Michael J Blood & Samizdat - LP2

Superior second-time collaboration of after hours dwelling, distorted loverman sonics from Michael J Blood and Samizdat that displays a significant debt to Mahogani Music's characteristically soulful take on deep-house. What prevents this one slipping into pure homage is Blood's distinctly lo-fi production, which when aligned with Samizdat's crooner-outsider vocal, feels like something that could've been formulated in the primordial slush of the blogosphere's halcyon era of the late noughties. That most obviously leads us to vapourwave, which is a by no means unfair association, tracks like the heavily woozy, increasingly euphoric 'Maybe U Been Brainwashed 2' or the submerged ooze of 'Lullaby' not far off the altern-dimension liminal-house of Macintosh Plus, Windows 96 or even Washed Out, and the kind of thing you can easily imagine 100% Electronica to have picked up a decade or so back. Nostalgia for re-imagined nostalgia in the 2025 rhizome that sounds much fresher than it ought to and serves as a surprising entry in the Manchester producer's ascent upwards as the interstitial house master.  
 
FFO: Moodymann, Macintosh Plus, Washed Out, 100% Electronica