Doldrums
Lesser Evil

"Life Plans and Parallel Side Tracks" by Ismael Zouaoui (aka Ish) is the highly anticipated album on Libertine Records. Spanning Electro, Drum 'n' Bass, Dark-Wave, and Ambient, Ish's versatile production shines. Inspired by diverse influences like Brave New World, Japanese Anime, and early Techno/Trance, the album's contemporary, textured sound captivates.

We jump in a Chevy convertible at high noon and tune the radio into the storm clouds rolling on the horizon. Then we set off for the border town on the edge of the desert, peyote and dreamcatchers in the trunk, slide guitar and spring tank on the back seat.But as the highway stretches out to the vanishing point, and the radio relays a steady motorik pulse amid the cosmic noise, the tumbleweeds begin to roll upwards and the cacti at the side of the road bend to the sky. Radio static gives way to an interplanetary narration, all detuned notes and swirling codes. It was then that we realised the receiver was wide open, and the signal was set to solar broadcast on wavelength infinity.

North Londoner Trish Langley met South Londoner Ash Kamat initially in the the mid 1980s on Tin Pan Alley, while Ash was working at Rod Argent's keyboard shop and running UK soul-focussed zine Soul Trade, and the quickly began working together. Handling the programming and production, Ash says his inspiration came from a mixture of London pirate radio sounds and the US-based sounds of Kashief, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis etc. While Trisha's vocals and melodies were influenced by growing up listening to her parents reggae records, plus her brother's taste for the likes of Brothers Johnson, Maze, Isley Brothers, and a little lovers rock such as Janet Kay - which, together with Ash's raw drum machine sounds, bears all the hallmarks for this uniquely UK take on soul.

OFFLINE _ Timeless Echoes _ DEL17 de OFFLINEEight cuts of cinematic electronic music from French synthwriter OFFLINE.To follow this rainbow of silky sounds is to reach a point of no return, where the last person on Earth you'll be able to communicate with will be a 1970s synthesiser.