Add To Basket

Having missed the last Bandcamp Friday and with a stack of albums on my list, here's a random selection of singles and remixes that will also be going in the basket this Friday, having grabbed my attention these past few weeks and months.

 

First in is Iraina Mancini. With influences described as "60s/70s, French pop, psychedelia, soul, garage, Ye-Ye Girls and vintage cinema" and backed by Pete Paphides, the odds were stacked that I would like Iraina's album Undo The Blue and I do. Sugar High was issued as a single and video last year, backed with a wonderful remix by Saint Etienne. The latter was re-released at the end of March with a brand new remix of the album's title track by Richard Norris and Erol Alkan, reunited as Beyond The Wizards Sleeve. I've gone for the Saint Etienne remix here, but really you can't do without both (or the album).

 

Toby Tobias resurrected his Casinoboy alias last year after several releases in the late 2000s. I'm not familiar with his previous music, but the 4-track EP he's released on Italian label Duca Bianco hits a sweet spot of Balearica, breakbeats and a 90s-style rap that just about treads the line between Stereo MCs and 2 Unlimited (!) Infectious.

 

A third London-based artist, albeit born in Italy and influenced by Jamaica, is a favourite of this blog, Daniele Gaudi, teaming up here with fellow Italian 3-piece Savana Funk for a 2-track single, Raha b/w Orewa. This is Afro-Cosmic-Disco that is brimming with funk and designed to get you moving. It succeeds.

 

 

Deep down to Australia now and Sydney-based duo Rachel Rutt and Ryan Grieve aka Heart People. I was only previously familiar with them from an Andrew Weatherall remix of their 2017 song Voices, which led me back to the source EP, Homecoming, and it's dub companion. In December 2023, the pair returned with the Adriatica EP. Musically, it reminds me of Mick Karn's solo music from the 1980s, but Rachel's voice adds an extra dimension, particularly on the title song.

 

My last pick is some Czech rap courtesy of Prague-based duo Mutanti Hledaj Východisko, which Google reliably informs me translates as Mutants Search For The Exit. Fotbal is taken from the album Puma, which is frankly an astonishing and bewildering mix of samples, sounds and styles. And the best album cover of the last twelve months, no question.