– THE CHARM OFFENSIVE –

The musical maestro behind the “chiptune with chops” band KNOWER, Louis Cole returns, solo, with a collection of odds and sods on his latest album Live Sesh and Xtra Songs.

Pleasingly, this track – from that record – also comes replete with a video that, for once and for all, explains what producers mean when they say, “hard pan to the right”.

To all intents and purposes, this is usual Louis Cole / KNOWER fare but, as super-talented a musician as Cole is, he really benefits on Doing the Things by being joined by a brass section and even some tasteful strings towards the end.

Their presence makes the song sound funkier and more organic than usual and that means it feels fuller, more characterful and more colourful.

Put simply, it’s a sizzling firecracker of fun.

The only downside of firecrackers, of course, is how quickly they burn out and, at under two minutes, I could have taken an awful lot more of Doing The Things before it faded out.

Live Sesh and Xtra Songs is out now through the brilliant Brainfeeder record label.

MORE FROM THIS WEEK’S MIX

KEFAYA + ELAHA SOROOR: JAMA NARENJI
BONOBO: LINKED
BODY MEAT: NAIROBI FLEX
UNDERWORLD: CUSTARD SPEEDTALK

P.S. You can find all of the tracks reviewed above in the 45 Revolutions per Minute playlist below or click to access the 45 RPM Playlist on Spotify itself.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), please engage in dialogue with me @45rpm_Reviews on Twitter. And, if you’d like to receive updates weekly, please subscribe to the email list to get these recommendations sent to your inbox weekly.

– SV –