Recommended music: 'Ripe 4 Luv' by Young Guv

I hadn't heard of this record until the postman delivered it on Wednesday. It was my first selection from vinyl subscription service Wax and Stamp, and a damn fine selection it is too. If everything they send through is as good and as unusual as this we're going to get along just fine.

Some background on Ben Cook - he's the guitarist on hardcore band Fucked Up. But his punk credentials haven't stopped him ghostwriting pop hits for the likes of Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson.

It's retro styling mines a different vein to the standard electronic dance/pop references. Opener 'Crushing Sensation' sounds a lot like Split Enz (ask your dad) while title track 'Ripe 4 Luv' has got hints of 'My Best Friend's Girl' by The Cars (ask your uncle). 'Aquarian' meanwhile steps up the soul quotient as he hits the drum machine and shuffles his way across the dancefloor. When 'Kelly, I'm Not A Creep' jangles into life you think it's going to be a lost Byrds classic before turning into more of a lost indie guitar anthem that blends The Lemonheads and Teenage Fanclub into a melodic milkshake. 'Living The Dream' really sounds like he is, driving down the hiway in Los Angeles as the sunsets. It's hard to be certain whether closer 'Wrong Crowd' oversteps the boundary between affection tribute and kitsch, especially when the sax kicks in, but if you can forgive him the slight excess it's a great, upbeat way to end the album.

It kind of reminds me of Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) in the way he can turn his hand to any genre and make a really good job of it. It's all disarmingly casual and slightly lo-fi, but hidden within it are a set of fantastic tunes. It's a beach barbecue blow-out kind of album that demands some hot sun and cold beer to help it take its place in your affections.

'Ripe 4 Luv' is out now on Slumberland Records, and if you get the vinyl it comes in a lovely shade of blue.

Remix of the Day: 'Clean (Chris Allen Remix)' by The Acid

The Acid's debut album was one of my favourites from last year. This new version of 'Clean' steps up the dance quotient but retains the dark, brooding menace of the original. It's definitely one to play during the hedonistic peak of the evening.

You can grab the download for free below.

Recommended music: 'The Good Fight' by Oddisee

It's hard to know where to start with Oddisee, without expressing equal measures of anger and surprise that he's not one of the biggest rappers in the world. The beats he puts together are some of the best in the business - soulful, funky, surprising and sexy, Meanwhile his lyrics are intelligent, knowledgeable, heartfelt and full of quality and positivity. The breadth of the music on this record is wider than before, partly due to the guests (including Gary Clarke Jr and Tranquil) and partly because he (Amir Mohamed in real life) sings more than he has before.

The fact that he makes all of his own beats (he producers other rappers too, but it certainly sounds like he keeps the best for himself) gives him the opportunity to shape and create the album as a whole. In doing so he's produced a cohesive, soulful record that, while undoubtedly still hip-hop, stretches into r'n'b and soul to great effect. You can feel the workmanship and effort seeping out of every track, and you get the sense that his quality-control level is set so high that anything he doesn't feel is a 10/10 gets left behind.

Stand-out tracks on here include 'Counter-Clockwise', 'Belong To The World' and 'A List Of Withouts', while closer 'Worse Before Better' (featuring the afore-mentioned Tranquil) is a definite change of style for him that works surprisingly well. But really you'd be hard pushed to dislike anything on here, the standard is so high. 'The Good Fight' in the title refers to the battle to produce real and uncompromising art, on the the evidence presented it's definitely a fight that Oddisee is winning.

The album is out now through Mello Music Group and via all your favourite outlets. You can stream the whole thing below.

Recommended music: 'The Gaslamp Killer Experience - live in Los Angeles' by The Gaslamp Killer

Recorded live at the Mayan Theatre in LA, this awesome experience really brings out the musical diversity in the GLK's music. If this is your introduction to his work you'd be hard-pressed to actually work out what genre his music belongs to, while if you're familiar with the original versions of these tracks, which are on his excellent album 'Breakthrough', you'll be amazed at how they come alive with this 14 piece band.

The record is even more impressive given that the performance came while William Bensussen a.k.a. GLK was still recovering from the near-death skateboarding accident he had while on the way home one night (there's plenty of photographs on the internet of the line stapled all the way up the front of his torso if you really want to see what happened).

The genius of this records is taking the mix of styles, breaks and beats from 'Breakthrough' and turning it into an epic, jazz / classical hybrid that would sound as good in a concert theatre as it would stoned on your couch. It's engrossing and absorbing, and as the tracks are stretched and expanded they seem to suck you in to GLK's enlightened world. The best example of this is the monumental closer 'Keep It Simple Stupid', which started life at less than 2 minutes long but here flows out over 13 fascinating minutes.

It's worth noting that the tenor sax on this record is played by none other than Kamasi Washington, whose own epic album comes out on Brainfeeder next week and who also played a major part in the creation of Kendrick Lamar's brilliant 'To Pimp A Butterfly' album.

The Gaslamp Killer is bringing his experience to London this summer - he'll be at Koko in Camden on June 25th, and I'll most definitely see you there! In the meantime you can stream the whole album below, and if you want to get the extremely cool looking blue vinyl version of this the best place is at Bleep.

Video of the Day: 'Can't Do Without You (live at Brixton Academy 2015)' by Caribou

If you're won of those people who think electronic music doesn't work live, and it's just a man pressing buttons on a laptop, then this is just the thing to change your mind. Taken from their excellent show in Brixton on March 14th, this captures the brilliance of a Caribou live show. Starting and finishing with synchronised drumming, the best song of 2014 (as voted for by me) swoops and flies in the swirling lights as thousands of ecstatic fans feel the vibe.



If you were there you'll know how good it was, and if you missed it then make sure you get a ticket for Field Day in June - just imagine how awesome this will sound as the sun sets in Victoria Park.

Recommended music: 'Urals' by Walls

The third (and sadly final) album from Walls, on their own Ecstatic Recordings label, is a beast of an electronic album. From the John Carpenter-esque title track, through the cyclical, spiralling 'Moon Eye' and on to the squelching, pulsing 'Altai' this is a record that explores all corners of the electronic multiverse. 'Voluta' has a krautrock feel to it, while 'Tongue Pad' provides a calm moment when it starts and is a modular feast in the James Holden mode. 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love' meanwhile is a swaggering, cocksure number full of 90s acid and 80s electronic drum beats. Album closer 'Radiance' is an end-of the-film, sunset-on-a-distant-planet kind of track that perfectly draws to a close this part of their career. With both members of the band having their own solo projects (Not Waving and Primitive World, and their label putting out the likes of Pye Corner Audio, we'll still hear plenty from them I'm sure.

If you can still track it down there's a limited edition on grey vinyl with a hand-numbered art insert (I got mine from Bleep). It's definitely one of the best electronic albums of the year so make sure you get a copy.

Track of the Day: 'Auntie Pearl's House' by Golden Rules

If you've looked through this blog in the past you'll know that I'm a big fan of Paul White. Everything he gets involved with always sounds great to me, and his solo album last year was one of my favourites of 2014.

Golden Rules is a new project from White and vocalist / rapper Eric Biddines from Florida. They've got an album coming later in the year on Lex Records, and the first fruit of their labours is 'Auntie Pearl's House'. It's a quirky tale of Eric's rural upbringing and how he used to look forward to his visits to his Aunt's at the weekend.



If you want to see the duo live they're makking their debut supporting BadBadNotGood & Ghostface Killah at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London on May 15th