Simon Sheldon bought his first synth at the age of ten, and by sixteen he was spending his days at Liverpool’s Pink Museum studio, crossing paths with OMD and Echo & the Bunnymen. A move to Belfast followed, along with drum & bass act Spree, a long run of house records with Quentin Kane and, more recently, Visions Of Light – the trio he formed with Muzka and Dan Dub Lounge. Between them, the three cover leftfield, psychedelia, lounge, soul, funk, jazz and house, and the result is a slow, sun-soaked strain of Balearic dub that refuses to settle in one place for long.
Their second album, Mycelium Bloom, has been out since 16th October. It pushes deeper into psychedelic territory than their debut The Mandala Vortex, with acid lines and desert-blues guitar woven over the dub basslines, Northern Irish actor Richard Dormer delivering spoken word on ‘Perfect You’ and flute from Luis Vilca. It’s out on vinyl, with ‘Saru’ and ‘Mirage’ added to the digital release.
Fresh from the album, Sheldon steps down into Paul Inflyte’s In The Basement with a 15-track mix that drifts from Balearic and dub through cosmic disco and leftfield house. Coyote’s ‘Dolce Far Niente’ and Polcari’s dubby ‘Superluna’ set the tone, before a Random House Project rework of The Police’s ‘Walking On The Moon’ leads into 6th Borough Project and Meat Katie. Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton turns up mid-mix, Italian cosmic disco pioneer Daniele Baldelli appears twice on the way home, and Black Fades’ take on Leftfield’s ‘Original’ leads into The Cure’s ‘Alone’ to close.
Coyote – Dolce Far Niente [NuNorthern Soul]
Polcari – Superluna [Hell Yeah Recordings]
Dim Zach – Innocence [Midnight Riot]
Random House Project – Walking On The Moon (Random House Project’s Wild Gravity Rework) [Self-released]
6th Borough Project – McLovin [Permanent Vacation]
Meat Katie – Idiot Lantern [Tici Taci]
Hotmood – I Need a Drink (Original Mix) [Alpaca Edits]
Zazou, Trippin Jaguar – Octagon [Heimlich Musik]
Eric Hilton – Madame Asha [Montserrat House]
Dramasquad – Ziggy [Get Physical Music]
Daniele Baldelli – Isotropofunk [Mondo Groove]
History of Colour, Barrio Lindo – Cinder [Shika Shika]
Roberto Lodola, Daniele Baldelli – Orbital Drive [TuneCore]
Black Fades – UnOriginal [Self-released]
The Cure – Alone [Fiction Records]