ALBUMSREVIEWS 8.0
House Of Black Lanterns Kill The Lights Houndstooth Not light, not house
Oooft! Dylan Richards has a knack for blending drum & bass, dancehall, techno, and horror soundtracks into disturbing musical dystopias, as evidenced by his King Cannibal and ZILLA guises. The veteran producer returns as House Of Black Lanterns, a new moniker that fuses his signature full-on aesthetic with dub and subtlety, perhaps influenced by his recent move from South London to Berlin. Pop even dares to make an appearance on tracks like ‘Names’ and ‘Shot You Down’, which feature catchy and pristine vocals offset by chord structures that weave between the unexpected and obvious. ‘I’ll Wait For You’ carries a distinctly Teutonic sound pitted against what sounds like the musings of a serial killer in stalking mode. Many of the more techno tracks contain similarly disconcerting vocals centred around obsession, carrying the overbearing feeling of foreshadow and doom. Zara Wladawsky
10
Shuggie Otis Inspiration Information/Wings Of Love Sony
Inspired funk odysseys
Shuggie rose to moderate fame in the 1970s with tunes like psychedelic soul masterpiece ‘Strawberry Letter 23’ and the under-appreciated album ‘Inspiration Information’, the latter of which has now been reissued with another new album, ‘Wings Of Love’, comprised of unreleased genuine gems. The original album, sampled and cited by everyone from Outkast and Pharrell to Flying Lotus and Jamie Lidell, is a kaleidoscopic extravaganza, blending psyche rock, mellow easy listening vibes, weird drum machine experiments and folk funk glories like ‘Aht Uh Mi Hed’, while the new disc is just astonishing. ‘Special’, from 1980, could be Prince flying his freak flag high, a liquid, lissom killer groove, while the title track is a Balearic beast of OTT synth chords, Isley Brothers power and a Hendrix guitar wig-out.
Incredible.Ben Murphy
quIckIES
Stimming Stimming Diynamic 8.0
Winning with Stimming
His label boss may be ever more becoming an Ibiza party DJ, but Dynamic’s Stimming remains as inventive as ever with his latest LP. The German’s trademark, skewed and synthetic textures, organic found sounds and kinked tech house beats remain both fresh and exciting. Kristan J
Caryl SIS
Confidence Cocolino 7.0
Soulful and worldly
SIS managed a quick ascent several years ago after he caught the ear of Ricardo Villalobos, and here he’s intriguingly conceptualized his second long-player around his experience as a horse whisperer. Rich, soulful techno that works plenty of international vibes into its lush
frame. Angus Paterson
Cloud Boat Book Of Hours Apollo 5.0
Cloudbusted
After opening with an utterly promising slice of ethereal garage (‘Lions On The Beach’), ‘Book Of Hours’ descends into probably the most drearily dour James Blake imitation we’re yet to come across. Without the opener, we’d be none the wiser — instead we’re left
iamamiwhoami Bounty To Whom It May Concern 9.0
Bountiful a/v pop 9.0
Jon Hopkins Immunity Domino Chill-out favorite rears a techno beast
Ambient-leaning electronic producer Jon Hopkins is best known for his work with Coldplay on ‘Viva La Vida’, but don’t let that put you off. Far from glow-stick waving, his last album — 2009’s critically acclaimed ‘Insides’ — dealt some hefty, mangled-dubstep blows and earned him a Mercury Music Prize nomination. New (and fifth) solo album, ‘Immunity’, is surprisingly even more heavyweight. The first half breathtakingly builds and builds as if it’s the most epic night out, then soothes like a glass of Alka-Seltzer the morning after, fizzing with cinematic, celestial harmonics and gently simmering soundscapes. In places, ‘Immunity’ is brutally industrial — note the thwacking drums and white-knuckled synths of ‘We Disappear’ and ‘Open Eye Signal’ — but there’s no escaping its Spandex-tight groove, which culminates in astounding and subtly euphoric techno slayer, ‘Collider’. You won’t want the night to end, we promise. Kate Hutchinson
07
djmag.com4
The Heliocentrics 13 Degrees Of Reality Now-Again Solar flair
Imagine Can jamming with Ornette Coleman in Andy Warhol’s Factory. What you’re imagining is pretty much what David Holmes went for on ‘Bow Down To The Exit Sign’, a record which shares as much musical ground with The Heliocentrics’ new album as their recent collaborations with world jazz artists Mulatu Astatke and Lloyd Miller, or 2007’s debut ‘Out There’. For whilst there are odd echoes of their previous astral jazz explorations in ‘Calabash’, most of ’13 Degrees Of Reality’ is licking the gutter rather than circling the stars, with tracks like ‘Wrecking Ball’ layering distorted guitar over the jerky rhythmic interplay of core members Malcolm Catto and Jake Ferguson. It’s a dark, intense record as paranoid and labyrinthine as some of the conspiracy theories that crop up as spoken word interludes, whilst also being far more credible than anything you’d find in the mind of David Icke. Paul Clarke
8.0
The Swedish duo anonymously released successive viral videos in 2010 that are now seeing release on DVD/ CD as ‘Bounty’. The songwriting is Scandinavian synth- pop catchiness with wildly original vocal production, but the album’s real genius shines through when watched from start to finish as the multimedia
experience it was created to be. Zara Wladawsky Armin van Buuren Intense Armada Music 7.5
Underground arena
DJ Mag’s reigning Top 100 #1 returns with an album that reflects equally Armin’s desire to experiment, as it does his leanings towards sugary pop crossover. Thanks to some impressively assured production, he finds the balance better than ever on ‘Intense’ between his trance scene
leviathan status, and his desire to explore new avenues of mass appeal. Angus Paterson Wookie Wookie and Exemen Reworks: The Anthology Part 1 Manchu Recordings 6.5
Wookie monsta
About time the major labels caught up with the UK garage revival. Still, few will turn their nose up at remixes of MJ Cole, Gabrielle, Sia and 4Hero from the scene’s godfather, under both his
repeAtTHE LPS WE CAN’T LEAVE ALONE...
James Teej Eight Bit Ocean Last Night On Earth 9.0
Sasha protege spins a posh trance lesson.
Extensions Of Yesterday Circus Company 8.0
Circus Company boss’ second LP is timeless.
Franck Roger
Owiny Sigoma Band Power Punch!!!
Brownswood Recordings 9.0
UK bass meets Kenya on this musical masterpiece.
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