Hyperdub Rec

Laurel Halo: Quarantine [CD]

Jessy Lanzas debut album 'Pull My Hair Back', co-written and co-produced with Jeremy Greenspan from Junior Boys, is a 2013 flagship for what electronic pop could sound like, stripped of bloated, behaviourist impulses that treat listeners like lab rats. It's graceful and erotic without the gratuitous close ups, icey and sensual, sweet without rotting your teeth, emotional but with enough blue glow to pull your heart strings. Jessy's voice flutters through the synths seductively, insistent without the over-singing and grating choruses that plague so much contemporary pop.

Lanza, Jessy: Oh No [CD]

James, Loraine: For You and I [CD]

Lanza, Jessy: All the Time [CD]

Made during summer 2020, Loraine James' second Hyperdub album, 'Reflection', is a turbulent expression of inner-space, laid out in unflinching honesty, offering gentle empathy and bitter-sweet hope. 'Reflection' further develops a unique pop sensibility realised on last year's 'Nothing EP', while tones of Drill and R&B seep through into this collection too. In contrast to the brash splashes of 2019's 'For You And I' LP and the grimey anger of 'Nothing', 'Reflection' is pared-down and confident, taking the listener through how last year felt as a young black queer woman in a world that has suddenly stopped moving, the arc of the album peppered with Loraine's diaristic confessions. Travelling effortlessly from gentle pop-trap to downcast drill, from Drexciyan techno glide to airy R&B,, 'Reflection' is a brave step forward for a unique and creative 21st century musician.

Gamble Lee: Models [CD]