Memories

A week of new music comes to a close today- this week's posts have featured KiF's Still Out, a pair of new tracks from 100 Poems, new singles from The Charlatans and The Orb, and Richard Sen's remixes of John Grant (from 2016 admittedly but unreleased until now). Today we start off with two new releases on Brighton's Higher Love. The first, out yesterday, is from Polish duo Jazxing whose Pearls Of The Baltic Sea album was one of 2022's best albums, a blur of dub, indie, cosmic disco, Balearica and pop. 

The new Jazxing single is Memories, a full on 80s pop song with a lyric looking back at youth. Imagine Cupid And Psyche era Scritti Politti glazed in honey but with a hefty slice of 2025 production, laced with a shot of regret and nostalgia. There is a much longer alternate version, the Full Disco Purrefection Mix, that breaks it down and stretches it out, starting with percussion, disco strings and some congas and then building, snatches of vocal drifting in, a choppy rhythm guitar, sequenced bassline and more synths. Memories is at Higher Love's Bandcamp. 

Out in early August on Higher Love is a single from Puerto Montt City Orchestra, And We'd Be So Happy. More nu disco/ Balearic musically, an insistent rhythm, prodding bassline, hints of guitar and piano, all very chilled and lovely and on top band member Tim's daughter's spoken word piece, more memories, describing days out to the seaside, the simple pleasures of amusement arcades, penny falls, piers, car picnics and having fun despite the rain as all the while the guitar line floats away on top. There's a second version of And We'd Be So Happy too, The Cruel Mistress Mix, that slows it down, adds some dub space and echoes of early 90s Saint Etienne. And We'd Be So Happy is sounding like one of the singles of the summer round these parts. It'll be at Higher Love on 6th August

Coming from a similar place but a bit hazier is an EP from ddwy called Beaming Backwards, four slices of dreamy electronic Balearica with a Cocteau Twins/ One Dove feel, ethereal but with a pulse running through it, more early 90s influences and sounds, the feel of those songs that made up Creation's 1991 Keeping The Faith compilation, bands like Hypnotone, Love Corporation and Sheer Taft. The title track is a joy, forwards momentum with some backwards sounds and a distant vocal. 

Stars, Stars is led by a very mid- 80s Cure/ Cocteaus/ New Order guitar line and then a low slung bass. Peak Smile pushes on, aiming for the dancefloor, with a bleepy topline and crunchy synths. The EP finsihes with Hueldro'r Haf, a hazy, blissed out song with piano and viola. Buy/ listen to the whole EP here.  Like me, you may keep going back to it. 

Baltic Pearls

Polish band Jazxing's Pearls of The Baltic Sea was one of my favourite albums of 2022- this year's remix version came out at the end of October, the eight tracks remixed by eight different artists and was a very worthy follow up. I missed including it in my end of year list last Saturday, a bit of an oversight because it's a wonderful album in its own right. 

The Balearic Ultras remix of Shoegaze Dub is one of the highlights, a slow mo drift with piano chords, dub bass and snippets of conversation, people discussing shoegaze, sound, guitar FX and experimentation. 

Bagging Area regulars Coyote show up with their Whirling Dervish remix of Vijnana that displays what they do so well, a layered, laid back but insistent version of the song, hazy but with a pulsing heartbeat, acoustic guitars, hand drums and an inclusive, everyone sitting round the fire on the beach feel. 

Brighton's Andres Y Xavi take on Hyacinth, the ticking rhythm of an 808 with acoustic guitar and cooing voice conjuring up summer and long, warm nights, something that seems like a dream in late December. 

Opening the album is Danilo Braca's remix of Fala. Fala was the track on the original album that first grabbed my attention, a huge cosmic groove with 80s sax. Danilo spins it out for over twelve minutes setting out with waves, gulls, and a sax solo but then shifting it towards the floor, drums and handclaps, kick drum, piano chords, synths and eventually heavy bass and some acidic touches.  

These four are the current favourites- the rest of the album with remixes by Polotronic, James Bright, Das Komplex and Janca are all well worth investing in. You can buy the whole thing here. 

Monday Mix

A mix for Monday, my seventh for Tak Tent Radio who broadcast out of central Scotland with a range of contributors and guests. This one, has music from a lot of artists who have graced the pages of this blog this year- Mark Peters with Dot Allison remixed by Richard Norris, Pete Wylie and Wah! The Mongrel from 1991, Pye Corner Audio remixed by Sonic Boom, Andy Bell remixed by David Holmes, Gabe Gurnsey, Jazxing, Jezebell's recent edit of Laurie Anderson, Carly Simon, Dirt Bogarde and Boxheater Jackson. In short- starts ambient, goes Balaeric and ends up dancey. Listen here or here.

• Mark Peters and Dot Allison: Sundowning (Richard Norris Ambient Remix)
• Pete Wylie and Wah! The Mongrel: Don’t Lose Your Drums
• Pye Corner Audio: Warmth Of The Sun (Sonic Boom Remix)
• Andy Bell: The Sky Without You (David Holmes Radical Mycology remix)
• Gabe Gurnsey: To The Room
• Jazxing: Fala
• Jezebell: Re- birth (Edit)
• Carly Simon: Why (Extended 12” Mix)
• Dirt Bogarde: So Far Away
• Boxheater Jackson: Don’t Complicate

Triumphe Der Liebe

Brand new and a Bandcamp exclusive, this is Triumphe der Liebe, seven minutes of dark Balaerica, a proper cosmic chugger, transporting the listener from the track's origins in Stourbridge to somewhere much further away. Triumphe der Liebe is the work of the mysterious Dirt Bogarde. Twinkles, hissing sounds, sci fi bleeps, wobbly synths, backing vocals covered in echo drifting in and out, all very cool. Buy it for one pound here. Highly recommended. 

You can find Triumphe der Liebe as the opening track on the latest Higher Love mix from Balearic Ultras, out a few days ago on Mixcloud along with music from the likes of Max Essa, Pilots of Peace, Breakbeat Convention, Vanity Project and Voice Of Art. Listen here. 

Out on Higher Love Recordings are Polish outfit Jazxing whose Pearls Of The Baltic Sea is one of the albums of the autumn round here. I posted their track Fala a few weeks ago, a gorgeous sax led, chilled groove. The rest of the album is equally good. Harbor Dub is very relaxed and, surprise surprise, dubby with a synth bassline deep enough to sink into. 

Shoegaze Dub chugs along beautifully, slo mo beats, keyboard chords, crashing drums and a warm guitar lick and no need to be anywhere in a hurry. 

Fala

This came out last week with an album out today on Brighton's Balearic Higher Love label- Fala by Jazxing, a lovely instrumental fading in on seagulls and synth strings and then suddenly hitting a groove, a slow motion beat surrounded by all manner of sounds. The appearance of a very 80s saxophone, often an instrument that has me reaching for the off button, adds some dissonance as it floats in and out, Michal Jan Ciesielski's horn pushing and pulling Fala onwards. There's an album out today, which I haven't heard yet, but will do as soon as I can based on how many times I've replayed Fala recently. You can buy Fala here and the album, Pearls Of The Baltic Sea, here. 

Jazxing are a duo from Gdansk, Poland and are inspired by Daniele Baldelli's 80s cosmic disco and 90s Balearic house. The pair's influences- dub, Weatherall, Saint Etienne, post- punk, Lara Croft Tomb Raider- spanning Europe from east to west, from the Mediterranean to the pair's home on the Baltic.