Highlights of 2016 by Kit Records
Roméo Poirier - Plage Arrière (album):
I've been hooked on this album by Roméo Poirier, a French photographer, musician and lifeguard. Roméo is obsessed with water, and Plage Arrière is a deep sea meditation on a constellation of Greek beaches. Trumpets, echo-clicks and Harold Budd-esque shimmer piano all whirl together, recalling the sub-aqeaous ambitions of Jürgen Müller, Mike Cooper and Sebastian Palomar.
Haddon's mix for Kit Recs on NTS:
Manchester producer Haddon, of Cong Burn Waves, provided what has undoubtedly been my favourite guest mix of 2016. By cutting, editing and weaving together a bricolage of '50s science fiction, french lo-fi, spoken word, and hypnotic krauty funk, he's come up with what sound like entirely new songs. This mix on loop kept me company during a *long* bus ride from London to Brussels and back this autumn.
Some of my favourite music moments this year have been spent in the Margate Arts Club, which opened in the spring as a friendly experimental music venue, gallery and bar with excellent lighting installations. The Arts Club has seen great performances from Oliver Coates and Sculpture, plus DJ sets by Charlie Bones, Lukid, Kelpe and more. Stay tuned for a videogamemusic might here in the new year.
Drömloch 'Late Style' record cover by Marcus Oakley:
This cover, which I commissioned from Marcus Oakley for Kit Records, has to be my favourite album art of the year. It's primitive, jubilant, and deceptively complex. A tropical holiday for the eyes.
Mary Lattimore at the Forge, Camden:
Probably my favourite gig of 2016 was Mary Lattimore's solo harp show at the Forge in Camden, last May. There's something spiritual about seeing someone play the harp - the prolonged embrace of what appears to be a window or portal. Half dreamt, half improvised, Mary’s songs meander like off-world rivers glowing with bioluminescence.
