Cosmic | Balearic 17 Items

We’ve always been careful not to call Balmat an ambient label, because we like having the freedom to move, to drift, to morph. But with our 11th release, we turn our ears—proudly, blissfully—to a strain of ambient at its most timeless. The appropriately titled Dreams & Whispers comes from Warsaw’s Bartosz Kruczyński, who has recorded under a number of guises, Earth Trax, as well as his own name. Over the years, he’s touched upon deep house, breakbeats, acid, techno, electro, IDM, and more; often, the throughline running through a given album is simply the refusal to remain in any one place for long—well, that, and his unusually nuanced ear for harmony and texture.

Those qualities come to the fore on Dreams & Whispers, which might be the most focused encapsulation of Kruczyński’s atmospheric sensibilities to date.. Across 14 stripped-down tracks for shimmer and pulse, Kruczyński evokes overlapping styles in ambient—warm vibraphones, taut arps, massing strings, lonesome delay chains —but always with his own twist. Fitting the album’s title, the album is loosely divided into two distinct moods: The A-side, “Dreams,” is charged with subtle movement, rhythms spreading out like rings around skipped stones, while the B-side, “Whispers,” plunges into a zone of shadows and hush. The two complementary moods flow into one another like the faces of a Moebius strip, yielding an album that’s intuitively shaped and rich in emotion.

Coyote team up with Quinn Luke Lamont for a one off collaboration. Quinns vocals add a distinctly yachty feel to Coyote's chuggy early evening acid groove. Project Sandro tighten up the percussion and strip the vocals back and create a dreamy more contemplative warm weather shuffler.

Sähkö Recordings offspring and Helsinki's house music label #1 Keys Of Life presents their first part of two balearic 12inches by DJ Sotofett & SVN.

Each heading for their own side, DJ Sotofett stretches epic coastal synths, shaking tambourines, stomping bass notes and whirling crystal resonance to a 14 min ride. SVN on the flip side goes deeper, to the late night or early morning, with spacial rhythms, reverberated back drops and warm pads with a hint of acid.

Following on from Los Rayos Del Sol (2021) & the follow up Los Rayos In Dub (2022) NuNorthern Soul presents ‘Moonbeams’ by Ibiza based producer, per-cussionist and sunset selector, George Solar.

Inspired by nocturnal moods and illuminated by the moon in all its phases, this collection follows the vibrations of 'Los Rayos Del Sol.' It's a journey into night-time peace and harmony, embracing the moonlit atmosphere.

avigating vibrant influences of Latin-jazz, Tropicália and joyful grooves; multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer and producer Inês Loubet presents her utterly gorgeous debut album ‘Senga’. The album covers Inês’ experiences over the past five years, originating in Portugal, travelling through Brazil, before finding home in London.

Previously, Inês co-wrote and performed on Caravela’s album 'Orla' on None More Records, which was praised by the likes of Gilles Peterson and The Line of Best Fit. Her music has been played on Jazz FM, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 3, NTS and Soho Radio. A relentless live performer, she’s played alongside Brazilian legends Gilberto Gil & João Bosco, graced the stage of The Royal Albert Hall, Union Chapel, and O2 Shepherds Bush, around UK and international tours.

The album explores a range of profound themes including nature, travel, grief, unconditional love, separation, family dynamics, and the nuanced experience of womanhood in contemporary society. Dedications to the music, philosophy and revolutionary history of samba (‘Sambo Mesmo Sem’), everyday observations of joy (‘Guri’), and motivating generational change for the better (‘Sab Sabim’); glide across romantic harmonies and the Brazilian rhythms at the melodic heart of the album.

“I started writing whilst living in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, in February 2020”, says Inês. “I was shy and hadn't written fully composed tracks before then. During lockdown I received support from The Arts Council’s Dycp, started making demos, gained confidence and started playing them live”. In October 2022 Inês was presented with the Drake YoLanda award and went to Giant Wafer studio in Wales for three days, before recording the final vocals at her home studio and mixing and mastering in Porto, Portugal.

Inês is joined on the album by a band of close friends. Percussionist and long-time collaborator Jansen Santana from Salvador da Bahia brings the soul of the drums, the tambor. “I always have the Bahia drums present in my mind when I write a new composition. I studied Latin percussion at University and then lived in Salvador absorbing all that heritage and knowledge”. Playing four different stringed instruments on the album, Greg Sanders is a long-time friend and collaborator from London “I met him in a samba band in 2015 and he was the first person I ever showed my songs to and played with”. The band is completed by Ruta Sipola on flute, Jake Burgess on tenor sax, Peu Meurray who recorded a lot of the percussion and lead vocals, and bassist Julio de Castro from Sao Paulo. “I was blown away by his bass playing, his swing and creativity, his ton of experience and professionalism but also his voice - he's an amazing singer and I believe that adds a lot to the magic”.

Inês concludes, “Last year, I had a show in London and I asked everyone in the audience to write down what they felt when they listened to the music. These are some of the things they wrote: wholesome, refreshing, lifted, moving, joyful, happy, nostalgic, warmth, force, goosebumps, emotional, togetherness, transported, rooted”. ‘Senga’ captures all of these feelings and more in a memorable first impression from a highly talented musician.

Limited edition double vinyl release of Jezebell’s debut new-Balearic epic, which stylishly weaves the history of eclectic club classics through 16 tracks of downtempo, dub, and acid chug.

The only proved efficient time traveling method to date is through listening to music, particularly evident when indulging in Jona Jefferies' latest EP released by Spanish house specialists Apersonal Music. It's a refreshing nod to the golden era of 90s electronic music. Across its three tracks, Jefferies masterfully blends elements of ambient, downtempo, and electronica, evoking a sense of nostalgia as if plucked from a bygone era. In contrast to today's TikTok-dominated landscape of short, immediate singles, this EP harkens back to a time when music was crafted with depth and complexity. Drawing inspiration from legendary acts like Boards of Canada and Underworld, it seamlessly transports listeners to the Gen-X decade, when acts like Daft Punk, Orbital and The Chemical Brothers reign supreme and exploited the electronic scene during the MTV era.

On the A side, "Es Camp" embodies the seamless influence of British electronic music on the Balearic scene of the 90s, and viceversa. Feels like Moby’s “Porcelain” if the film "The Beach" had been set in Ibiza. Max Essa's "Romantic Breaks Mix" elevates the track to pure Balearic bliss, setting the perfect mood for any sunset terrace around the globe.

Side B, tailored for the dance floor, runs through “Lost in Paradise”, a track that channels euphoria reminiscent of the underground rave culture during the final years of the 20th century. Apersonal's trusted remixer, Eddie C, delivers an extended rendition of the track that continually evolves, echoing Jim Morrison’s words: 'the music was new, black polished chrome, and came over the summer like liquid night.'

Back in 2016, Lars Bartkuhn was on a quest to expand his musical horizons. Inspired by the idea of the desert as a transformative place – an alien environment whose combination of vastness and beauty challenges those lost within it to first find themselves before they can find a way out – he loaded up his sampler with sub-Saharan samples and set about making two 12” singles, ‘Nomad’ and ‘Massai’, which subsequently appeared on Utopia Records.

Following completion of work on his 2023 album Dystopia, a conceptual ambient meditation built around electronic and acoustic improvisations, the German musician and producer decided to return to the core ideas that inspired those two 12” singles. Once again, he wanted to challenge himself, explore the more exotic side of his musical influences, and discover a course through the musical desert to ultimately become a better musician, producer, and composer.

The result is Nomad, an album that not only brings together two sides of his work – the immersive ambient explorations at the heart of Dystopia, and the club-focused rhythms that marked out his early career deep house explorations – but also draws on a familiar palette of influences, from Latin jazz-fusion and the deep jazz brilliance of ECM Records releases, to the ‘fourth world’ works of Jon Hassell and the African music that had initially inspired the ‘Nomad’ and ‘Massai’ singles.

Searching from the start for a more ‘analogue’ sound – hand percussion, kalimba, piano, voice, bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars, alongside the modular synth sounds that were such a part of Dystopia – Bartkuhn combined improvisational and traditional composition techniques, painstaking editing, tweaking and reworking tracks over an extended period.

Added to impeccable sound design – even the more dancefloor-focussed excursions are optimised for headphone listening – the results are startling, even by Bartkuhn’s impressively high standards.

There are, of course, radically reworked versions of previous singles – a sun-kissed, Brazilian jazz-fusion informed re-invention of ‘Transcend’ (where Bartkuhn offers nods to another musical hero, Pat Metheny), an expansive, solo-laden take on ‘Nomad’ and a ambient inspired re-recording of ‘Massai’ – plus the kaleidoscopic brilliance of 2021’s ‘Every Morning I Meditate’, but far more never-before-heard highlights.

There’s the 6/8 time, Latin-tinged sunshine of ‘Back To My Innerself’, a track built on organic performances that were improvised straight into the sequencer; the meandering, densely layered sound world that is ‘Flame’ (a tribute to ECM recordings of the 1970s); the lightly techno-influenced fourth world futurism of ‘Ghibliman’; the organic deep house bliss of ‘African Skies’, where Bartkuhn’s vocalisations come to the fore; and the slow-motion ambient house of ‘First Kalimba’.

Nomad, then, is an album that effortlessly showcases Bartkuhn’s unique musical personality and ability to craft warm, colourful sound worlds – some rhythmic, others not so much – while neatly sidestepping categorization. It could well be his strongest and most personal musical statement yet.

Lono Ritmo arrive at IIB HQ from some distant mysterious exotic land bringing a deeply authentic gypsy flamenco rhythm with them. Luz de Luna has a Spine tingling vocals and emotive guitar transporting you to a Spanish mountain side camp under the setting sun. Pablo's Groove highlights the percussion tracks. Ibiza legends Dj Pippi and Willie Graf turn the OG into a trademark deep dance floor groove that would sound right at home in their Ibiza dj sets The Dubstrumental drops the Vox and the hypnotic dance is on. Already roadtested on the white Isle last summer, Authentico!

JKriv’s long out-of-press Bukom Mashie Rework gets a king-size reboot in this tasty 7 Inch package with a fresh new acid dub! J’s original 8 min opus is nipped and tucked in all the right places to make for a streamlined A-side stomper, and a brand new version on the flip, with a tastefully reimagined arrangement, punctuated with spicy 303 acid lines and live flute performed by the inimitable Domenica (of Underground System). Big summer banger alert!

Played on 6Music by Tom Ravenscroft & Deb Grant.

There was a long time I considered Raymond Richards the ultimate secret weapon. There were sounds he could make that other people just couldn’t. Pure, whole, yet complex sounds. The pedal steel is an extremely niche instrument outside of its Country confines, but its sheer and transcendent depth has never failed to floor me. Raymond’s ear for implementing the steel into literally 'anything' has always been uncanny. After decades of being savvy to his work ethic, multi-faceted studio skills and overall sense of musical honesty, it became a priority for me to channel some of this into narratives through the ESP Institute and get his stories told. Without further recounting the history and trajectory of our musical relationship (see the press release for 2020’s critically-acclaimed album 'The Lost Art Of Wandering'), I can whole-heartedly confirm this sophomore release, 'Sand Paintings', opens an even wider door into Raymond’s visceral, contemplative world. The cast of players has elaborated to include Calexico’s John Convertino on drums and percussion, a bevy of eccentric stringed instruments and even a hint of brass to collectively stratify context for the pedal steel. Through diversifying the timbral palette, we invite an increased soundstage acuity but also reveal untapped wells of emotion for the listener, perhaps even testing cultural literacies. One foot remains in our established ambient realm, while the other steps toward grand cinematic gestures, and despite the dense, insurmountable emotion in these songs, there is a stoic singularity, like a lonesome cowboy pulling up his boot straps to endure another day. 'Badwater Basin' opens with courage, an enormous chord evoking Raymond’s image of “hard dawn”, but in navigating through the dramatic depictions of 'Monument Valley', 'Saguaro' and 'Deer On Hwy 80', we grapple with a cloaked vulnerability—weathered by the elements, beaten down and alone, yet still madly in love with the world. —Lovefingers

For their 35th release Left Ear returns to the archives of Spanish Musician Jesús Mª Catalán and his project Respuesta Alternativa, or the Alternative Response. Unlike his previous release, the tracks from this compilation were not released at the time and the tapes only found recently, which had been lying dormant in a shoebox since their creation from the period 1987-1990. When not on the road working as a sound technician,

Jesús continued to craft atmospheric tracks in the quiet of his bedroom and later finished productions with the assistance of long-time collaborator Julián C. Pérez. Together, they captured simple themes, with the sound evolving over time. Transitioning from guitars, they incorporated vocal samples to weave enduring musical tapestries. Given Jesus’ geographic location (Spain) and the atmospheric down-tempo nature of the music, we wondered if the ‘balearic’ sounds had played a part in his productions. Jesus explains that “the distinction in the Balearic and Asturias Islands is marked by the different character of its people and the incidence of the weather, where the sea influences the Mediterranean Sea of the Balearic Islands is a calm sea. The Cantabrico de Asturias Sea is stormier”.

As a proud Asturian, Jesús was influenced by and payed homage to his surroundings, with lush breezy passages echoing calm ocean days and others reflecting sudden turns in conditions, weaving a stormier, more confronting layer into his already distinct sounds.

French producer Jerome Barresi assumes his Robert's Diary Palais here for a new outing on Is It Balearic that offers something a little adjacent to the norm. Opener 'Dinky Bird' is a mix of tender keys and hand claps with a soulful vocal sample that reminds of early-era Moby. Norse mainstay Bjorn Torske appears then to remix and brings some scuttling percussive sounds and watery effects over four-four drums. 'Six O Six' is a yearning dub cut packed with wild FX and 'kxp' is a zoned-out and tinny retro-future nu-disco cut that is a perfect B-side.

Travelling extensively across Asia and Africa from 1974-1985 to study music, Roberto made many field recordings and collected many instruments on his travels which he would then combine with synthesizers and electronics back in Italy. TIP!

Secrets Of Sound sold out their first release in quick fashion and now they return with a second instalment in the Exotic Origins series, designed to take you a million light years away from your current reality and deep into the far depths of space with eight superbly cosmic explorations of ambient and downtempo magic. Italians Do It Better man Johnny Jewel kicks off with some sultry sax-laced sounds, David Lynch's musical partner Dean Hurley crushes on shimmering pads and Pye Corner Audio bring a little intergalactic tension. Elsewhere there are sugary synths from Legowelt, suspensory pads from TM Solver and plenty more to help you escape to another dimension. Add to that the fact it arrives on a random variety of different vinyl colours and comes with a download code, and you've got rather a nice package.

M.A.D have rounded up some friends new and old to bring you this stomping VA.

Metropolis; a powerful song addressing city inequalities and their impact on youth. It's a call for freedom, criticizing large corporations. The lyrics remind us of our basic human needs, while the smooth music eases the despair about environmental issues. Despite being recorded over forty years ago, the message feels relevant today, as we continue to struggle with harmful capitalism.

Originally part of a 1975 charity compilation LP raising money for environmental charities in California, which later became a collectors artifact changing has for silly money (which didn’t fit well with the Déjà vu kid team), so this Balearic nugget, the crown jewel of this album, was released on 7”…There is no better way to share it again than on it’s own 45 inch release at a fair price.

Moonboots, Danny Psychemagik, Spruzzi Monorecords, Micky Browne, Paul Hillery are just a selection of names who have championed this track from this great album and now we can reshare it with you in this first time format.

Artwork redesigned by GNB Studios.