, but there is a lot here to like.

The album has a sunny west coast vibe to match the soaring picture of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge that emblazons the cover. The laid back, highly polished take on soul feels particularly relevant to contemporary music, what with recent fetishisation of the west coast sound on Random Access Memories and the more California moments of Fleetwood Mac that inspire Haim. On the back of years of fascination with disco much of this album sits in a musical sweet spot - perfect for plundering. But BBE know their onions and you can be confident in the selection and intentions behind this album.

There is variety in sound here, but a coherent atmosphere that would make this the perfect soundtrack to long drives with the top down on sunny days... If only it wasn't October!

There are taught, disco numbers such as Breakaway's jiggy "There's A New Girl In Town", a track that feels like a seventies discoteque until precisely the moment a bold yet lethargic steely guitar solo kicks in after the third-minute. In comparison E.J. Stamp's "I Know All About It" is like the Eagles vocal harmonies applied to an upfront and assertive soul record - and that's a pretty glorious thing.

There's so much here that I've never heard before from artists I've never heard of that it is simpler to just recommend you check it out - if you like the premise, you'll probably like the album. However, some further highlights include Freudian Funk Band's frankly ridiculously but brilliantly titled "I'm Ambivalent About You Baby (Yes, Yes, Yes... No, No, No)", an epic put down that rolls on in a largely freestyle fashion to almost eight-minutes.

Also fantastic is the vocodered "You Win, I Lose" by Hal Bradbury, that actually sounds like what I would expect a Daft Punk track to sound like if they had made music in the 1970s, and has the kind of heartbreaking golden chorus you can't help but fall for... And TR's Hot Ice deliver something scratchy and weird that feels part punk-funk, part disco, all sunshine glory.

An album that pulls together some obscure gems from an under-appreciated style in a way that spans genres, Americana 2 is a sunshine holiday roadtrip in aural form.

Americana 2 is released on 11 November through BBE, available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD with AutoRip or MP3 [affiliate links].

EP Review: Blithe - Howson's Groove

Blithe is the debut EP from Howson's Groove, due out next week on Chasing Unicorns, and it delivers a somewhat dizzy collection of London electronic sounds.

Opening with the gentle and breezy guitars of the title track there is an instantly infectious, dubby feel to this EP. With cyclical sub-bass and rattling drum loops it comes from the more experimental end of dubstep, the press release rightly calling out Mount Kimbie. The track even has some of the Eastern feel of that duo's work.

"Attempt" carries on down the same path with strings and a similarly Japanese feel to some of the melodies. There's a fuzzy analogue feel to the sound, with plenty of the crackle and pop layered on to give a suitable tactile feel. "I Wonder" is more robust, with square wave synths plastered across it's rumbling rhythms to create a lush feeling groove. The final original track, "Give Me", features some more electronic moments and a gently swaying, almost garage-like feel.

Two remixes round out the packages with London's Baunz giving "I Wonder" a warm US Garage style mix. Finally Admin's mix of "Give Me" is smothered with deep rumbling bassline whilst electronic patterns gently tweak above in the mid-range. It's a somewhat formidable conclusion to an exciting release from a promising young label.

 Blithe is out on Monday through Chasing Unicorns, available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Preview via Soundcloud below:

The Debut EP from the up and coming London based producers. Forthcoming 21/10/2013 on @chasing-unicorns 1. Blithe 2. Attempt 3. I Wonder... 4. Give Me 5. I Wonder... (Baunz Remix) 6. Give Me (∆dmin Remix)