Few people are onto great records as quickly as a great record store.
Phonica’s end of year lists are always a treasure trove for undersung gems, so we realised we ought to just give the shop’s learned staff their own slot on FACT. Every Saturday, the team behind the counter at the Soho institution select five vinyl records you should pick up this week.
JACKIE DEE / O.C. TOLBERT
‘Who’ / ‘Love Bandit’
(First Light)
Two lost soul gems from 1970s’ Detroit with tinges of funk and gospel. Mastered from tape, this is a beautiful timewarp.
HAZYLUJAH
100% EP
(Meda Fury)
The latest Hazylujah release for Meda Fury includes four of the man’s most extreme work to date, fusing house and techno with an experimental twist. Off-key stomps, bizarre funk, EBM arpeggios, and Balearic melodies all combine on a hell of a trip.
MIKE COOPER
White Shadows In The South Seas LP
(Sacred Summits)
An album of genre-defying beauty finally gets the vinyl treatment. Mike Cooper combines folk, exotica, and electronica for a journey across the seas unlike any.
EST. 83
‘EST. 83 (FIT edit)’
(EST. 83 Records)
A what if? record, recovered from a cassette found in a box of donations. A demo from the 1980s’ Detroit underground that sounds incredible, regardless of what you want to call it. With an edit from FIT on the flip. 200 copies only.
PHRASED
Star Maker EP
(L.B. Produce)
Phrased enter acid territories on this new EP, full of 303 rollage, laid back electro vibes, and some deep vocals for your soul. Let’s go.
