Angels of Love – Joe Morris

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Joe Morris drop a stunning four tracker on Higher Love Recordings out of Brighton, UK

Joe Morris has carved out a niche for himself by offering up a multitude of alluring tracks that gloriously cover a range of moods. Gentle, melody laden and rich in atmosphere, Joe’s style is sometimes melancholic and often euphoric, yet forged in deeply emotive textures and musicianship. And so it continues with ‘Angles of Love’, a welcome outing on Brighton’s increasingly essential Higher Love Recordings imprint. Four tracks encompass Joe’s production mantra by deftly weaving together ultra deep spacey house music that infuses warm ambience and new age sonics.

We open up with Angels of Love, the sunrise and dawn chorus atmospherics combine to a whispered vocal before locking into a classic dream house groove. Moments In The Snow with it’s twinkling stars FX, gentle cosmic keys and soft percussive elements lead to a euphoric arpeggio that elevates the track above the heavens. Solina takes us to the far reaches of the cosmos; it’s deep sub bass, M1 harps and soaring pads drift over the swinging broken beat groove for an otherworldly journey. Subaquatic continues the languid, deep tone by concluding the EP with a tropical atmosphere, alluring keys melting into heavenly strings and chimes that all float away to a new age dream.

Releases March 26, 2021 buy via Bandcamp below or here.

Chris Coco & George Solar – Lagrimas De San Lorenzo

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The Balearic brethren are back again, bringing the sound of Summer with this beautiful guitar lead two tracker, another essential soundtrack for your escapist journeys, be they real or virtual.

‘With “Lagrimas De San Lorenzo” Chris Coco & George Solar channel their inner star child in order to complete their summer Island phenomena tribute trilogy in style.

Following up on the dub infused “Noche De San Juan” and the rather tropical jazz  smoothie “September On The Island”, this time it’s all about getting lost in cosmic stargazing: the quite impressive “Tears of San Lorenzo” occur as an intense Perseid meteor shower night time spectacle all across the Mediterranean each year around mid august – and this is their rather adequate soundtrack. A star struck one.

This time around, the crisp beat section touches the more hip active mid tempo regions, with spacey synths & funky organic percussion layers carrying a light yet pretty profound jazz guitar skywards… the latter contributed by Argentinian born & Ibiza based Virtuoso Mathias Kamelman aka Kamelmat exclusively for the occasion. 

And so it’s time again soon to gather on that island and get together under the moon & the stars in order to celebrate life. All the tears shed on warm summer nights like that are destined to be tears of pure joy. Look up there… or just ask Lorenzo!’

Released March 19, 2021 via Bandcamp – link below

Falling That You Know – JIM

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Essential new EP from ‘JIM’ that’s James Baron of Crazy P, a move away from the dancefloor into singer / songwriter territory. Out now via Bandcamp, see link below to listen & buy.

‘Since first emerging as part of Crazy P in the late 1990s, James Baron has released a lot of great music. However, he’s previously put out very little quite like the Falling They You Know EP, his first solo outing as JIM on NuNorthern Soul.

As those who’ve followed his career closely will tell you, Baron has worked on a number of lauded projects outside of Crazy P, including Ron Basejam (his nu-disco focused solo alias), Secret Stealth (a sample-heavy collaboration with Nottingham stalwart Bob Sadler) and White Elephant (a Balearic-minded outfit featuring Crazy P partner Chris Todd and old friend Benjamin Smith).

The FALLING THAT YOU KNOW EP sees Baron exploring an explicitly stripped-back, sensatory and soft-focus sound. It features a quartet of hazy home recordings created using little more than an acoustic guitar, piano, keyboard and some toy instruments belonging to his children. The music stretched across the EP is warming, wide-eyed and picturesque, with Baron showcasing his rarely heard singing voice as well as a finger-picking guitar style he’s spent the best part of 18 months perfecting.

Those with a wide-ranging musical palette will spot subtle sonic references to some of Baron’s lesser-known musical inspirations, including singer-songwriters Ned Doheny and Nick Drake. There’s a folksy, homespun charm to the campfire-ready bliss of loved-up opener ‘Falling That You Know’, where Baron delivers his own thoughtful lyrics atop shuffling shaker percussion, layered acoustic guitar, smooth bass, synth-strings and sustained piano chords.

Arguably even more impressive is ‘Phoenix’, a swelling, simmering and sweeping semi-acoustic cover of the Cult track of the same name featuring backing vocals from Crazy P chanteuse Danielle Moore. Magical and mesmerizing, Baron’s version takes the goth-rock classic in a stunning, sunset-ready new direction.

Baron’s dedication to the finger-picking style long associated with British and American folk music comes to the fore on ‘Whisper in the Wind’, a future early evening singalong that gently builds across six spellbinding minutes. From a delicate and pared-back start, Baron layers up instrumentation including additional guitar by White Elephant’s Benjamin Smith, drums courtesy of Crazy P sticks-man Matt Klose, and his own mazy, spacey synth lines.

Then there’s closing cut ‘You Know What To Say’, an effortlessly emotive, tactile and atmospheric affair that cannily distils all that is good about Baron’s latest solo venture into three magical minutes. It offers a near perfect end to an EP of rare pastoral beauty.’

Jamu – Chris Coco

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Lovely new album release from Chris Coco, file under ambient / deep listening / jazz / cosmic / balearic. Perfectly timed for the return of the sun, slow burning deepness that’ll reward some time and repeated listens, get it at Bandcamp link above and get your best headphones ready for a treat…

‘This is a new album project called Jamu. It is the second collection from Chris Coco inspired by the magical island of Bali, following on from the 2017 album Return To Good Karma. The title is the name of a drink made of local herbs sold by street vendors that is good for health and vitality. I hope we have created a musical version of that healthy juice with our particular variety of ingredients.

This project was made in collaboration with a close group of musician friends. Each person played their part separately on the simple original grooves and soundscapes, inspired by the rhythm or what the last player or singer had laid down. We built a ‘live’ sound without ever playing together. After that I used the live parts to edit and process to eventually create the finished work.’

Released March 5, 2021

September On The Island – George Solar Chris Coco

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Balearic legends Chris Coco and George Solar have just released a cracking follow up to their smash October collaboration ‘Noche de San Juan‘. This time they’re celebrating my favourite month to visit Ibiza with ‘September on the Island’, a shimmering, jazzy dubwise slice of late summer soul. Best listened to from a sleepy bar with a glass of Hierbas and a view of Es Vedra I’d say, get involved via Bandcamp link below.

Release date 15/1/21

Celestial Hike EP – Mike Salta & Mortale

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To round off another year of sun-kissed, soul-soothing musical adventures, NuNorthern Soul has turned to studio partners Mike Salta and Marty Mortale, a Denmark-based duo with decades of production experience behind them.

A superb four track EP from Mike Salta & Mortale on Phil Cooper’s NuNorthern Soul label. It might be grey and damp here in the UK right now but this release in pure Summer and sunshine, flawless quality from first to last. Get on the pre-order now via Bandcamp link below…

New Mixtape for Dartmouth Arms / Disappearing Dining Club

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It was an honour to be invited to create a mixtape for the lovely crew at the Dartmouth Arms / Disappearing Dining Club, as they’ve previously shared mixes from some top selectors like Ray Mang, Phil Cooper, Moonboots, Chris Coco, Pete Gooding, Phil Mison and their excellent residents Neil Thornton and Stuart Langley. Their taste in music is matched the quality of their venue and the hospitality they offer, all top quality from the vintage Celestion soundsystem to the stylish modern cooking, get along if you get the chance. It’s two hours of super chilled, beautiful music, enjoy…

Tracklist…

1. The Soft Rain Falls – Chris Coco

2. Starlight Lullaby – Los Days

3. Sunset Village – Beverly Glenn Copeland

4. The Eighth Wave – Suzanne Ciani

5. Pleasure Joy & Happiness – Eddie Chacon

6.Un Vida Llarga I Tranquila – Joan Bibiloni

7. Pharoah – RAS

8.Give the Light Back to the Night – Plastic Fantastic (Feat. Sally Rodgers)

9. Noche de San Juan – George Solar & Chris Coco

10. Liquid Deep – Dreamcast

11. King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown – Braces Tower Dub

12. Patchouli – James Bright

13.Starseeds  – Seahawks

14. Reclaim Landscape – Clandestino Beach Version – OOFT

15. Citations – Mildlife

16. Honey Rooftops – Blair French

17. The Advisory Circle – Sundial

18.Pharaohs – Tears for Fears

19.Conversational – Domenic Leone

20.Cafe del Mar – Frank Fischer

21. Tinseltown in the Rain – The Blur Nile

22. Regnantem Sempiterna – Jan Garbarek & the Hilliard Ensemble

23. After the Storm – Greg Foat

Leonidas & Hobbes, ‘Aranath’ EP

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Leonidas & Hobbes make a timely return with ‘Aranath‘ EP, 3 years after ‘Web Of Intrigue’ (from 3rd EP Rags Of Time) was voted No1 in Bill Brewster’s 2017 DJ History poll.  Delivering a follow-up to many people’s 2017 summer anthem has been something of a protracted process, not least due to Covid and the 400 miles between us.  

A cracking package that is being launched as a Kickstarter project with loads of lovely merch and extras to enjoy, get behind it here.

Aranath features the hugely talented multi-instrumentalist Riad Abji and his virtuoso cello & tanpura raga, which inspired us to create 4 mixes, combining Riad’s eastern lament with classic house and ambient techno. The release is complemented by the tropical flavours of ‘Into It’ and ‘Out Of It’. The previously unreleased ambient mix of ‘Web of Intrigue’ (digital-only bonus track) from ‘Rags of Time’ rounds off what can certainly be described as a ‘deep’ release.

The sleeve art was inspired by an Indian painting from the 19th Century and created over the course of many obsessive evenings at the height of lockdown (as was some of the audio). Needless to say, the whole project has helped to keep us both sane through these crazy months.

A limited edition vinyl record will be pressed up, featuring our signature in the run-out groove/dead wax, in a full colour sleeve with 3mm spine, shrink-wrapped (PLUS download code, including 3 bonus tracks – NB This includes an 8 min ‘Edit’ of ‘Aranath’ (Original Mix).

Cosmic Sailing – My Friend Dario

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Another top quality release from Phil Cooper’s NuNorthern Soul label drops 27/11/20, ‘Cosmic Sailing’ from My Friend Dario is a beauty. Channelling vintage 90’s Italo dreamhouse for a contemporary Balearic audience, it’s a shimmering, Summery slice of rythmn and melody. Available on vinyl and digital pre-order now. Turning my rainy corner of southern England into a mediteranean dream with echoes of Sueno Latino and Mr Marvin, it’s a yes from me 🙂