It’s a perfectly Bonobo album. Melodic and emotional electronic music.
Bonobo – Fragments
Bicep – Isles
Slow tempo melodic techno sound with straight beats and some breaks. But other than that it’s an epic classic of an electronic music record, that’s what it is. Every single day I have to realize that such evergreen music is still being released, continuously. I can see how this builds on everything from Four Tet to Rival Consoles and everything in between, but it stands so well in its own right. Beautiful music.
Machinedrum – Psyconia
Broken beat, drum and bass, hiphop, IDM, the common denominator is smoothness and a light heart. Like if it’s drum and bass then it’s liquid, if it’s hiphop then it’s soulful. These 26 minutes contain a whole summer’s many flavors in six tracks. It’s not a consistent record at all, more like a promo sampler for a festival, but there’s fun in all those tracks.
The Bug – Fire
That dubstep thing, like ten years never happened.
Julianna Barwick – Healing Is A Miracle
Peaceful, soothing, ethereal ambient with choirlike vocals. It keeps amazing me what comes out of the Ninja Tune roster sometimes.
Machinedrum – A View of U
I just finished the 2020 long player of Sub Focus and decided not to put it up here when this record followed and I thought, so this is the one that was meant to be. The same kind of accessible, easy to listen drum and bass electronic dance music but with just a little bit more sophistication and less sugarcoat. Although it’s still fluffy and light like a smokey Saturday afternoon. I feel so good that this is released by Ninja Tune: I could also say this is drum and bass through the Ninja’s lens, as in that being quality assurance.
A Winged Victory for the Sullen – The Undivided Five
Beautiful peaceful ambient.
Marie Davidson – Working Class Woman
This album is part hilarious and part fascinating. Work It is something I cannot not re-listen any number of times, it is like a caricature of a motivational speech but it actually does feel motivating. And The Tunnel is creepy like hell, it’s like an audio version of a horror movie and not in a sense that there are horroresque soundtrack elements in it but the atmosphere and words hit nails under my nails. Overall the whole record is that great kind of avantgarde with minimal wave synth sounds where the words deliver meaning even if they sound dadaist at times. It’s artsy but works.
The Cinematic Orchestra – To Believe
Intimate, slow, cinematic, orchestral. The favorite track is the one with Roots Manuva, there’s a powerful arch in this one.
Leon Vynehall – Nothing Is Still
Downtempo, ambient, on the brink of modern composition but still the electronic music kind and not the classical music version. It is a nice ride as a concept album and also great vibe for work. With a last record of house beats this one as a first after Vynehall’s moving to Ninja Tune is an exciting twist, we’ll see what comes around next if he sticks to the ninjas.