Few people are onto great records as quickly as a great record store.
After years spent discovering gems in Phonica’s end of year lists, it made sense to give them a regular space on FACT. Every Saturday, staff from the Soho institution will pick out the five vinyl records you should grab this week.
VARIOUS ARTIST
Uhura Traxx EP
(Lack)
Scruffy, scummy, grunged-up house traxx from Berlin’s Lackrec, with Pablo Mateo and 7 Citizens repping the tuffer side of the dancefloor while Liit and Garben leaven their bossy analogue percussion with clouds of dreamy synths. Sweaty late-night stuff.
BARNT
Magazine 13 2XLP
(Magazine)
The debut album from intriguing Cologne-based producer Barnt is a stunner, drawing on kosmische vibes and ambient synth craft to add unexpected colours to his off-kilter dance floor patterns. Functional, though definitely unhurried, the eight tracks include three beatless interludes. Comes in a luxury double vinyl edition with gatefold sleeve and strong artwork.
JON HASSELL & BRIAN ENO
Possible Musics LP
(Glitterbeat)
An opportunity to grab a vinyl edition of this groundbreaking 1980 album on which trumpeter Jon Hassell set the template for ‘Fourth World’ music, his term to describe the interweaving of modern technology – processed instruments, ambient electronics and so on – with influences from various cultures and eras. The perennial Eno assists.
JAH JOE / BOOM B / JUNIOR BYLES
Love On The Seen 10″
(Pressure Sounds)
A glorious quartet of uptempo steppers from the dub universe of Junior Byles, a singer who also produced a few of his own tracks in the 1970s and released them on his Love Power label. ‘Love On The Seen’ is one of very few records by Jah Joe, while Byles offers ’78 Style’ on one side and the joyful ‘Jah Power’, recorded under his Boom B alias, on the flip along with a dub version.
DE LOS MIEDOS
‘Edits Vol. 1 (Yali Yali / Ergi Ergi)’
(Östra Discos)
It’s very difficult not to use the phrase “Turkish delight”, so sod it, let’s go there: De Los Miedos, AKA Lisbon-based DJ Sebastião Delerue, inaugurates the self-styled “obscure label” Östra Discos with a two-track serving of edits cooked up from “the finest Turkish music”. A very handy pair of off-the-wall choices to sweeten your mix.
