Double LP
Latest dbl LP from the increasingly mythical Michael J. Blood, which does a grand job in connecting contemporary Greater Manchester with both Drexciyan legend and imperial era Warp. Indeed, the nods to Stinson and Donald's extended universe of future-sound feel starker than ever on Spaces In Between, drawing from Abstract Thoughts' deep house seduction and The Other People Place's celebral electro as much as it does Drexciya's subaquatic voyaging. While there's no doubting Blood's read on the classics, his development as a producer is now more clearly in focus, and Spaces in Between feels like a notable evolution of the slightly rawer approach present on previous long players. Less is there the sense of a series of well conceived edits and more of a cohesive set of ideas with sharper production values. Though only by a touch, mind. If I remain reluctant to label this 'lo-fi house', the customary grit of 2020's Introducing... is nonetheless still there in the grain, an emblem of DIY self-determination that makes good bedfellows with Rat Heart and DJ Sotofett's free-standing obstinance. Unquestionably the best yet from Blood.
