downbeat Archives - Page 2 of 3

Track: Skinshape – ‘Losing My Mind’: charting lockdown in blissful six-string shimmer

DORSET’S languid, blissful Skinshape, the musical mask of Will Dorey, released two excellent and very different albums as 2020 ground us down elsewhere: the Afropop highlife stylings of Umoja, and…

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ALBUM REVIEW: Madlib – ‘Sound Ancestors’: beats genii’s wide-eyed, wide-open odyssey

Madlib's Sound Ancestors, produced by Four Tet, is the beats genii's wide-eyed, wide-open odyssey. Like a fractal pattern, the deeper you focus and the more you pull out, the more you see

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SEE: Post Coal Prom Queen – ‘Salt’: a cool, dystopian synthpop opener

FORMERLY the creative heart behind L-space, the electronic alt.pop outfit who released three albums from 2018 up to last year, Lily Higham and Gordon Johnstone have cleaved away into a…

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SEE: The animation for Kratos Himself’s ‘Shift’: complex beatz atmospheres

KRATOS HIMSELF is the singular musical vision of Jethro Kratos Hopmans, whose mission is to meld icy electronics, potent cinematic beats and an expansive library of sound recordings in order…

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ALBUM REVIEW: Skinshape – ‘Arrogance Is The Death Of Men’: chilled guitar odysseys

Arrogance Is The Death Of Men is such a different creature to Skinshape's last, Umoja. It's got that guitar thing going that Will does so wonderfully; lyrically, you can hear the catharsis of this year, the trials and tribulations. It's a lovely record full of emotion and guitar that helps usher in the end of this year. Win.

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TRACK: Skinshape – ‘Another Day’: second languid cut teases for the December album

IT’S BEEN days, mere days, since Will Dorey, the quiet, guitar-playing minor genius behind Skinshape, dropped his last single, Arrogance Is The Death Of Men – a sun-blissed shuffle, languid…

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TRACK: Skinshape – ‘Arrogance Is The Death Of Men’: shimmering bliss with a wise message about where we’re at

NOT AN artist content to rest on his laurels, ever restless, ever exploring, Will Dorey, who records as Skinshape, is set to release his second full-length album of the year;…

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TRACK: The Still Brothers feat. Marina B – ‘Wake Up’: delightfully sleepy breakz

NEW YORK’S Still Brothers, who announced their signing on the dotted line for Hoxton’s Lewis Recordings back in midsummer with the uplifting jazz breaks of “The Deep” (we took a…

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See the lyric video for PELA’s ‘In The Young’: blissful summer ambient pop

PELA, the duo of Olly Shelton and Hannah Coombes who delight in a line of stoned immaculate, blissful chillout, have just dropped their latest single, “In The Young” – you…

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PREMIERE: Demsky – ‘Cold Coffee’: a chilled drink and loose-limbed, ambient downbeat

IT’S BEEN a proper learning curve: I mean, we’ve all had to find our own ways of dealing with … this, haven’t we? Whatever gets you through. Personally I’ve got…

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