Q'65
Greatest Hits

For their first outing, new London-based reissue label Foam On A Wave resurface the remarkable debut album from one of the UK's foremost artists of 'ambient techno', Ultramarine's 'Folk'. Like the surrealist collage of the sleeve designed by Benoît Hennebert, Ultramarine weave together unique instrumentation and sonic influences into rich, ethereal soundscapes, now fully remastered for its 30th anniversary.Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond admitted they weren't totally sure what they were doing when they signed a record deal with the famously bohemian label Les Disques du Crépuscule and found themselves on their way to Brussels. There, over a two week stint, the Essex duo recorded the album - drawing on a kaleidoscopic palette influenced by both the Canterbury scene's jazz-infused psychedelia, as well as the contemporary Benelux scene, with particular nods to the likes of Benjamin Lew, The Durutti Column and Anna Domino. Conceived at a time when technology began reshaping the process of recording and production, the band's interest in fusing the organic and the electronic is apparent, and one that has remained with them throughout their career.'Folk' both sits apart from and serves as a precursor to the 'pastoral techno' sound Ultramarine went on to pioneer. Following US and European tours alongside Orbital and Bjork, a few more albums and collaborations with the likes of Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers, plus remixes for and by Everything But The Girl, Carl Craig, Luke Slater and more, they folded the project for a number of years. Last year the band returned to their inaugural imprint with the ethereal 'Signals Into Space'. Albeit somewhat sparser, more sedate, it is in some ways a coming full-circle to the jazz-laden, analogue sound of their debut, which makes reissuing 'Folk' feel all the more timely.

L’affaire perce à Kingston-upon-Hull, entre cup of tea et pinte d’ale. Les mots du bonhomme parlent de ça, entre autres choses. Ils sont imbibés de whisky et de la vapeur iodée de tous les pubs de l’estuaire de la Humber. On n’y sort pas sa guitare pour rien : le folk là-bas ne fait pas de cadeau, il est for real. Fils de Hull comme un marin l’est des rades autour du monde, façonné par le revival folk US des années soixante et soigneux d’un American Dream bien particulier, Prokop débarque.Dans cet album de reprise de chansons traditionnelles, il veut montrer que ces vieilles chansons sont toujoursactuelles car on se les réaproprie en permanence. Jouées par les musiciens folks, ils se les passent de génération en génération et chacun en fait sa version avec ses propres arrangements. Pour Prokop, « On est songwritter folk qu’à partir du moment où on prend en compte ce qui a été écrit avant nous ». Cela lui tenait donc à coeur de débuter sa discographie par « The Confinement Tapes » avant un premier album de ses propres compositions. Avec un enregistrement et des arrangements « roots », Prokop est comme « à nu » sur ce disque dont le genre dominant est la folk, mais non sans lien avec le blues et la country aux inspirations diverses comme Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash ou encore Pete Seeger.

Cult Berber musician Hocine Chaoui is a musical whirlwind, a tornado that sucks up and spits out electronic, folk, rock, world, afro, tribal, trance, electro and country music at high speed. This is a remastered version of his Ouechesma album which was drawn from Oriental Music Production's archive of regional Algerian cassettes. It was made on traditional instruments with his own unique vocal chants and a glut of mad effects and drum machines. The beats are incessant, dense, physical. The vocals add another layer of intensity and the whole thing is as wild and crazy as it sounds.

"Ah, come down, come down, brown sugarHow come you taste so good?Ah, come down, get down, brown sugarMovin' around, come on, movin' around"

Up next from Mood Hut we have the debut LP from Local Artist aka Ian Wyatt. Previously known for his underground party starters Dancer and Touch Tone. This time Ian takes us further towards the intimate end of the radio dial, recording music as a way of processing the emotions of watching his father and partner battle cancer pre-pandemic. Themes of love, loss and life emerge in a moody brew to help you through.In Local Artist’s world, the sun is setting on our old selves. Tonight is a slow ritual of letting go to gradually make room for the new. We’ve been up all night. It’s almost dawn and beyond the horizon, we can trust the light that morning brings.