Author: Matt Oliver

Compilation Review: ‘Late Night Tales – Friendly Fires’ (Late Night Tales)

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★★★★☆

There aren’t many other places you’re gonna find an eclectically personal, non-zany selection by relevant artists in the spotlight, who can chronicle the common ground held by Bibio, SBTRKT, Cocteau Twins and Olivia Newton-John. All held together with a sparkle hovering around the UK band’s post-party pot pourri, even when its funking the hardest (Renee’s “Change Your Style”), Friendly Fires can be found dancing around their living room having cracked open the after dinner mints. Flailing to the camp disco of Dennis Parker takes care of the guilty pleasures, before sensual deep house from Iron Galaxy restores decorum, reaches for the holiday slides and acts like the previous outburst should be filed confidential. Or a different set of substances have just kicked in.

Chunky sunset beats see Bibio and Stereolab easing you down with conviction, as FF begin burning candles at both ends, all the while staying proactive and moulding their miscellany with gentle thought. After a touch of fantasy from Laurel Halo, it’s obvious that the question “you know what we need right now” has entered conversation as DJ Sprinkles gets the party re-energized. But once the back end of the mix is coddled by ethereal shoegaze and baggy floweriness from Grouper, Melody’s Echo Chamber and Slowdive, the band are back in their rocking chairs with heads swimming. Thanks to Friendly Fires, here’s something you’ll be reaching for when a party becomes a sleepover.

File under: Foals, Metronomy, Mystery Jets

Compilation Review: Daniel Avery / ‘FabricLive 66’ (Fabric)

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★★★★☆

Daniel Avery sounds like he’s moving to every beat, feeding off crowd energy, turning every button push and cross fade into an aerobics class. Fabric’s route 66 selector is no idle focal point, though his hands don’t get carried away, trained to teach at tech-house central. With barely a discernible hook to grab hold of for the duration — the kind of set that you come away from buzzing, if completely unable to name a stand-out track or high point — the crowd are kept up for 76 eventful minutes. Featuring plenty of the DJs own stock (Avery’s “Naive Reception” ping-ponging between speakers), it pumps with relentless flavor without being manic, and funks with a tough outer shell that the spinner is unabashed about, eventually making it see the mix home.

Simian Mobile Disco’s “Supermoon” catches ears with its euphoric synth rockets to the moon, well set up by the party-feeding “You Think You Think” by Sneaker. After a literal pause trying to split the mix into sides, the second half feels less ‘interactive’ and with heads clamped down more. Avery’s “Water Jump” heavies up the vibe with bassy breakbeat leading into gruffness from James Welsh and Forward Strategy Group, and a deathly lull between Morgan Hammer & Matt Walsh swarms over the arena to turn the early grins into appreciative grimaces.

File under: Nautiluss, Justin Robertson, Erol Alkan

Album Review: Miguel Campbell / ‘Back in Flight School’ (Hot Creations)

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★★★★☆

Feel the French filter grooving, the disco glare and the sharp electro cuts of ’80s cloth, and the glamorous lifestyle of first class air travel. Miguel Campbell is a man making expensive dance floor taste affordable for all, like he’s treating everyone to duty free. The whiff of cheese you may detect is more a charm not taking itself too seriously, with a playboy’s wink and a straightening of the collar. When the UK producer steps onto the runway, best believe there’ll be a flock of autograph hunters waiting to greet him.

Tapping into the essence of the high life with rhythms both warm and brushing its shoulder (“Love Electric”), the need for a female touch to rein in the ego (“Not that Kind of Girl,” the synth crème deluxe “Boy”) is responded to by the outright of irresistibility of funk – stepping beats and basslines found hanging in the hepcats lounge. “Into Your High” and its wavy guitar loop will have you checking Campbell’s passport as to whether he’s part of a Gallic family tree.

As the cologne wears off, the tracklist could have been whittled down by one or two, with the rap inclusion “Life,” though maintaining the style, an obvious candidate for eviction, added to Campbell occasionally getting slightly lost with a handful of beats circling no man’s land. Tis but minor turbulence, and there’s no reason why this shouldn’t board a 2012 best-of list.

File under: MAM, Kris Menace, Junior Jack

Album Review: Pangaea / ‘Release’ (Hessle Audio)

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★★★★☆

Pangaea is part of the cutting edge brat pack so upfront on the darkside that most don’t realize their reinvention of cyclical styles past. Kevin McAuley, subscriber to the triple H threat of Hessle Audio, Hemlock and Hot Flush, builds a mini-album/double EP around this very theory, leaving him open to being championed in tastemaking circles populated by roughneck badbwoys.

Bass is let off as a series of controlled explosions between two-step and dubstep with a range of techno hallmarks, fired so that any thoughts of being enigmatic or even cerebral are explicitly banished. A rather too simple sample of Missy Elliott confirms, wound around bassy lift-off “Game” which involves low ends from bygone jungle. “Aware” considers its covert options, and would be were it not so loud, while end track “High” is Pangaea entering hibernation with a sculpture that’s actually of little use to the package.

Sinking lower and lower until sloping shoulder deep into a sticky predicament, “Trouble” goes so undercover that it starts believing its role of grunting lawbreaker, yanked back upwards by the fluid 4×4 firebrand “Majestic 12.” Throwing all pretence of moodiness to the wall, there’s a feel-good factor that’ll still stir up all underground urchins. Detonating from the edge, “Middleman” keeps the firepower and alters the pressure by finding space, obliterating many an EDM observer as it goes.

File under: Blawan, Pearson Sound, Martyn