Dego Kaidi
A So We Gwarn

After this long period of pandemic and staying at home, these tracks represent a glimmer on which to look out and have the hope of soon returning all together to party.

On 12” for the first time, Cloud’s ‘Visions’ featuring four versions mixed by Sean P from the original 1983 multi-track recording.Standing somewhere between the sounds of early 80s disco club land, electro-funk and synth-pop, the ‘Visions’ recording session has remained silently spooled amongst the tape archives of producer Alan Osbourne since it’s first mix-down. Previously released in 1983, a stripped-down cut of the recording appeared on the segued track compilation Designed For Dancing Volume One (Design Communications) blended with the tail end of Toney Lee’s ‘Love So Deep’.Recorded two-months before Cloud’s final single ’Steppin' Out’, the band had a new line-up and a new sound; Shelley Law on lead vocals, Mark Mansfield on bass, Mitch Keene on guitar and Mike Allen on keyboards, with Alan Bateman on sax. and Cloud’s original drummer Paul Holmes.By this time, a younger underground scene had emerged, and electro-funk was at the forefront. David Joseph’s ‘You Can’t Hide Love’ topped the disco charts and popular b-boy anthems ‘Hip Hop Be Bop’ by Man Parrish and ’Jam On Revenge’ by Nucleus got UK releases. Along with the changing sound of brit-funk related bands and artist aspirations to produce popular records, the Mansfield and Law writing team were a good combination for Cloud. The result was a more contemporary 'sound of Swindon' that kept it's jazz funk roots under the musical direction of Osbourne.

Luz Azul by Luz Azul

The Alias Sessions by MurcofMurcof, the primary project of producer Fernando Corona, returns to The Leaf Label for the first time in thirteen years with a mammoth and visionary double album, The Alias Sessions. This collection brings together all the elements incorporated into the project to date - meticulous sound design, ghostly samples, forceful beats, diaphanous atmosphere - but pushes the sound even further in terms of both abstraction and beauty. This is electronic music of exquisite tension and ecstatic release, moving from barely audible details to explosive peaks, much of it delivered by earth-moving bass.Murcof first emerged during an exciting period of electronic music, operating at its cutting edge. Debut album Martes appeared on Leaf in 2002, when alternative possibilities enabled by advancing technology were just starting to come into focus. By combining stark beats - minimal techno, microhouse and glitch were all entering their heyday - with carefully layered sampling drawn in part from modern classical music, Martes was compelling in its moment but also looked to the future. It refused classification, even as its parts had clear antecedents. It grooved, but wasn’t quite dance music; it experimented with tonality, but each track was memorable. And it sounded like no-one else.