Darkstar - News from Nowhere - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Darkstar return with their fourth album 'Civic Jams' on 15th May. On their most personal record to date, Darkstar counterbalance observations of their home with those of the community surrounding it. 'Civic Jams' is a photonegative of a dance record shaped by a dialogue between shoegaze atmospherics and UK bass music's 'hardcore continuum'. Darkstar find themselves at once looking homeward and venturing further into their own psychic hinterland with each record. They've covered a lot of ground from the introspective expanse of their debut 'North' [2010], to utopian visions of society in 'News From Nowhere' [2013] and the unique dynamics of a pre-Brexit northern England on 'Foam Island' [2015]. On their latest offering, home is within reach. Inspired by the intervening years, Darkstar (aka Aiden Whalley and James Young) show how the personal can be political and reveal more of themselves than they've ever done before. Imagine emotional realism built from spectral rave echoes, anchored in timeless songs of love and loss in the digital now and you've got it.

Sonny Boy Williamson II - King Biscuit Time [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/30/1993

Foam Island, the third studio LP from Darkstar, is a beautiful contemporary electronic pop album, dealing with powerful themes of ambition and hope against the odds in the 21st century. Following collaborations with the likes of Actress, Wild Beasts and Zomby, and taking cues from peers such as Jon Hopkins and Four Tet, it is an ambitious record, buzzing with the energy and excitement of all the possibilities inherent in electronic music in 2015. Yet it is also one which has been shaped by the prevailing social and political climate at this point in time. As such the record is in parts severe and beautiful; combining hard digital rhythms and live percussion with colorful synthesizers, treated vocals and enveloping compositions.