Davie Forbes
Punisher # 1

Akiko Yano cult classic LP recorded in 1982 and co-produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Featuring the group Japan, the album includes additional recording in Tokyo with YMO and is mixed by Steve Nye and Shinichi Tanaka. Features the original artwork with gatefold sleeve and a lavish 24-page colour booklet with sessions photos by Pennie Smith (famous for The Clash's London Calling photo). The reissue also includes a new introduction by Mac DeMarco and a dual interview with Akiko Yano and Steve Jansen by journalist Paul Bowler. The audio remastered from the Original tapes by Mitsuo Koike.

Ewan Jansen, Perth artist, producer and founder of Red Ember Records, presents his second offering to Butter Sessions following the 2017 EP Best Intentions. The colourful LP from Jansen, Island Diary, wraps up the end of the year at the label on a distinguished note -- courtesy of Jansen’s 20 years of experience in the Australian electronic landscape.Island Diary was recorded over the last 12 months as Jansen returned from a frantic European tour. He was granted a breather with the lockdown, which allowed Jansen the necessary time and space to properly produce his record. Using this period to create intuitively, Jansen refers to his time spent in lockdown as a “chance for discovery,” discernible throughout the record with his novel genre interpretations.The refined character of Island Diary is made clear with Jansen’s experiments in structure and tone, distancing his LP from the formulaic and conventional approach to classic house music.The LP’s opener Mussel Hustle is a nostalgic and shimmering composition with an infectious hook, evidence of Jansen’s versatility as a producer. Kooka utters fleeting minimal techno with vigorous drum programming and hardy synthwork. In contrast, Hot Rain hits like a cool change with its breezy and balmy melody. Proteus Vs Yoshimitsu channels YMO and other proto-electronic affiliates with futuristic sci-fi electro-pop. Jansen’s signature house sound reveals itself more so in the LPs finale Breadcrumbs, which carves out a joyful and yet refreshing passage of house music.Jansen refers to Island Diary as a “palette cleanser,” an apt sentiment. There’s something here for everyone. He has crafted a release to be taken in from start to finish, a treat for eager ears.

Bridging distinct but closely connected music scenes can open new possibilities. On No More Normal, Swindle confidently grasps the different sides to the UK music scene. Boasting roots in the boundary-pushing world of Grime & Dubstep, this album marks the next step in the London-raised producer's expanded vision for his music. It fuses different disciplines together in new and electrifying ways. He connects a group of peers sharing creative common ground, one that centres around the fertile space between UK Jazz, Grime and Hip Hop. The results span from lush, strings-laden soul to voicebox-heavy p-funk often in the course of one song. It's a class photo of 2018, he says. I need everyone in this picture. It incorporates an all-star cast of MCs in Kojey Radical, Ghetts, D Double E and P Money, to instrumentalists Yussef Dayes, Nubya Garcia, Riot Jazz, and singers such as Etta Bond, Eva Lazarus, Daley and Kiko Bun.

Astral Black bossman Jon Phonics drops three cuts of dreamy new soul thump and psychedelia on Alex Nut's Hotep Records. The big one is 'Elevations', setting Yasine's belting vocal somewhere in the ether with swurling cosmic synths over a staggered soul swagger rhythm. Next to this, 'Naim' is a miore chaotic, frayed instrumental working with spannered claps and zig-zagging synth like some deep fried Om Unit joint, whilst the miniature 'Bazooka' blasts out between Sun Ra and Ras G.