New(ish) Catune!

Man, Catune just keeps putting out music that I love.  Straight outta Tokyo, Catune was founded by Kensuke Saito of 9dw, and for some reason he is on some insane mission to only release music I want to hear.  Though initially only releasing records from Japan, they are incubating a pretty solid roster of international artists, and i wouldn't be surprised to see them get even more successful, as they hold a pretty firm seat among the best coming from independent music in Japan.

I recently was able to hear their upcoming release from Windsurf/SHOCK alumni Sorcerer, and i couldn't be more excited to get that one in the mail in April.  My first introduction to Windsurf was from a 9dw remix of Weird Energy, but i was super into it.  I checked out their first Windsurf EP after that and was super into that, and everything i've heard from the Weird Energy album was fantastic and exactly the kind of super-pretty, ambient downtempo-y, house-y shit I wanted to hear.

Well, wither way, this new Sorcerer release is is on the same kind of wavelength.  It's got a little more of a deep house feel to it, but it's still super upbeat and proves to be even more accessible than the Windsurf material.  I've always been a sucker for the simple two-chord structure, and this record has got that in spades.  No matter how far away it gets, both the title tracks keep themselves firmly grounded within that structure without ever getting monotonous.  The remixes get a little deeper than their original counterparts, but never lose the spirit of the record's intended feel.  Check out the sound samples here:
Step Pyramid/Universal Vision EP

I will admit to knowing pretty much nothing about Lord Of The Isles.  A little detective work has told me that he's a UK producer from Scotland, and that wounds pretty cool to me.  Apparently his real name is Neil McDonald, and like a lot of other UK producers I know so very little about, he's got quite a few other records that are probably worth trying to scoop up down the line.

Either way, his recent release on Catune is super good and worth grabbing now if you can find a copy.  Like the Sorcerer record, it has a deep-yet-accessible feel to it, especially if you're familiar with any of the records coming off of the 100% Silk record label out of the States.  Again, you can check it out here:
Geek Chic/Radio Lollipop EP

 A little more detective work has proven that he is worth investigating further: