Swiss Adam introduced me to Andres Y Xavi last year and their collaborations with Rolo McGinty (The Woodentops) were fantastic. What Do You See In Me originally appeared as a dub and it's just been released as an EP, with two further Xavi dubs and a trio of excellent Balearic remixes from Max Essa. I've gone for the full vocal to start things off, Rolo in fine form against a gentle acoustic backdrop and the promise of a beautiful summer to come.
Dan Wainwright, another Bagging Area recommendation, released his latest album From The Ground Up in January. Two listens in and I'm loving it. In the promo info Dan describes this as a very personal record that "tells a story through metaphor about being neurodiverse and learning to accept and love [himself] as being unique". If you've enjoyed Dan's music as I have, then this album takes it to whole other level.
I stumbled across Ribas Abbas whilst down a Bandcamp rabbit hole, and I'm glad I did. Based in Amsterdam, Ribas' music appears to be a mix of originals and re-edits, all available as a free/name your price download. I've started with two re-edits, one by Christine & The Queens and the other, featured here, a re-edit of Pilooski's 2015 song Completely Sun, featuring Jarvis Cocker.
In fact, you get three divine JCs for your trouble (though sadly not this one). Aside from Jarvis Cocker, Julian Cope and John Cale both get the re-edit/remix treatment, courtesy of Paisley Dark Records and their excellent Edits Box series. As is there weren't reason enough to buy, on Bandcamp Friday all of the artists agreed to donate every penny spent on releases to the fund raiser United Help Ukraine, with the label match funding donations up to £100.
I enthused about the new Trentemøller album, Memoria, last month but after streaming it for the last couple of weeks, I have finally got around to buying it. Lisbet Fritze is the perfect choice of vocalist for the album, as evidenced in current single, No More Kissing In The Rain.
On a similar retro vibe, I belated picked up The Divine Comedy's most recent album, Office Politics. Not what I expected - in a good way - with Neil Hannon channeling his inner Goldfrapp on this song. This is preceded by Sleaford Mods, remixed by the Hartnoll brothers to great effect. Parental advisory: you might want to skip this one as, true to form, there's a lot of effin' and jeffin' going on.
Xan Tyler makes a welcome return to these pages, following 2021's collaboration with Mad Professor, Clarion Call, which I loved. Whilst I'm looking forward to a new Xan Tyler album this year, this selection steps back to 2020 and Let It Come Down, essentially a solo project by legendary producer Kramer. So far, just the one album - Songs We Sang in Our Dreams - predominantly instrumentals with Xan providing vocals on a couple of tracks, including this beauty.
Closing the selection is the wonderful Dnipro by Ukrainian duo Ptakh_Jung, which I discovered earlier this week, and the brilliant Catherine Anne Davies aka The Anchoress. Following last month's cover of R.E.M., here is a wonderful version of The Tradition by Halsey, Davies accompanied by Charlie Cawood to haunting effect.
A perfect way to close the selection, and a prompt to further explore the vast musical soundscapes these artists have created. Buy now.
1) What Do You See In Me (Max Essa Extended Vocal Mix): Andres Y Xavi ft. Rolo McGinty (2022)
2) Underwater Cities: Dan Wainwright (2022)
3) Completely Sun (Ribas Abbas Remix): Pilooski ft. Jarvis Cocker (2020)
4) I Don't Rate You (Orbital Remix): Sleaford Mods (2021)
5) Infernal Machines (Album Version): The Divine Comedy (2019)
6) No More Kissing In The Rain: Trentemøller ft. Lisbet Fritze (2022)
7) They Were On Hard Drugs (Matt Gunn Edit): Julian Cope (2022)
8) Hush Hush: Horton Jupiter vs. John Cale (2021)
9) Don't Let It Go To Your Head: Cleo Sol (2021)
10) Pennies: Let It Come Down (Kramer & Xan Tyler) (2020)
11) Dnipro: Ptakh_Jung (2020)
12) The Tradition (Cover of Halsey): The Anchoress (2022)
No comments:
Post a Comment