Skee Mask
808BB

"The result is an introspective document of contemporary music, in spirit of Eno and Hassell. A space where we embrace our differences..." - Knekelhuis___________________________PressCompilation of all new productions from a wealth of international talent, put together by Knekelhuis.Label Text "This is a story of friendship, about how it grows stronger through the years. But it’s just as much about fledgling togetherness and shared art in times of crisis. The result is an introspective document of contemporary music, in spirit of Eno and Hassell. A space where we embrace our differences and speak the language of collectivity together, where we reflect, adapt and value each artist's contribution equally. To witness a multitude of cultural backgrounds that speak one like-minded language. Soothing and illuminating. And felt like...Mastered by Amir Shoat and artwork by Keziah Phillips and Steele Bonus."

Experimental dub sounds

Hello Copenhagen DJ. This is the kind of progressive you like.

downtempo for the melancholic crowd

Princess Diana of Wales, by London-based Australian Laila Sakini, is A Colourful Storm's latest and most curious project. Someone, no one, a notion, a feeling... Sakini offers clues but no simple answers. Vocal-led pieces 'Still Beach' and 'Fragments of Blue' are brittle and intoxicating, contemplating recklessness and unfulfillment of a past life: "Watching the future wash away / Giving it up to have this day". She studies closeness and, incredulous of the feelings that emerge, wonders if detachment is impermanent. She catalogues these emotions as a series of memories, colours and images. 'Evaporate', sedated and hushed, is a secret confession and ode to resolution, albeit, fatally, only a temporary one: "Take some form / Later on when I can do this / When we can do this / Together".Behind the album is a stage of dubwise disorientations evoking in-between states of the everyday. 'Swing' and 'Closer' are woozy and dreamlike, their voices summoning ghosts of fortunes past while 'Exhaust' finds an aperture in our protagonist's daydream. A perilous foreshadowing of the incantatory 'Choir Chant', whose spell pacifies her inquisition, submerging both self and feeling into the deep blue sea. RIYL: Grouper, Kali Malone, Drew McDowall. Full- colour sleeve with insert.

DaM-FunK brings his Architecture Trilogy on Saft to a close with a fantastic final EP. The series started in 2016, included the second volume in 2018, and now wraps up with a double 12" packed with heat from the legendary Californian beatmaker.DaM-FunK has been in a class of one since first emerging in 2008. He's a definitive Stones Throw Records artist, musician and vocalist, boss of GlydeZone Recordings, a sometime Snoop Dogg collaborator and prolific producer of tens of EPs, 14 albums and a timeless entry to the DJ-kicks series. What he doesn't know about boogie, g-funk and synth-pop isn't worth knowing, and this final Architecture EP is another doozy.The gorgeous 'Grow' immediately sinks you into a hazy house vibe. Lo-fi beats and farsighted chords melt your heart and lock you in a gentle groove. 'Night Kruise' lays down a classic DaM-FunK bassline then builds it up with melancholic keys and lowslung funk that is simply irresistible, then 'Think' ups the pace with a punchy but still deep house groove, heat-damaged chords and a clipped bass phrase that makes you move.The seductive sounds continue through the balmy 'Feel' in which you can almost see palm trees and burnt orange Cali skies as the low riding groove skates along in lovably low key fashion. 'Sun Gospel' is a perfectly rough edge MPC workout with busy keys, scruffy kicks and bright boogie all jostling for your attention, and 'Shine' closes with a prickly boom-bap, knotted bassline and epic prog-guitar riffs that ring out into a latenight sky. Architecture III is another heart aching, humid and feel-good house EP from the one and only DaM-FunK.