This Side Of Low Tide

It's been a crappy week, no work/life balance to speak of, and the prospect of more rain, more work and a stinking headache that refuses to budge.

I don't know about you, but music is both a distraction and a salve, so I've created a 63-minute selection to start my Sunday in the best possible way.

A mish-mash of, er, more gentle sounds featuring the usual suspects: Rheinzand, Jesse Fahnestock aka 10:40, Transglobal Underground, Andres Y Xavi and Coyote remixing Jazxing.

I've also brought in some heavyweight legends, with Kid Loco and Kruder & Dorfmeister (dubbing up Bomb The Bass), plus a few rarities/obscurities from Cagedbaby aka Tom Gandey and The Acorn reinterpreted by Four Tet.

No mixing, no crass fading, just a sequence of songs that seems to go well together. 

Conversely, the cover art has absolutely nothing to do with the mix title.

1) The Gift Of Love (Album Version): Rheinzand (2022)

2) Evolution: Cagedbaby (2005)

3) Tumbling Down: 10:40 (2023)

4) Winter: Transglobal Underground (2021)

5) Restoration (Four Tet Remix By Kieran Hebden): The Acorn (2010)

6) Pearloma: Andres Y Xavi (2019)

7) Templos Del Sol (My Friend Dario Remix By Dario Aiello): Tambores En Benirras (2025)

8) The Wrong Number: Kid Loco (1997)

9) Vijnana (Coyote Whirling Dervish Remix By Richard Hampson & Timm Sure): Jazxing (2022)

10) Bug Powder Dust (Dub) (Remix By Peter Kruder & Richard Dorfmeister): Bomb The Bass ft. Justin Warfield (1994)

1998: A Grand Love Story (ltd 2x CD): 8

1998: The K&D Sessions™: 10

2005: Cagedbaby Will See You Now: 2

2010: Make The Least Of The Day: No Ghost Reinterpreted: 5

2019: Vibraciones Y Sentimientos: 6

2021: After Cinnamon: 4

2022: Atlantis Atlantis: 1

2022: Higher Love Vol. 2: 9

2023: Transition Theory: 3

2025: Ondas Horizontales Remixes Two EP: 7

This Side Of Low Tide (1:02:41) (GD) (M)

Break Chains, Don't Regret It

I'm feeling a lot of love for the Brighton-based Higher Love Recordings label, whose half dozen releases so far this year have been varied but beautiful gems.

Memories is a radio-friendly slice of pure pop from Polish pair Jazxing aka Jakub Sautycz and Mateusz Filipiuk, featuring Jakub Zwolan and Przemysław Bartoś on vocals. The Full Disco Purrefection Mix starts with synths, chords then congas, building and stretching out over nearly eight minutes. Lighter on vocals but heavier on groove, a perfect (purrefect, if you will) companion to the single version.

And We'd Be So Happy by Puerto Montt City Orchestra (Angus Murray and Tim Salter to their friends and family) is a heartwarming spoken word remembrance - by Tim's daughter Kitty - of family trips to the seaside, stuck in the car, eating homemade sarnies whilst the elements rage outside, but finding a simple pleasure and joy in the experience. As someone who spent many rain lashed summers on the sea front in South West England and Wales, I can relate!

Four mixes to choose from, all highly recommended, but I've plumped here for the Feelings Mix by Balearic Ultras aka Mike Bradbury and Ian Upfold, which strips everything back, eight minutes after the rain.

We're spoilt with not one but two releases so far this year from Hugo Nicolson. Field Of Dreams came in February, with superb remixes from David Holmes, Rude Audio and Hardway Bros. In June, Hugo followed up with the Black Stick EP, with three brand new tracks, plus a radio edit of lead track Little Kind.

Again, having to select just one to showcase here, I've gone for Zombie, lighter than than the other two tracks, Little Kind and Spanner, but don't mistake light for slight. Zombie has heft and a mesmerising melody, paired with an attitude that shouts 1985 as much as it does 2025, which is a very good thing. Hugo's on a real creative rip at present and I am very happy to see it continue.

Andres Y Xavi returned in September with the 4-track Cities EP. Joining Lagos (initially released as a standalone EP last October with new remixes of Bibbles) are New York, Chicago and then a transatlantic hop to Spain for the closing track.

Sant Antoni is a neighbourhood in Barcelona but this epic ten minutes and forty four seconds inevitably gives a wave to Sant Antoni De Portmany in Ibiza too, and feels at home in either setting...and your headphones, for that matter.

A new Andres Y Xavi release from Glenn Fallows and Steve Ellis is always something to look forward and the Cities EP will give even the armchair tourist the trip of a lifetime.

 

 

 

Showgaze Artifacts

This is the house directly opposite Casa K, ablaze with festive cheer, morning, noon and night (yes, it really is on 24/7). This set up has been in place since before the clocks went back, so if you're not feeling the festive cheer by now you must be a real Grinch, right? 

 

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that the main power cable is feeding through an open bedroom window on the right, so this family have been prepared to suffer some bloody cold nights for their art. Either that, or it's Santa's contigency plan given that they don't have a working chimney....

 

This time of year invariably has me thinking of (and wishing for) sunnier climes. I have managed to spend previous Christmas and New Year celebrations in Australia, Bali and the Canary Islands, the latter including Christmas 2019, little suspecting what was around the corner. However, no such plans for 2023: Clan K will be hosting at Casa K; I have one more week at work, then I won't be back there again until 2024. I cannot wait.

Whilst I may not be physically travelling south, there's plenty of music that will transport me there, not least the rather wonderful remix companion to Jazxing's debut album Pearls Of The Baltic Sea, which came out at the tail end of October. 

 

It's on the Higher Love Recordings label, so you know from the outset that you're in for a Balearic beauty and this doesn't disappoint. Mirroring the original album's sequencing, things get off to a superb start with Danilo Braca's nearly 13-minute rework of Fala. Gulls, lapping water, soothing wordless 'ooohs', saxophone and a steady, insistent beat that gently carries you forward.

 

I've selected four samples below, the opening track plus remixes by Andres y Xavi (like a lost Beth Orton backing track featuring Jah Wobble), Balearic Ultras (dialogue and synth stabs and washes in perfect harmony) and closing with Coyote (you know what to expect from this duo and you won't be disappointed). 

 

But really, it's so much more than just a remix album, it's a cohesive, considered reworking, each element working together beautifully and creating an album that's every bit as rewarding as the original.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pearls Of The Baltic Sea was originally released in September 2022 and is available to buy here. And if you're looking for further gift ideas for the one you love - even if that's yourself - then you can do no wrong by checking out the rest of the Higher Love Recordings catalogue.

 

I'd originally planned today's post to focus on film director Rob Reiner, seemingly another loss in a couple of weeks of almost-daily reports of celebrity deaths. It turns out that it was all a hoax perpetrated on Elon's social media shitshow. Ol' Musky really should have rebranded Twitter as Shitter, as that would be a more accurate description of it's current state.

 

Anyhoo, I was already some way into pulling together a Dubhed selection and it seems a waste not to finish the job and post it. No spoilers to say that if you come back tomorrow, in complete contrast to today's post, you'll get some musical nuggets with - what else? - a liberal helping of Spinal Tap.