Attempting to recreate the golden yesterdays of Jose Padilla’s White Isle sunsets with the tunes of today…

Bremer McCoy / Bøn / Luaka Bop

Bøn is the third single to be lifted from Bremer McCoy’s forthcoming album, Kosmos. Another beautiful bass and guitar composition, it’s sparse and supremely understated, but by no means a mere sketch. Expertly crafted, and this time with some fine flute accompaniment, the synergising melodies stand out and stay with you. It’s a perfect sundown score for floating through memories, or making a few more.

Crue-L Wave II / Crue-L Records

Kenji Takimi’s cult imprint re-emerges after a 3 year hiatus with a couple of 12s and a new comp. The album, Crue-L Wave II, collects music from members of the label’s close family, folks like Tomoki Kanda, Kahimi Karie, and Port Of Notes, who’ve been on board since the start, back in the early-90s. The two highlights, for me, are the mellowest moments. Hiroshi Fujiwara’s cover of Schubert’s Ave Maria, was originally recorded for his 2005 set, Classic Dub Classics. The cultural icon / institution places the familiar piano melody over a dubbed out  beat. Totally in the mode of Smith & Mighty’s seminal shake of Erik Satie, and Massive Attack’s mix of hip hop and melancholy. He also adds Hugo Nicolson / Andrew Weatherall-esque effects, like the sound of UFOs landing and taking off.

The other gem is Being Borings remix of Saiko Tsukamoto’s solo piano interpretation of Primal Scream’s Higher Than The Sun. Reworking the track, taken from Tsukamoto’s 2007 CD, Tiny Finger Pianist, The Borings – Takimi and Kanda – extend the beautiful classical take with acoustic strumming, tambourine, and tribal / ritual drumming. Rinsing everything with echo and reverb.

Robin Guthrie / Atlas / Bandcamp

Renowned, remarkable, and highly respected guitar-scape architect, Robin Guthrie recently released an E.P. of sweet, nostalgia / introspection-inducing shorts, called Atlas. The set’s full of the ground-breaking genius and former Cocteau Twin’s trademark tender, tranquil treatments and drones. While the melodies feel wounded, and the air around them seems sad, shaded by loss and regret, they also exude optimism and hope. The title track, in particular, conjures images of a vast, calm body of water. Say, a silvered, sky-reflecting lake, or the piece’s protagonist poised, staring out to sea. Tied to the past, while the horizon represents a future that still holds possibility and promise. “Ships at a distance, have all mens dreams on board…” and all that. Without A Word steps away from just texture and has discernible picking dancing beneath big, beautiful tremolo’d arcs. La Perigrina couples cathartic snare and cymbal crashes with eruptions of ringing ecstatic riffs.

Stereometrix / Fall / Tread A Measure

New London label Tread A Measure launch with an E.P. from Polish producer Stereometrix. The 5 tunes each demonstrating a different type of techno, a few of which are downtempo. The title track, Fall, for example, recalls the output of ground-breaking Dutch imprint Eevo Lute. Echoing artists such as Wladimir M and moody minor key masterpieces like Max 404’s Quiddity (Last Visit). With a shuffling head-nodding break, that’s been twisted and made metallic, it could quite easily have been championed by James Lavelle and Mo Wax.

Another standout is the fidgety B-lined IO, which is part IDM, part progressive house. Its serene synthesised orchestration, of emotive Sci-Fi strings, paying tribute to Detroit classics while summoning scenes of unspoiled alien worlds. This one would have fit nicely on Music From Memory’s Virtual Dreams.

TamTam / Ramble In The Rainbow / Peoples Potential Unlimited 

Tokyo quartet TamTam have had their Ramble In The Rainbow E.P. repressed, on grass green vinyl. The colour matching the record’s laidback high summer heatwave sound. Doors is fragile, funky folk. A daydreamy groove that draws on dub and `60s West Coast psychedelia, with wind chime and harp-like details. Go Down The Mountain skanks gently, on light, soothing keys and group harmonies. Perfect for a picnic, it’s a peaceful piece of Lee Scratch Perry-influenced Lemon Jelly-esque pop.

TamTam also have a Suburbia 7 in circulation, split with Seahawks on the other side. Their Sweet Cherry is a cover of a Mad Professor lovers rock tune, while Seahawks have their Steel Pan Dub of No More Raindrops, from 2011, revived. Both are summery, rubbery, warm, fuzzy, and bulbous-bassed.

Yuu Udagawa / The Peaceful Dawn / Compost Records

The Peaceful Dawn is a new piece of music from the increasingly prolific and increasingly high profile Yuu Udagawa. The package, on Compost, comes with two, decidedly more dancefloor-orientated takes from Manuel Tur, but it’s the OG that does it for me. With a broken beat that’s far removed from a rigid 4 / 4, it’s a deep, dream-like drift of heavenly house. Constructed from loops of harp, woven together with vocal snippets and dashes of dubwise, the track has a most excellent exotica vibe. Yuu cites Aristotle’s Golden Mean in her press release, and here she finds the middle ground between Gak Sato’s Gilles Peterson-championed jazzy sampledelia, Mike Kandel’s magical, maverick “trip hop” and Mood Hut’s more ambient output.