Lists
February: 18 albums you need to hear this month
Nightmares On Wax, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nils Frahm and more
Palmbomen II 'Memories Of Cindy' (Beats In Space)
In dance music, we all know that the most basic cliché can easily be trash or treasure depending who’s using it. And that rings particularly true for the clonking, bonking drum machines, retro synth presets and tape hiss of the lo-fi house sound. However, you can trust Beats In Space’s Tim Sweeney not to jump on a bandwagon for its own sake – and sure enough these 22 tracks from Kai Hugo, aka Palmbomen II, are simply wonderful. All the familiar tropes are here, but they’re always used for a purpose: throughout ‘Memories Of Cindy’, there are wistful dreams of electronic pop, acid house and various other sounds. Even more crucially, the songwriting and structures are for real – the whole album truly feels like an exercise in world-building. Joe Muggs
8/10
