After focusing on the new UK urban music I thought I’d change trajectory slightly and cast my eyes and ears across a different genre. Synthwave, Coldwave, Synthpop – take your pick. When looking at both of these artists, I think Synthwave captures it best. Jessy Lanza – Oh No Jessy Lanza came to prominence on Kode9’s Hyperdub label, which at the time I thought was an odd choice but as the label developed its sound and moved into more experiemental areas of music it makes perfect sense. I love Jessy Lanza; her ethereal vocals stretch long over this album. In…

Francis Inferno Orchestra – Veranda Culture First and foremost, I’m a big Francis Inferno Orchestra fan. I first encountered him when I looking for ‘things that sound live Leon Vynehall’. This might sound like damning with faint praise but if you listen to any of  his tracks you’ll realise he’s criminally underrated. His track Ellingfort Road, being a huge standout.  Ambient So Imagine my surprise when I found that he was releasing a new album. I was expecting disco licks and deep house bangers. So imagine my surprise when I hear that it’s actually an ‘ambient album’ When I think…

Swindle is an interesting one. My first experience of swindle was through his output on Deep Medi. This found him rolling out a set of dubstep bangers that showcased an impressive ability for composition without losing the vibe of the track.  However, despite being clearly accomplished, I felt that this juxtaposition of melodic introduction and full-fat bass banger was something’s grating. As both his sound and notoriety developed we saw Swindle release his first full-length album – Long Live The Jazz. Clearly jazz-influenced, these compositions leaned toward the multi-instrumental side whilst providing tactical tracks (Start me up) to let everyone know…

Children of Zeus – Travel Light Children of Zeus is the brainchild of Konny Kon and Tyler Daily, two long standing Manchester stalwarts who have come to prominence following their breakout success with “The Story So Far”. Konny, being a part of the Broke ‘n’ English triumvirate which also includes Strategy and DRS. Tyler, I knew under his grime alias of Hoodman. At first, I was unsure what this pairing would sound like, but upon listening you can’t help but wonder why this didn’t happen sooner. I think some of the most honest tracks on the album are Kintsugi –…

January has once again managed to conjure up the perfect storm of a hectic work schedule and no money. However, that didn’t stop me from getting into Eastern Bloc and picking up another slab of wax. In a slight format change, mainly due to the fact that I only bought one release, I thought it would be good to have a look at another ‘D&B exile’ Martyn Martyn – Voids Released on Berghain’s very own Ostgut Ton label. As with any artist, it’s interesting to see how their sound evolves and moves forward between both tempos and labels. It’ll probably…

Due to the nature of Christmas pressing and releases schedules, a lot of labels end up having a lot of their great projects bleed into January. This is a blessing and a curse, there’s a steady stream of strong releases, but they often spend most of the month mocking you from the back wall. As a result of this there has been a lot to choose from. However, before rushing into that I thought it would only be right and proper to pick up the Art Vandelay release. For those of you who don’t know this was a secret project…