Smallfish (UK)

12k’s on a roll this year and it’s fabulous to see Tomasz Bednarczyk releasing a new album so soon. I’m a big fan of his delicate electronic style and here he does what comes naturally to him – puts together a series of totally enthralling tracks that flow beautifully. Using some gorgeous textures and sounds everything sits neatly in place and the graininess of the tones is wonderfully warm. You could, I guess, call it a form of melodic drone, but I feel that it has more of a structured feel with a definite sense of arrangement, rather than just drifting along. Notable moments are Adrian Klumpes’ wonderful piano collaboration which is really quite sumptuous – jazzy, but without being jazz, if you know what I mean – along with a brilliant track that takes the atmosphere up a notch with its dense, almost noise-based sound (think Tim Hecker). Really it’s another awesome release for both label and artist and comes with the highest recommendation. Is it me or is there a lot of good music out at the moment?