Massive Attack: Paradise Circus
12.13.
Massive Attack's forthcoming album 'Heligoland' is near completion (the project was formerly known as 'Weather Underground') and we could pre-listen to some of the tracks on their 'Splitting The Atom' EP. But today something with great beauty emerged from their studio: 'Paradise Circus'. The song's clip is absolutely NSFW, featuring former porn star Georgina Spelvin speaking about her carreer but what's more important, the music recalls the highest moments of Massive Attack. Guest vocalist Hope Sandoval's voice and the amazingly smooth melody goes immediatly under your skin and wraps around your heart. With Spelvin's words, this song is "a point in time that can't be measured, a mystical instant that doesn't really exist in this dimension".

Portformat: The Repeat Factor
12.13.
We aren't a hiphop music site and hey, it's two-thousand and nine - why are we covering Tokyo Dawn's latest release? Well fellow music lovers, Portformat's 'The Repeat Factor' is serious dope. And we mean it - the album packed with 17 (!) tracks is a perfect blend of hiphop, soul and downtempo with some classy touches of electronica and dubstep. Ibrahima M’Bodji aka Portformat is joined by not less than 12 guest artists delivering the production's perfect vocals (Dudley Perkins, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Blaktroniks, Comfort Fit, Bless1, Shuanise, Suzi Analogue, Obey The Altar Native, Gajah, Caits Meissner, Joe Kickass, Thesaurus Rex ). All in all, thank you Portformat and Tokyo Dawn, this is pure gold!

Preview - Massive Attack: Splitting The Atom EP
09.17.
Massive Attack is alive and back with the brand new single 'Splitting The Atom', along with an announcement of a new EP, out October 5th on Virgin. 'Splitting The Atom' is a very moody and slow electronica with Daddy G, Horace Andy and 3D at the microphones. The EP will contain three more songs, 'Pray For Rain' with Tunde Adebimpe, 'Psyche' with Martina Topley Bird (hell yeah!) and 'Bulletproof Love' with Guy Garvey. Their new album is due for February, but this is exactly what we said two years ago.

All India Radio: A Low High
09.13.
It's been two years since the last All India Radio release from Australia. 'A Low High' is a return to the lush atmospheric & instrumental moods of their earlier work and we must say, that the sound quality is exquisite. Guests include Graham Lee (The Triffids) & some evocative ambient sounds from Australian rock legend Ed Kuepper (The Saints). AIR also produced a wonderful animated video which is available in HD on YouTube. We are not always into so much chill, but AIR's 'A Low High' is a so perfect mixture that we can't resist to spin it in our players again and again.

The Silk Demise: Midnight Eyes
08.11.
We really want to like The Silk Demise's second album 'Midnight Eyes' - and it has its great moments like 'Floodlights', 'Stargazer' an 'Lo-Fi'. But where it fails globally is a strong artistic impression: the vocals are practically on the same tone throughout the album, you almost can't differentiate between verse and refrain and there definitely wasn't enough musical ideas for 14 tracks. As a matter of fact, producer Bill Litshauer (Toronto) and singer Edie Marshall (Malibu) actually never met, the whole album is a result of online collaboration - this is a new, very interesting breed of production method, which nonetheless needs to be fine-tuned. Despite our impressions, the coherence of the material is rock solid and the production quality is top-notch.

Realistic Crew: Freedom Eats The Soul 
07.12.
We're pretty sure you've noticed it, we tend these days no to cover triphop style only. The reason is simple, 'stand-alone' triphop music gets higher on the list of endangered species. But still, some bands are looking back to those old Bristol-sound days - take Realistic Crew and his last offering, 'Freedom Eats The Soul'. The classic lo-fi approach begins at second one on this excellent record, instantly dragging the listener into RC's dark and distorted world, put together by really excellent musicians. Your journey through the head-moving grooves first tops at 'Strays, Storm', then goes further into the darkness with 'Free Animals' Anthem's' great grooves to plunge into 'Koyaniskatzi's' madness. The only reason the stuff drops from an A-rating is some filler-tracks and sometimes painful english pronounciation. But you cannot go wrong, Realistic Crew offers this greatly produced album for free at their website.

Mizantrop: Loud
06.03.
Have a coffee or a song from Mizantrop's second coming, 'Loud'? The latter will have a stronger eye and ear opener effect, guaranteed. Miza's tracks cut through your brain like laser, especially fine pieces like 'Neon Sheriff', 'Caffeine' and 'Homegrown Lunatic'. We also like tracks like 'T.A.M.', 'I Scream' or 'Tomorrow', which complete the album's eclectic electric urban madness. Like a strong coffee - hard at first taste, but addictive. Mizantrop's 'Loud' is available for free download now!

Tricky: Knowle West Boy
02.06.
Although it's a 2007 album, we needed it know - start the year with this very powerful record summing up Tricky's accomplishments since his 1995 Maxinquaye debut. The press release says "Knowle West Boy tells you everything you always wanted to know about Tricky, over music that still sounds like no-one else on earth." A great album from an iconic artist.

Taliesin: Taliesin
02.06.
In the movie 'Hollywood Ending' Woody Allen plays a cinematic director who loses his sight and has to direct his next film blind - the result is catastrophic in the views of the studio, "but the French adored it". Well, french band Taliesin's debut album recalled us WA's movie - was the musical director deaf? Chaotic orchestration, over-effected vocals and  too eclectic mixture of styles - a pity, because lead singer Marion Thomas deserves better. At least, her voice comes out of the dark a bit better on the last track "ADN".

Resn: Spark
02.06.
Hungarian Resn has put online for free very nice tracks on russian netlabel Homework. The fully electronic Spark EP is some kind of calm musical journey with tracks working both in the front and in the background. The sound quality is pushed to the extremes, so you can fire up your B&W's for maximum joy.

Architektur: Musik for Film
02.06.
Our ears are tired of computer made tracks with gigabytes of delayed samples, but we have to admit that it's a "style" in its own right. And some times in some environments (not only hotel lobbies) this smooth rythms are very effective. Architektur's 'Musik for Film' is a nice compilation of lounge music containing 14 ultra-clean ultra-delayed ultra-tabla ultra-wahwah ultra-flute tracks. Architektur's compilation is the playlist for your next loft-party.