Album Review: Eskimo Recordings Presents The Pink Collection

Eskimo just recently turned 10 and celebrated with an anniversary box set but this new album, The Pink Collection, is the start of something new. The first in a series based around a variety of colours, The Pink Collection is predominantly focused around feelings in music and retains the same hazy melodic electronic sound throughout, with the tracks being specifically created for this release.

The album has a real Scandinavian sound with a number of electronic artists associated with that movement featuring, but it also features artists from around the globe. Australian three piece Holy Models open the album with the lolling and inviting tracking 'Swimming', featuring drenched male vocals and sun-baked grooves. Satin Jackets take up the batten with 'Olivia', a track full of the sort of easy-going-yet-catchy melodies that Röyksopp are famous for. Coincidently Made In Sane actually come from the same town as Röyksopp and their track, 'Flying Circuits' also retains a hint of their sound but applies it to a progressive synth piece that feels like they stole it from Jean Michel Jarre's songbook back in the eighties.

Martin Brodin does Italo gone Ballearic to much success o the sparkling and upbeat 'Lazise 1979' and ATTAR!'s 'The Fool', featuring Cherry, is enjoyable eighties synth-pop influenced house with a slight Stevie Nicks vibe. Unfortunately from here The Pink Collection starts to fall down… There is an imagination to some of the earlier tracks that feels lacking later on, and ultimately it's 78-minutes of music that sounds very similar throughout. The album turns into a pleasant diversion, but nothing on some of Eskimo's finest moments.

It's difficult not to feel that in focusing on original material Eskimo have ultimately compromised their ability to curate, sacrificing the control to select exactly the right song for the right moment. It is an album that suffers in exchange for the ability to sell something exclusive via digital platforms. It's telling that the tracks they have already announced as singles - those by Holy Models, Majestique, Brynjolfur and ATTAR! - are all comparatively strong, it's just a shame the album doesn't quite live up to the promise.

The Pink Collection is out on 2 September through Eskimo Recordings, preview on the Eskimo website and pre-order on CD from Amazon.co.uk.

EP Review: Disappearer - Avec feat. Jake Shears

Buy the radio edit on iTunes: http://bit.ly/DisappearerRadioEdit Premiered by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1, Avec is a new collaboration between Doorly & Dave Spoon, with the debut single featuring Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters) on vocals.

Disappearer comes from Doorly and Shadow Child, who have formed a new partnership in Avec. Here they are joined by Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters, who applies his trademark falsetto vocals to an upbeat house track.

Shears and Scissor Sisters have never been my bag but this EP feels like a natural home for his vocals. The track itself is sunny disco house and as a result the vocals sit quite naturally on the melodic piano riff that makes up the track's central riff. It is only really on the chorus that the identity of the singer is obvious, and the main vocal hook is just a little too much for my taste.

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Disappearer - Avec feat. Jake Shears

Thankfully a total of five remixes are included on this release and so there is plenty of scope for a little additional subtlety.

The Hauswerks mix starts with a deep looping groove before applying a large drop with some snappy garage drum beats - it's a lot more intense than the warm summery original. Martin Brodin does his trademark disco thing and really takes the track up a level, working the vocal into the track so that the final result has a much better flow. The People Get Real mix is another disco house mix, but this one builds to a climatic pace whilst a head-nodding bass line provides an infectious rhythm and a series of drum rolls and crashes give a tactile feel to the percussion.

The Sona Vabos Pitched Down Jackin Dub is deep, dubby and slowed right down to create a weird strung-out and techy vibe that bears little resemblance to the original. Finally the Maos mix is laid back and dubby with some warm bass chords and slow synth melodies.

Disappearer is out now through Southern Fried Records.

Album Review: Bla Bla Bla - Martin Brodin

Swedish DJ and producer Martin Broden has been around. Having been inspired by classic house cuts such as Lil Louis' French Kiss via Depeche Mode, Yello and Kraftwerk both Broden's career trajectory and musical tastes appear to be somewhat eclectic. He played deep house as a DJ for years and previously ran the deep house label Deeplay. 2010 saw Broden change direction, focusing much more on disco and launching the label MB Disco. Bla Bla Bla feels like the culmination of a transition that began several years ago.

The focus here is on making modern disco that goes beyond simple re-edits and short loops to focus on fuller instrumental works. Borrowing from others is clearly allowed though, as Oh Yeah proudly announces with it's INXS sampling riff that kicks the album into a higher gear. It's a sassy, cheeky track that manages to do a lot with those light fingers, but it doesn't exactly deliver on Brodin's promise: it sounds exactly like one of those clever disco re-edits.

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​Bla Bla Bla - Martin Brodin

If there are doubts though Strings Attack does a lot to dispel them. Starting with the kind of percussion sequence Morgan Geist would be proud of - handclaps, bongos, drum kicks - Broden creates an exotic groove around a set of romantic strings and brass. It's a developed and authentically extravagant sound, but it's the gradual descent into electronic chaos in the track's final quarter that lifts the track beyond mere mimicry, though there's a hint of Yellow Magic Orchestra throughout.

A cover of Bryan Ferry's Don't Stop The Dance is just as enjoyable if a little less innovative, oiled guitar riffs jamming out liquid melodies against Broden's thick electronic bass loop and strings. Trapeze Disco gets a little seductive and sun drenched as a warm bass line and synths play against a loose, organic-feeling clattering drums and it's simple, effective and yet still very well done.

There are undeniable moments here where Bla Bla Bla feels like it may be a little short on ideas and at nearly 70-minutes long it could happily lose 3 songs and been a better album. It's not got the same gloriously short and consistent feel of Geist's Metro Area album, for existence, and it would be unfair to even compare them if it wasn't for such a clear similarity in inspiration, direct or not. Still, Bla Bla Bla is an assured album with some standout moments and it's easy to imagine this sounding fantastic this summer.

Bla Bla Bla is released through MB Disco on 29 March, available to pre-order on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].