DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: µ-ziq XTEPThis is first official release from British IDM pioneer µ-Ziq (aka Mike Paradinas) in close to six years. Having kept himself busy with various projects, including Heterotic (his synth-pop/dance hybrid with Lara Rix-Martin), and, of course, being the Planet Mu label boss. Planet Mu is releasing...Read More
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Sad City You Will Soon Find That Life Is WonderfulThis mini-album from Glasgow, UK-based Gary Caruth (under the moniker Sad City) is the first release in 2013 for Phonica's Special Editions series. Less than half-an-hour-long, Caruth presents four blissed-out tracks full of swirling synths, sun-soaked haze and muted beats. The synths on "Polymath"...Read More
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Paula Temple ColonizedAstonishingly, Paula Temple is the first female artist to be signed to the R&S label in the three decades of the legendary Belgium label's existence, and Colonized is prime R&S material. Temple's releases under her name may have been frightfully sparse over the past decade, but the Leeds,...Read More
NEWS: Kieran Hebden Looks Back on Four Tet's 'Rounds'It's been 10 years since Domino released Rounds by Four Tet. To commemorate the occasion, the label is reissuing the influential 2003 album, along with a live set recorded the following year in Copenhagen. It was Rounds that made Four Tet's name, and it still stands up as amongst his...Read More
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Four Tet RoundsIt's been ten years since Four Tet (aka London, UK's Kieran Hebden) gave us Rounds, his emotive slice of crate-digging electronica and follow-up to the equally excellent Pause. Domino is commemorating the occasion with a reissue of the often melancholic, hip-hop-, folk- and...Read More
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Dalhous An Ambassador For LaingYou may have noticed that there's something building in the UK lately around several acts producing dark, cinematic almost-techno. Just like during that other wave of dark, hopeless music in the early '80s, the UK economy is still in crisis, the Tories are up to their usual tricks and that...Read More
INTERVIEWS: Colin Stetson Light in the DarknessGiven the avant-garde nature of Colin Stetson's work, it's a welcome surprise that his music has been so well-received by audiences not necessarily steeped in experimental music. His exposure from playing with dozens of acts from Tom Waits to Arcade Fire has undoubtedly helped, but it's down to a...Read More
INTERVIEWS: Four TetIt was Pause, Kieran Hebden's second album as Four Tet, that first got him attention in the UK, but it was Rounds, released in 2003, that made the British producer famous internationally and cemented his reputation as both an electronic producer and songwriter to watch out for. A...Read More
NEWS: Poirier Talks the Boundary SoundMontreal producer Ghislain Poirier has always been about blurring genres and breaking down boundaries. His music as Poirier blends elements of electronica with rhythms from soca, hip-hop and dancehall and his album Running High won him a Juno nomination in 2011. Poirier's new project as...Read More
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: The Knife Shaking the HabitualYou can't accuse Swedish siblings the Knife of becoming stagnant, musically or otherwise. In addition to Karin Dreijer Andersson's solo output as Fever Ray and the duo's recent out-there opera (in collaboration with fellow oddballs Mt. Sims and Planningtorock), Olof Dreijer also found time to get...Read More
IMPROV & AVANT-GARDE REVIEWS: Olafur Arnalds For Now I Am WinterMulti-instrumentalist and contemporary classical composer Ólafur Arnalds, known for his solo work, Hollywood soundtracks and collaborations with Nils Frahm, brings us his latest release, the aptly titled For Now I Am Winter. His third full-length to date, it features orchestral arrangements...Read More
SOUL, FUNK & WORLD REVIEWS: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba Jama koMalian musician Bassekou Kouyaté has an unquestionable pedigree when it comes to African blues. An expert ngoni player, he's performed alongside such luminaries as Toumani Diabaté and Taj Mahal (the latter featured here on penultimate track "Poye 2"), as well as being one of the key musicians on...Read More
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Boundary BoundaryBoundary is the new moniker for the Juno-nominated Ghislain Poirier (usually known as simply Poirier), who steps out of his familiar electronic dancehall territory to bring us a 13-track album of minimal techno. Unlike the recent resurgence in dark, banging, dystopian techno, Boundary is far more...Read More
INTERVIEWS: Depeche ModeBritish synth-pop pioneers Depeche Mode have just released Delta Machine, their 13th studio album, and at this stage in their career, the band needs little introduction, having toured worldwide and recorded for over three decades now. Delta Machine was recorded in California and New...Read More
INTERVIEWS: BoundaryGhislain Poirier steps out from his dancehall milieu to drop this techno album as Boundary. Bright, cinematic and heavily digital — several analogue synth parts aside — Boundary is more akin to the output of early Warp or underground Finnish producer Ukkonen than the canon of Detroit or...Read More
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Heterotic Love & DevotionThis is the debut release from Heterotic, the husband and wife team of Mike Paradinas (aka IDM producer µ-Ziq and Planet Mu label boss) and Lara Rix-Martin. Four of the eight tracks on the album feature the lyrics and vocals of Nick Talbot (otherwise known as Gravenhurst). Blending contemporary...Read More
SOUL, FUNK & WORLD REVIEWS: Sheila Rickards Jamaican Fruit of African RootsSeveral years back, Australian ex-pat Chris Flanagan (aka DJ and reggae enthusiast Earl Grey) came across a mysterious track by a young Jamaican singer (mis-credited to Shella Record) on a reggae compilation released locally in Toronto in the mid-'70s. The track struck such a chord with Flanagan...Read More
This is first official release from British IDM pioneer µ-Ziq (aka Mike Paradinas) in close to six years. Having kept himself busy with various projects, including Heterotic (his synth-pop/dance hybrid with Lara Rix-Martin), and, of course, being the Planet Mu label boss. Planet Mu is releasing...Read More
This mini-album from Glasgow, UK-based Gary Caruth (under the moniker Sad City) is the first release in 2013 for Phonica's Special Editions series. Less than half-an-hour-long, Caruth presents four blissed-out tracks full of swirling synths, sun-soaked haze and muted beats. The synths on "Polymath"...Read More
Astonishingly, Paula Temple is the first female artist to be signed to the R&S label in the three decades of the legendary Belgium label's existence, and Colonized is prime R&S material. Temple's releases under her name may have been frightfully sparse over the past decade, but the Leeds,...Read More
It's been 10 years since Domino released Rounds by Four Tet. To commemorate the occasion, the label is reissuing the influential 2003 album, along with a live set recorded the following year in Copenhagen. It was Rounds that made Four Tet's name, and it still stands up as amongst his...Read More
It's been ten years since Four Tet (aka London, UK's Kieran Hebden) gave us Rounds, his emotive slice of crate-digging electronica and follow-up to the equally excellent Pause. Domino is commemorating the occasion with a reissue of the often melancholic, hip-hop-, folk- and...Read More
You may have noticed that there's something building in the UK lately around several acts producing dark, cinematic almost-techno. Just like during that other wave of dark, hopeless music in the early '80s, the UK economy is still in crisis, the Tories are up to their usual tricks and that...Read More
Given the avant-garde nature of Colin Stetson's work, it's a welcome surprise that his music has been so well-received by audiences not necessarily steeped in experimental music. His exposure from playing with dozens of acts from Tom Waits to Arcade Fire has undoubtedly helped, but it's down to a...Read More
Forming the final part in Stetson's New History Warfare trilogy, To See More Light is comparable, both stylistically and thematically, to its 2011 Polaris Music Prize-nominated predecessor. In a similar manner to Judges, it was recorded, for the most part, live in one take,...Read More
Montreal producer Ghislain Poirier has always been about blurring genres and breaking down boundaries. His music as Poirier blends elements of electronica with rhythms from soca, hip-hop and dancehall and his album Running High won him a Juno nomination in 2011. Poirier's new project as...Read More
You can't accuse Swedish siblings the Knife of becoming stagnant, musically or otherwise. In addition to Karin Dreijer Andersson's solo output as Fever Ray and the duo's recent out-there opera (in collaboration with fellow oddballs Mt. Sims and Planningtorock), Olof Dreijer also found time to get...Read More
Multi-instrumentalist and contemporary classical composer Ólafur Arnalds, known for his solo work, Hollywood soundtracks and collaborations with Nils Frahm, brings us his latest release, the aptly titled For Now I Am Winter. His third full-length to date, it features orchestral arrangements...Read More
Stylistically, Who's Gonna get the Ball from behind the Wall of the Garden Today? is an impossible album to pin down. Starting off with a two-minute organ dirge worthy of a Giallo flick, second track "Yas Nas," a traditional Kuwaiti song, is an irresistible Arabic stomper with a heavy piano...Read More
Malian musician Bassekou Kouyaté has an unquestionable pedigree when it comes to African blues. An expert ngoni player, he's performed alongside such luminaries as Toumani Diabaté and Taj Mahal (the latter featured here on penultimate track "Poye 2"), as well as being one of the key musicians on...Read More
Boundary is the new moniker for the Juno-nominated Ghislain Poirier (usually known as simply Poirier), who steps out of his familiar electronic dancehall territory to bring us a 13-track album of minimal techno. Unlike the recent resurgence in dark, banging, dystopian techno, Boundary is far more...Read More
British synth-pop pioneers Depeche Mode have just released Delta Machine, their 13th studio album, and at this stage in their career, the band needs little introduction, having toured worldwide and recorded for over three decades now. Delta Machine was recorded in California and New...Read More
This is the debut release from Heterotic, the husband and wife team of Mike Paradinas (aka IDM producer µ-Ziq and Planet Mu label boss) and Lara Rix-Martin. Four of the eight tracks on the album feature the lyrics and vocals of Nick Talbot (otherwise known as Gravenhurst). Blending contemporary...Read More
Several years back, Australian ex-pat Chris Flanagan (aka DJ and reggae enthusiast Earl Grey) came across a mysterious track by a young Jamaican singer (mis-credited to Shella Record) on a reggae compilation released locally in Toronto in the mid-'70s. The track struck such a chord with Flanagan...Read More
