As the nights draw in and autumnal colours begin to proliferate, you might be wanting to shake up what gets time on your turntable. September had plenty to offer, so read on for some old heads doing new things and a collection of reissues that range from Eighties pop, through Noughties alt-rock to Sixities jazz-harp. And there’s plenty more besides.
Freshly Pressed:
After several understandably heavy albums, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds return with ‘Wild God’, and their first in half a decade is notably more upbeat in its instrumentation. It’s a hugely engaging listen and is clearly Cave at his most uplifting in some time, perhaps since ‘Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus’ back in 2004. Opener ‘Song Of The Lake’ has a fulsome presence that clearly declares that the time for oomph has returned. Originally considered as a possible album title, ‘Joy’ is a key track for the record, highlighting the intersection between the weight of grief and finding beauty in what remains. Double R Collective’s backing vocals are frequently stunning across the album, although they don’t quite have the space to extend out from and above the speakers.
The actual title track is especially sweeping and energising, even if it reinforces some concerns about the mix that were are evident pretty much immediately thanks to the slightly shrill impact of the opener. It’s clearly intentional, as it’s arguably even more noticeable on digital versions. The lacquer was cut by Joe Nino-Hernes at Sterling Sound and there’s a decent weight to the bottom end with some width in the soundstage – listen to the moment the beat really kicks in on ‘Conversion’ to get a sense of this. However, it definitely feels a little boxed in and slightly squashed up top. This doesn’t take away from it being his most immediate album in decades and the songwriting is largely superb. A near-silent Optimal pressing – Just Played sampled the clear edition – is housed in a very chunky, slightly too tight tip-on sleeve.
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The name Alas De Liona was not familiar to your correspondent prior to playing her new record ‘Gravity Of Gold’. Produced by Idlewild founder Rod Jones, this is a second outing and it showcases her distinctive, multi-geared vocals that bend and twist beguilingly in equal measure. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, De Liona relocated to Scotland in 2023, presumably drawn in by its, er, less dry environs. Textured indie pop is the order of the day and there’s plenty of potential evident here, side one closer ‘Promises’ fashions something uplifting out of the addictive misery of social media commitments and ‘Summer Rain’ builds neatly with several appealing percussive shifts. The mastering is solid enough, with a decent width to the soundstage, but things are a little squashed at the top, making the vocals feel a little congested towards the centre of the disc. Pressed at GZ, the clear vinyl edition played with a little light surface noise here and there, but not to the detriment of the music.
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For a brief period in the late Nineties, Asian Dub Foundation were NME cover stars and Mercury Prize nominees. Now marking thirty years of activity, they have compiled ’94-Now: Collaborations’ as a snapshot of their unique approach to electronic music. Kicking off with ‘No Fun’, which features Iggy Pop, is quite the statement and this is followed by the Stewart Lee routine-sampling ‘Comin’ Over Here’. Add in ‘Taa Deem’ with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Brendan Lynch remix of ‘Free Satpal Ram’, which marked Primal Scream’s efforts to elevate them into the public consciousness, and ‘1000 Mirrors’, made with Sinéad O’Connor and Ed O’Brien no less, and you’ve got quite the selection. Bernie Gardner has done a fine job of the remastering and Benjamin Joubert’s vinyl cut is very satisfying. The bottom end is vast but roomy, there is depth without it bloating. Vocals sound vivid and captivating and the soundstage is wide. Thankfully, Optimal deliver a near-silent pressing to leave the focus on this often remarkable music.
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Psychedelic synth-soul types Pocket Sun finally deliver their debut ‘Mirror In Blue Light’ after developing a following via several EPs and endless touring. Gina Marie Tratt provides breezy dream-pop vocals across tracks with plenty of infectious rhythm. ‘Sandcastles’ is a wonderful retro workout with a superb chorus and ‘Jupiter’ goes all out with a stuttering groove and so many perfectly executed textures. The formula doesn’t quite sustain an entire album, but there are plenty of highlights here and it’s well worth getting acquainted. The vinyl mastering is very much contained within the digital rectangle between the speakers, but there’s some separation within that. Tratt’s voice is a little recessed in the mix, but this seems intentional. The artwork has a certain charm and the music comes on a fairly quiet GZ-pressed disc.
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Floating Points, the stage name of Sam Shepherd, hasn’t really put a foot wrong over the fifteen years leading up to his fifth album, ‘Cascade’. Most recently occupying the spotlight for cosmic jazz collaboration ‘Promises’, with the London Symphony Orchestra and none other than Pharoah Sanders, signs hinted at new pastures for a previously electro-jazz artist. Perhaps a massive stack of glittery, upbeat floorfillers wasn’t quite what was expected, therefore, but they’re very welcome. ‘Birth4000’ has more than a nod to ‘I Feel Love’ and is completely joyous as a result. The simmering bleepfest ‘Ocotillo’ adds in Miriam Adefris on harp, one of only a few additional musicians amongst Shepherd’s all-encompassing approach, while the Mancunian plays to his roots with the titles of ‘KEY103’ and ‘Afflecks Palace’. Matt Colton has delivered an absolutely impeccable cut of this album, keeping the soundstage wide and open, fanning out from the speakers and achieving genuinely rather impressive precision in the enormous bottom end. It hits hard without ever feeling even faintly smudgy or overblown. A silent Optimal pressing is housed in a beautiful gatefold with an art print containing the credits.
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The new album from Claude Fontaine, ‘La Mer’, is a captivating mix of bossa nova, reggae and French pop, merrily genre-hopping across its twelve tracks. Indeed, so much do things shift that even the production approaches seem to vary dramatically, meaning pieces like ‘Small Hours’ and ‘Love The Way You Love’ have a rather narrow, rhythmically-centred ska feel while ‘Vaqueiro’ and ‘Reliquia’ are wide presentations with panned Brazilian percussive heft. Fontaine’s intimate, pillowy vocals are the key to the record’s charms and Dave Cooley’s mastering ensures they are distinctive throughout. The musicianship is second to none on this perfectly cut record, an RTI pressing ensuring that there’s nothing else in the grooves beyond these compelling tunes.
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There is something really rather charming about the ongoing, quiet majesty of Tindersticks. For every song that aches deep in the pit of your stomach, there’s another offering a quiet assertion of beauty. After the more experimental approach of their previous album, with loops and drum machines deployed as methods were changed by the pandemic, ‘Soft Tissue’ finds them in a soulful mood, leaning somewhere towards the world of ‘Can Our Love’ and ‘The Something Rain’. The swagger of ‘Don’t Walk, Run’ is a rich and absorbing experience, with strings and horn figures that wouldn’t be out of place on early Massive Attack. ‘Nancy’ pleads for attention with a forlorn, resigned tone that barely stays afloat. The refrain of ‘Falling, the Light’ chimes serenely, like car headlights in the sodden darkness. This is top drawer Tindersticks and the orchestration is arguably even more effective than on 2019’s ‘No Treasure But Hope’. Jason Mitchell at Loud mastered and the cut the audio for a near-silent eco-vinyl pressing via Optimal and the space in the recording is given a pleasing presentation across a pretty open soundstage. The various textures of the instrumentation have space to breathe and the intensity of the rhythm section is carved with precision.
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South Wales’ Country Mile Records never disappoint and the latest title to emerge via their distribution partnership with Last Night From Glasgow is We Are Muffy’s ‘Lost Things Returning’. A collaborative effort between The Lilac Time’s Nick Duffy and Angeline Morrison, whose solo album ‘The Sorrow Songs’ was justifiably lauded up and down the land in recent years, this is their second album and there’s much to love in these sparsely organised works of very melodic folk. ‘Hurly Burly’ is blessed with a rollercoster melody and some beautiful backing vocals, while ‘20th Century Folk Hymnal’ is an unspeakably pretty opening track that takes aim at the small-minded. ‘Calypso Lullaby’ is quite the thing, but you need to hear it for yourself. Despite a slightly murky looking disc, the pressing via Vinyl Presents in Hitchin is fairly quiet and Charlie Francis’ mastering allows for plenty of delicate detail across the soundstage.
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The career of Jon Hopkins has been enjoyably varied. From his role as Imogen Heap’s keyboard player to working with Coldplay and collaborating with King Creosote, he has pursued his own path, delivering a number of superb solo albums along the way. His latest, ‘Ritual’, is an eight-part ambient record that has an interesting origin in a 2022 commission to compose for the stroboscopic Dreamachine experience in London. From that, grew this forty-one minute composition. The textures and mechanical beats construct a terrain of consistent ebb and flow, synthy tingles reaching out luminescently, hinting at epic swells which loom into view but rarely fully ignite. Side three’s opening section, ‘Part VII – Dissolution’ is especially minimalist but rather beguilingly so after the gradual crunch of its predecessors and the closer ‘Nothing Is Lost’ has strong ‘Spaces’ era Nils Frahm vibes. Manufactured at Optimal and mastered by Matt Colton, both discs are virtually silent during playback and the cut utterly dissolves the speakers. Sounds are arranged across the room, stretching out in exactly the manner something so sensory needs.
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American jazz and soul artist Lady Blackbird released her excellent, top ten debut album in 2021 and the wait is finally over for its follow-up, ‘Slang Spirituals’. Things are a little bit more R&B leaning this time around. ‘Reborn’ is an upbeat tour de force that goes big and fully delivers, with one hell of a chorus to keep it looping around your head. There’s still evidence of the more delicate majesty that elevated the first record to such heights, with ‘No One Can Love Me (Like You Do)’ a stately delight that could have been beamed in from the late-Sixties, but it’s definitely an evolution of her sound that may leave people wishing for some more of the jazz leanings of old. The clear French pressing is largely quiet and the soundstage is chunky without losing detail. The inside of the gatefold is a treat, serving as a reminder of the potential with this format for aesthetic pleasures.
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Eddie Piller – DJ and Acid Jazz supremo – adds to his numerous compilations for Demon Records with ‘The Mod Top 40’, inspired by a list from 1979 constructed by Randy Cozens, a Sounds regular who went on to devise a Mod Top 100. For this set, Piller has plucked forty highlights from those much-loved selections that influenced him so much. Now presented as something of a tribute to Cozens, who died in 2003, and with the full support of his family, this 2LP set is the very definition of all killer no filler. Listing highlights feels almost pointless, but just listen to Irma Thomas’ ‘Time Is On My Side’, the depth of Chuck Jackson’s voice on ‘Any Day Now’, the timeless propulsion of Solomon Burke’s ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ and Bessie Banks’ irresistible ‘Go Now’. The whole of side A is the original top ten from the list, but things don’t dip thereafter. Phil Kinrade at Alchemy has taken care of the audio mastering for this, ensuring a consistent presentation across a huge variety of sources. While you’re not going to get the full analogue heft from a release with forty tracks over four sides, the soundstage has air in the top end and fills out the stereo spectrum without feeling boxed in. A near-silent GZ pressing ensures a satisfying listening experience, alongside Piller’s concise but engagingly enthusiastic sleevenote.
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EPs aren’t what they used to be, are they? The ‘Reset Mariachi EP’ from Panda Bear and Sonic Boom is only two tracks, although it has a neat gimmick. Firstly, there’s the enjoyable conceptual approach of retooling two tracks from their excellent collaborative effort ‘Reset’ in a mariachi style, ‘Danger’ and ‘Livin’ In The After’ now trading as ‘Peligro’ and ‘Viviendo En Las Sequelas’ respectively. Secondly, each side of the 12” disc has two grooves, meaning it’s pot luck whether you get the Mariachi 2000 De Cutberto Perez vocal version or the one with Panda Bear doing the honours. It’s a neat trick and Simon Davey at The Exchange has done a superb job of ensuring rich, colourful dynamics for each version of the two tracks. Irresistibly sunny and in typically garishly commanding artwork, the music receives a near-silent Optimal pressing for this well executed novelty.
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The frontman of tremendous Scottish indie types Broken Records, Jamie Sutherland, has released a second solo album, ‘The World As It Used To Be’, and it’s a step on from 2021’s ‘Bruise’. While the band remain active, this offers a very particular outlet for an element of Sutherland’s songwriting. There is melancholy and aching in these tracks, but there’s also an unashamed capacity for the anthemic. Glorious opener ‘Start Again’ would be a global smash in a fair world, so emphatic and soaring is its chorus, and his capacity to inveigle a hook into the listener’s brain before they’ve even realised is evident throughout. Even a more sombre delight in the shape of ‘Some Things Hurt A Little More’ is immediately affecting, the varying delivery of the repeated refrain proving immediately endearing. The vinyl edition is solid rather than spectacular, with a reasonable soundstage and a GZ pressing that suffers with a little surface noise here and there. Don’t let that put you off hearing these superb songs, however.
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Our last new title before diving into the world of a particularly iconic label should probably be Chris Bangs’ latest ‘Dream World’, so affectionately does he imitate their sleeve art for his records. The percussionist and drummer is in frenetic form leading quite a collective on this joyful passion project. Nimble Latin jazz is the order of the day, with sensational trumpet playing by Juan Pi Salvo and trombone work by Massimo Morganti. Lee-Soulae’s vocals on ‘You Are My Starship’ are a mellifluous delight and ‘Sugar Slam’ is a deliriously flamboyant way to bow out. As so often with Acid Jazz vinyl releases, the mastering is carefully considered in order to ensure a decent amount of space in the soundstage, with instruments pushing out into the room a little. A well-priced, near-silent GZ pressing makes this a very safe bet indeed.
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All Kinds Of Blue:
The first Blue Note Classic for September is Gene Harris And The Three Sounds’ Live At The ‘It Club’. A trio who had started in 1956 as the Four Sounds before dropping their saxophonist, the line up varied around one person, crucially, pianist Gene Harris, who steered the brand of Three Sounds. This superb live outing was only given a release in 1996, despite being recorded in 1970. First track ‘Funky Pullett’ not only sets this up as rhythmic, groovy jazz but also demonstrates the rich, warm and compelling soundstage that Kevin Gray has ensured throughout. Side two opener ‘Baby Man’ is full of twitchy, frenetic piano stabs that will appeal to fans of The Bad Plus. The bass, as so often on these Blue Note reissues, is vivid and tangible, presenting the actual motion of fingers on strings in the room. Harris’ piano notes decay fully in the centre of the soundstage and the presentation soars from the speakers, accompanied by a fizzing drum sound. Accessible but angular, ambitious and unconstrained, initially unreleased but now a classic – who knows how we should label ‘Live At The It Club’, but it’s a pin-drop silent Optimal pressing which dissolves the speakers throughout.
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Similarly quiet, if not quite such a full-bodied recording, is Jutta Hipp’s 1956 offering ‘At The Hickory House Vol. 1’. The pianist is joined in a trio by Peter Ind on bass and Ed Thigpen at the drums. Gentle swing is in plentiful supply as Hipp’s work on the keys rings out from the centre of the soundstage and the background noise of the room puts you right there for the performance. As with a number of the Fifties titles picked so far, the sonics aren’t quite as radiant as on later recordings, but Gray has still managed to draw out the details on this charming set, presenting the room as a distinct part of the soundstage.
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This month’s Tone Poets offer contrasting thrills. First up is Jackie McLean’s ‘Let Freedom Ring’, its hugely distinctive cover now rendered in the standard tip-on gatefold with arresting studio photography by Francis Wolff on the inside. Walter Davis is an especially powerful presence on opener ‘Melody For Melonae’, dedicated to McLean’s then-six-year-old daughter, while Herbie Lewis preserves order with his bass when things threaten to become too unruly. Billy Higgins propels side two opener ‘Rene’ with a right-panned masterclass on the drums. It’s a hard bop record with some sizzling individual turns, Kevin Gray’s all-analogue mastering ensuring that every aspect pours into the room, especially McLean’s efforts. Predictably, it’s one of two silent RTI pressings.
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The other is afforded to another of the Pacific Jazz titles that crop up from time to time in this series. This means no gatefold but a fresh insert with additional sleevenotes. Jim Hall, Red Mitchell and Red Kelly were briefly known as The Modest Jazz Trio for the album ‘Good Friday Blues’, originally released in 1960. As well as, presumably, their humility, they are modest in both members and scope, offering a rather gentle amble through some light bop, often categorised as cool jazz. Side one closer ‘I Remember You’ delivers some wonderful interplay between the three musicians, Kelly’s bass a spine around which Mitchell can truly open up. On the flip, Hall goes to town on ‘Bill Not Phil’ and closer ‘I Was Doin’ Alright’ offers up a playfully concise finale. The recording preserves the space in the studio and Gray’s cut relays that directly to the listener. Arguably not a must-have, but hugely enjoyable regardless.
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Going Round Again:
Fans of Dorothy Ashby are experiencing quite the run, New Land’s sublime box set now followed by a 2LP dust off for the legendary 1968 recording ‘Afro-Harping’. Remastered from the original ¼ inch tapes, this has been done with much love and affection to produce something that impresses from the off. Although not all-analogue, as a lot of cleaning up was required and digital tools were used to take out “pops, clicks and thumps” in the masters, this sounds pretty close to the audiophile jazz reissues that frequent this column and was cut using plenty of vintage equipment. Alex Wharton at Abbey Road has done a superb job of preparing this double clear vinyl set. A pretty quiet Pallas pressing, the grooves contain a unique album and eight alternative takes excavated from the surviving session reels.
The percussive breadth of ‘Soul Vibrations’ hits you instantly and the experience of Ashby’s harp is routinely rather moving. Listen to it cutting through the air in the room on ‘Games’ and there is a genuine sense of something three-dimensional sculpted before the listener. Finding a quiet original of this deservedly revered album is near impossible and the gloriously passionate sleeve note from Sean Casey asserts that this new master surpasses those first cuts. Certainly, it is deliciously, compellingly crankable and things only get more vivid with some extra volume applied. The famously sampled ‘Come Live With Me’ has a vast, shoulder-wiggling swagger and cinematic high-fidelity in its presentation before yielding the floor for a nifty closing take on ‘The Look Of Love’. The outtakes aren’t essential, but it’s a delight to witness some of the in-studio dynamics of an artist about whom relatively little is known and makes for a comprehensive set that is surely the last word on this truly classic record.
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The Proper/Universal partnership serves up a thirtieth anniversary edition of Therapy?’s fourth album, ‘Troublegum’. The Mercury nominated record captured the Northern Irish indie-metal band at the peak of their powers, working with Chris Sheldon at the controls. Their melodic instincts provided a fascinating interplay with the heavy guitars and thunderous drums resulting in a slew of UK chart hits. The momentum barely lets up, each track hurrying into the next and ‘Screamager’ has lost none of its potency over three decades and the album’s first single proper, ‘Nowhere’, is still an absolute earworm. As well as a silver disc for the main album, a second, lavender coloured disc is added to pull together fourteen mostly listenable b-sides and bonus bits from the era. Mastering is competent but very much confined to the rectangle around the speakers and there’s very little reach to speak of beyond that. As a result, the separation feels less distinct because of the narrow space, even if some volume can assist a little with the problem. Packaging is neatly replicated from the original – information about additional tracks not withstanding – and the GZ-pressed discs play mostly quietly throughout.
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US reissue label Light In The Attic are now 22 years into a remarkable run that has included titles from Betty Davis, Serge Gainsbourg, the sublime Karen Dalton and Rodriguez, as well as shining a light on Jim Sullivan’s magnificent ‘UFO’. One of their current projects is a reissue series focused on the work of Nancy Sinatra. ‘Nancy In London’ was recorded over three days in Pye Studios and has been remastered from the original analogue tapes by John Baldwin. It was produced by another LITA favourite, Lee Hazlewood, who appears on the untouchable duet ‘Summer Wine’. Pressed at RTI, the red vinyl disc I sampled played silently throughout and has a fantastic soundstage, with just enough heft in the bottom end to give a respectable swing to proceedings.
The slightly curious decision to crowbar an extra four songs in will have the purists frothing about not getting it as its meant to be, but they’re decent enough songs appended to a very short original record. And what an original record – as well as the aforementioned Hazlewood collaboration, you also get the glorious gradual build of ‘On Broadway’, irresistible chorus delights from ‘Wishin’ And Hopin’’ and the filmic swagger of ‘Friday’s Child’. It sounds great, as so often with Light In The Attic. It’s not all-analogue but it gets pretty close to that warm hit when the volume is increased. As ever, splendid liner notes flesh out the story and the pressing is silent.
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The next Ultravox album to get the deluxe treatment is ‘Lament’, continuing Chrysalis Records’ catalogue celebration. Their seventh outing – produced by the band themselves – was a top ten hit and the last to feature their original drummer – Warren Cann – until a band reunion 28 years later. There’s a 2LP black vinyl edition with etched b-sides, for no reason Just Played can fathom, or a 5LP clear set in a slipcase with a flimsy leaflet and two double-albums of bonus bits – extended remixes of the whole album from the likes of Blank & Jones, Moby and Steven Wilson, and a live recording from Hammersmith in 1984 entitled ‘Set Movements’. The three main singles run in order across much of side one and they still hold up, despite the unmistakeable production values of the time. ‘Dancing With Tears In My Eyes’ is particularly memorable, but these aren’t classics.
The sleevenotes explain that the audio was prepared from the original ½” production master using a vintage tape machine and the lacquers were cut by Barry Grint at Alchemy via a rather splendid Neumann lathe. As a result, the soundstage does have some space at the sides and headroom at the top. Basslines sound nimble and nuanced, even if the percussive elements are a little murky. Listen to ‘A Friend I Call Desire’ and there’s a small but noticeable sense of a slight blanket over the mid-range. The GZ pressed clear discs, housed in paper sleeves inside some rather fancy embossed inners, replicating the original album artwork, played reasonably quietly throughout, although some were noisier than others. With the price point around £70, that at least seems pretty reasonable for a quintet of discs.
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As well as being a revered producer at the heart of the UK indie scene, Ian Broudie has spent thirty-five years trading as The Lightning Seeds. While regularly tarred with the ‘Three Lions’ brush these days, he consistently produced pure pop escapism, starting with 1990’s ‘Cloudcuckooland’ through to 1999’s ‘Tilt’ before a lengthy hiatus and occasional returns to the brand. The four Nineties records either side of career highlight ‘Jollification’ have recently been reissued and let’s take a particular look at 1996’s momentum-riding everything-and-the-kitchen-sink tour-de-force ‘Dizzy Heights’. There are some corking singles, including ‘Sugar Coated Iceberg’, co-written with Stephen Jones of Babybird fame, ‘What If…’ assisted by the late, great Terry Hall and ‘Ready Or Not’, which launched the record.
Some of the arrangements are unashamedly cheesy and very much aiming for the daytime radio sweet spot of that era, but with his songwriting pedigree you can understand Broudie’s instinct. There’s also a gorgeous cover of The Turtles’ ‘You Showed Me’ that was promoted to the album and given single status after initially being mooted as a b-side. Production is a little thin and shiny, but with a decent amount of clarity and control of both highs and lows, handled well in a cut by Jasper Ward at Alchemy. The Optimal pressed disc has near-silent playback and you can get it on either black or curacao blue vinyl. It’s unadulterated nostalgic fun for the less cynical and the other three titles are no slouches either, each well mastered and quiet, although the debut is pressed at Pallas.
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As much as purists seem to enjoy reissues mirroring the original formatting, as mentioned above, there is something satisfying about albums that were previously squeezed onto a single disc getting the 2LP treatment. Such is the case with Mark Lannegan Band’s ‘Bubblegum’, now badged as ‘Bubblegum XX’ to facilitate larger vinyl and CD boxes with the bonus tracks and demos from the period. Just Played sampled the standard 2LP edition with a neatly embossed gatefold and sensational remastered sound from Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road. It far surpasses the Music On Vinyl edition from 2011 and adds some nuance to the bottom end that was a little too heavy on those single disc editions. With PJ Harvey, Greg Dulli, Josh Homme and Duff McKagan amongst the personnel, it marked something of a reboot for his solo career, moving on from past collaborator Mike Johnson. Across four near-silent, Optimal-pressed sides, this striking music can breathe and it remains a treasure trove. Listen to the Harvey single ‘Hit The City’ to get a sense of how the bass now thrums without overriding other components, percussive elements able to breath and the vocals reaching up and out from the speakers. As good as it has ever sounded.
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At The Front Of The Racks:
Formed in 2017, Bristol’s Ishmael Ensemble have a fierce reputation in the modern UK jazz scene. Producer and saxophonist Pete Cunningham fronts a collective that ranges far beyond the confines of that genre, delivering euphoric, soulful electronic soundscapes that increasingly move into the realms of whipsmart pop. After exploring the darkness of lockdown with 2021’s ‘Visions Of Light’, it’s time for dancefloor bangers and a call to embrace the now with ‘Rituals’. They’ve been deservedly accumulating fans as they’ve expanded their sound and this feels like the right moment for them to break through. Even putting subtlety aside for a second, take a track like ‘Blinded’. It is – and I mean this as the greatest compliment, like a lost track from the untouchable earlier era of the Sugababes. It is futuristic electro pop with a pure vocal sound and emphatic chorus layers – it’s instantly captivating, hugely memorable and benefits from some volume.
‘Ezekiel’ is prime, nearly-exploding, euphoric dance pop with an addictive ability to build through the layers. There’s plenty of mid-paced bleepy goodness too, try ‘Madrid’ for that, and some fabulously lopsided swagger with frenetic live drumming on ‘The Rush / Let Go’. Thankfully, Shawn Joseph at Optimum has done a fine job of the mastering, keeping a wide, intricate soundstage without getting too lost in the bottom and preserving plenty of space above the speakers. It doesn’t reach out into the room but it can handle some cranking. A neon yellow Optimal pressing played near-silently for me and the gatefold sleeve is a delight. In a strong month, this stood out as an especially commanding highlight and it has made many repeat trips to the turntable.
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All titles reviewed above were cleaned before playback using the ultrasonic record cleaning machine, Degritter. A full review of its capabilities can be found in a previous column and you can find local dealers at www.degritter.com
Words: Gareth James (For more vinyl reviews and turntable shots, follow @JustPlayed on Twitter)
