find a way

Lusty Zanzibar's debut album has been awhile in the making, but with work on it now complete, Nang are letting it out to play with people this Monday. If you check out Lusty's first 12" on Bear Funk on Discogs, the 'recommendations' at the bottom of the page suggest artists like Morgan Geist, Ilija Rudman, The Revenge & Harvey's Locussolus would also be enjoyed by fans of the Zanzibar; Geist & Rudman's synth heavy, modern Disco is a good reference point if you haven't heard Lusty's music before, though Alex Cordiner's sound is certainly his own. Lusty makes intricate, elastic, electric and Italo influenced tracks, they're dense with keyboard pleasures, yet simultaneously light and uplifting. 'Find A Way' ventures through Disco, Deep House, early 80's Pop and even Balearic territories, some of the tracks feature the vocal stylings of Muneerah, but everything here is also about Lusty's obsession with the synthesizer. Square wave patterns, arpeggios, synthetic pulses, flourishes and oscillating sequences carefully combine into beautiful and deep melodies with tangible soul. The instrumental tracks on the record are currently my favourites, 'On Our Way To Bliss' and 'Luminous Motion' in particular are modern classic synth pieces, they're like updated dusty Library tunes played by a European Metro Area. Nang recently released the albums first single 'Feeling'/'Yeah' which came with mixes from Max Essa, Fear of Theydon and Ilya Santana, if you like the albums opening tracks, you'll love the EP. Check your favourite stores on monday and give 'Bliss' below a listen... Congrats on the album release Lusty!

lifetide

Swedish synth meister Ralph Lundsten has recorded a fair few albums, both in a solo capacity as well as in collaboration situations. His work began appearing around 1966 and if Discogs is to be trusted his last album was recorded in 2008. His 1978 track 'Discophrenia' has been given both the edit treatment (on Moton) and a full on remix pack which can be found on a late 90's Svek release. If you're into spacey landscapes and retro synth origami he's definitely on your radar. On a recent dig I managed to find two mint Library records by the man from the early 80's, which was a bit of a thrill and turned out to have a track or three of great value. One particular track of his, which I have been playing a lot, being drawn in by its muted brilliance, is from his 1979 album with The Andromeda All Stars (a crew he did several albums with) called 'Alpha Ralpha Boulevard'. Check out 'Lifetide' which closes the album. I see the track featured on a Prins Thomas mix for Fact magazine last year too. Excellent!

Ralph Lundsten & The Andromeda All Stars - Lifetide

Croose is back!

The joke is on me, only 5 posts or so ago I was ranting on about how much more into digging I am currently, than tuning into a lot of newer music. The next thing you know, we're being hammered by good good new tunes from all directions.The new one from one half of early a.n.o.e. press play champions Worst Friends' Tom Croose is, in a word, huge!. Actually it's been a minute since his dreamy 7" rework of Fleetwood Mac's 'Never Going Back Again', but 'Cho Chua' is a whole other kettle of Latin grooviness. Resista (previously the home to those 'Daphni Edits'), hits no. 3 with Croose's double sided Tropicalia rework. The Dub side takes things in a slightly more minimal direction, where as the A side mix holds nothing back in it's quest to bottle the very essence of sunshine and Brazilian attitude. Both sides are superb. Check it below and feel the heat, you might even do a little dance... I did.

Resista003 by resista

Noncollective

Noncollective have long been providing us with some of the finest mind expanding mixes available on the www, but now you'll find head honcho David McFarline has ventured forth into the dark and murky art of releasing records. I have no doubts at all that Noncollective No.1 is destined to become a classic in your record collection; Dutch dj Abel Nagengast hands in 3 superb and eclectic edits. 'Aegean Sea' has been getting a fair bit of exposure and for good reason, it's a Balearic meets Laurel Canyon, airy and uplifting groove of serious quality, 'Belly Button' is all sweaty and sticky Euro porn Boogie and '7th of April' heads off in a Noir Crime Kraut Dub direction.... or something along those lines. 300 copies only!!! Essential!!!

(Non, Nº.1) Abel – Aegean Sea by Noncollective

JTC love!

A few weeks back Rotating Souls Records (one to watch for sure) dropped Jupiter Tuning Center's excellent 'Vodka Sour' on 12". It's a monster Jazz bruiser with shades of Moodyman and tons of class, actually the e.p. features four tracks by the Berlin digger, producer and dj (two as JTC and another 2 under his Boogie Arkestra moniker). You get a cross section that includes 4 very fine slices of modern Boogie, Disco and Jazz House. The always good Rush Hour has copies if you want to check the beast. Frank De Kova has featured on these pages before (quiet a few times), you'll find his JTC and Boogie Arkestra projects developed out of a long and magical musical past which used to go under the name of Coffee Garner. More recently he's had a digital release with Editorial and now the 12". I'm a huge fan and I believe you'll also find a mountain of depth on his Soundcloud page where many unreleased gems reside. Just a few days ago a track called 'Voodou Disco Shizzle' popped up, it's really doing it for me at the minute (check it below), plus if you check the embedded player below that, you'll find a late night beauty that is no longer on his cloud, from last year. It's one of my all time favourites by the man. Get with the program on this guy!

voodou disco shizzle by jupiter tuning center

Press Play #54 - Antony Kein

Athens based dj and guitarist Antony Kein has been making his way on the Balearic scene over the last year or so, his mixes for the Amen Brother crew in Dublin (if you arent following them on Soundcloud, you should be), for Plaid Music and another for Pleasure Cruise'n are impressive and wonderful Balearic diggers journeys into the man's eclectic and seemingly vast record collection. His selection for Another Night which goes under the appropriate name of 'Under The Balearic Sun' is a delight and displays a knowledge for music usually associated with much older bearded fellas (Antony is 24). I still know very little about the man but I do love the journey... Thank you Antony, it a real pleasure to have you join the Press Play crew... check it!!

Press Play #54 - Antony Kein - Under A Balearic Sun

Track List: 
1.Bisca - Ninos
2.De Blanc - Hush
3.Sade - Siempre Hay Esperanza
4.Jah Wobble, The Edge, Holger Czukay - Hold On To Your Dreams
5.Pino Daniele - Me So' Mbriacato 'e Te Forever
6.Dave Samuels - New Math
7.Ivano Fossati - Panama
8.Lucio Dalla - Washington (Kommand Loves Obama re-edit)
9.Hong Kong Syndikat - Too Much (dub mix)
10.Ethereal Beat - Underboard
11.Georgie Red - Help The Man (save ya mix)
12.The Quick - One Light In a Blackout
13.Alla Pugacheva - Pevchaya (Timofey edit)
14.Aurra - such a Feeling (part 2 & 3)
15.Gypsy - Gypsy
16.Jan Akkerman - Streetwalker
17.Klaus Schulze & Michael Shrieve - Transfer Station Blue

Ok definitely the quietest month ever on a.n.o.e.... fear not, I have not given in (no way baby), work has been keeping me very busy which is always a good thing, but the downside is those of you who still read this thing have been short changed. We also just turned 5, or sometime last month anyway. The thing is, I have definitely had a shift in musical interests this year, favouring digging over a lot of new stuff that proliferates on the shelves of stores around the world. It's not a new thing and I certainly am still very much interested in things shiny and new, just not most of it. I maintain that a fair few contemporary producers are making some of the best music we have ever heard, but I seem to have an unlimited capacity for loving both amateurs and virtuosos from the past, heads who seem to live for their music and who's output now resides deep in bargain bins and forgotten basements just off your local high street. Obviously you have noticed the 'digging' trend in a great deal of the content up on these pages and I would say this is likely to continue... until the club closes down or we get turfed out! As I say, it's not new, it's just stronger... so onward then into the future (and the past)...

Randolph Baker's 'Reaching For The Stars' lp has been getting a fair bit of discussion on some boards lately, apparently there are a number of copies hitting ebay and the like (some of which are a bit warped) in the last while, which is rather cool if you need a copy. If you dont know the track that makes this LP very collectable, check it below, it's a feel good slice of dancing... ok we're back...

Randolph Baker - Getting Next To You