SUMMER SELECTIONS THREE

Over the last few years, NuNorthern Soul has established a number of traditions, most notably annual releases that provide a snapshot of the label™s output while also considering their suitability for certain seasons. Perhaps the most popular is founder Phil Cooper™s Summer Selections series, which each year showcases warm and sunny gems mined from a range of forthcoming releases. The 2021 edition of the sampler, the third in total, may well be the best yet. Six tracks deep and as subtly varied as you™d expect, the entertaining set features tracks from a mixture of exciting newcomers, experienced producers and long-time members of the NuNorthern Soul family. To kick things off, Cooper introduces us to Marshall Watson, an American producer who later in the year will release two five-track EPs on the label. ˜A Door To The Sky™, which will feature on the Sunsets On Larkin Part 1 EP, is sumptuously sun-kissed, with delay-laden electric guitar textures and sparkling electronics reclining over a tactile electronic groove. LOVA™s ˜Echoes of Memories™, the track that follows, recalls the atmospheric, synthesizer-sporting new age Balearica popularised by Quiet Force in the late 1980s. The Italian producer was signed after bringing a USB stick of productions to one of Phil Cooper™s gigs in Ibiza; his Gypsophilia EP will be one to check when it drops later in the year. Gusk™s ˜Sketch #4 - Anafi Nights™ is seductive and exotic. It™s a crackling and atmospheric musical painting that daubs starry stabs and yearning melodies atop a bubbly, lo-fi drum machine beat. It provides a perfect snapshot of the Greek musician™s Mediterranean Sketches EP, which gathers together home recordings made between 1997 and 2003. Arguably even more immersive and enveloping is ˜Aqua Blancas Sunrise™ by Tambores En Benirras, the musical project of Cumbrian selector DJ Gripper. A slow-burning delight full of intricate musical flourishes think drifting female vocalizations, Indian-influenced percussion, twinkling pianos and haunting clarinet motifs the track is one of the many highlights on the Barrow in Furness based producer™s forthcoming debut album for NuNorthern Soul. To round things off, Cooper has chosen to offer-up cuts from two very experienced artists. George Solar (real name Georg Boskamp) is an Ibiza-based German producer who has been collaborating and releasing music since the late 1980s. ˜Infrared™, his contribution to Summer Selections 3, is a languid and glassy-eyed slab of slow-motion Balearic dub. His Los Ra-yos Del Sol EP will be one to look out for later in the year and is his debut solo release. The sampler™s final missive fittingly comes from long-time friend of the family B.J Smith, a regular contributor to NuNorthern Soul releases who has reunited with Huw Costin  a vocalist he previously worked with on Smith & Mudd releases for Claremont 56 for a double A side single due later in 2021. ˜Sun When You Come™ is as warming and hazy as you™d expect and features Costin™s emotive, reverb-laden vocals and mazy electric piano solos rising above a suitably horizontal groove. It provides a stunning, sunset-ready conclusion to another superb set of Summer Selections.