In Love With The Light

More gems from this year's releases to distract from the drawing in of the sunsets and the drop in temperature as autumn beds in.

Richard Norris appears twice, firstly remixing Katy J Pearson's cover of Willow's Song from the classic film The Wicker Man then with Lightning Version, a 10-minute dub extravaganza from his Oracle Sound project. As a subscriber to Richard's music, which is worth every penny as it is, I was also recently the beneficiary of a free Oracle Sound T-shirt, which I'm happily modelling for today's selection.

A couple of purchases recommended this year by Swiss Adam at Bagging Area, who is always on the mark. Trotting the globe, New Zealand's Stinky Jim is remixed by British Columbia's Seekersinternational, featuring vocals by Nazamba aka George Scott, who sadly passed in July 2022. From there, it's a trip from Oxford to London via Mozambique as Steve Queralt and Michael Smith are remixed by Nandele Maguni.

 

Róisín Murphy's excellent Hit Parade album has been unfortunately overshadowed by her recent comments on social media, follow up response and what seems to have been a pulling back of promotion and support by record label Ninja Tune. The album, created in collaboration with DJ Koze, isn't quite as immediate as predecessor Róisín Machine but repeated listens reward.  

Dub Pistols have been around forever it seems though this is the first album of theirs that I've bought. Lots of dub and dancehall influences, unsurprisingly, with a great vocal turn from Natty Campbell, I can imagine this would go down a storm in a live setting. 

Jason Buckle's releases as JP Buckle have been a relatively recent discovery, including his quirky Covers mini-album/EP. The selections are quite heavily rooted in 1980s popular culture - Prince & The Revolution, Wham!, U2, Bruce Springsteen - with a few surprises such as a cover of Into The Garden, a 1981 song by post-punk Artery. Perhaps less of a surprise when you know that Jason Buckle is member of JARV Is... and Jarvis Cocker convinced Artery to reform and perform at the Meltdown Festival which he curated in 2007.

Pye Corner Audio possibly need no introduction if you've frequented these pages before. As I wrote last month, Martin Jenkins has released several superb pieces of music this year and the brilliantly-titled Cabaret Sauvage is just one example. I said at the time that the song "immediately strikes as lost Pink Industry outtake, with a striking bass line and synth effects that call to mind 1980s arcade games". 'Nuff said.

 

1) Willow's Song (Richard Norris Ritual Mix) (Cover of Magnet): Katy J Pearson (Willow's Song EP)

2) Steam Fish (Steam Veg Dub) (Remix By Seekersinternational): StinkyJim ft. Nazamba (Social Awareness: The Remixes)

3) Arabiklan (Högt I Tak Remix By Janne Berglund): James Rod (Synthetic Glory EP)

4) Can't Replicate (Album Version By DJ Koze aka Stefan Kozalla): Róisín Murphy (Hit Parade)

5) Moving On: Dub Pistols ft. Natty Campbell (Frontline)

6) Lightning Version: Richard Norris (Oracle Sound Volume One)

7) Cabaret Sauvage: Pye Corner Audio (Cabaret Sauvage EP)

8) Into The Garden (Cover of Artery): JP Buckle (Covers)

9) Vespertina (Nandele Remix By Nandele Maguni): Steve Queralt & Michael Smith (Sun Moon Town Versions)

In Love With The Light (57:49) (KF) (Mega)