Over The Counter #10: Piccadilly Records - February '16

Music

This series asks some of our favourite shops from around the world to tell us about the records which are doing it for them right now. This week's edition comes from Manchester's famous Piccadilly Records. It opened in 1978 and prospered in the post-punk 80s, selling a mixture of rock, pop, indie and alternative music. Now positioned in the quarter that counts, they've been shouting about Northern tastes and making them known worldwide (which is unusual for Mancs). Selling the very best in House, Disco, Techno, northern alt-folk and beyond, here are the records which they think are important right now, shared by Patrick and the team.

Much like the other eleven months, February means rain for Manchester, and so far we’ve taken a total soaking. Just as well then that the music makers out there have continued to bless us with a never ending stream of wonderful sounds, perfect for warming our spirits while we’re cooped up indoors. Here’s a roundup of the recent and decent sounds getting a spin on the shop stereo.

San Laurentino – First Love

Aficionado releases are always a big deal at Piccadilly and this release from Hungary’s San Laurentino saw the label remain one step ahead of the game. A brilliant fusion of Italo house and dreamy synthpop, the four track EP sounds like Don Carlos and Depeche Mode sound-tracking the last days of the summer season as you kiss your holiday romance goodbye. With Imperfect Product’s ‘Innerzone Orchestra-covering-Summer Madness-in-your-back-garden’ roller ‘Solina’ dropping at the end of the month, it looks like it’ll be another great year for Manchester’s Balearic institution.

Ruf Dug / Glowing Palms / Benny Badge – Ruf Kutz #10

The man who kick started our fair city’s obsession with limited-run, hand-stamped DIY pressings follows up a gorgeous concept LP on Copenhagen’s Music For Dreams with the tenth release on his Ruf Kutz imprint. Opting for a 7” this time round, Ruffy invites a couple of his nearest and dearest into the studio for a quick trip through dubbed out boogie and cinematic synth funk. Downbeat but danceable, the release sees the producer continue to find the sweet spot between many a disparate scene. Highly recommended!

Cantoma – Tabarin / Abando / Monk Island

This week saw the return of the one and only Phil Mison, who whets our appetites nicely ahead of his forthcoming LP with the second release on his Highwood Recordings label. Picking up exactly where he left off on the gorgeous ‘Alive’, the Cafe Del Mar legend layers balmy textures and delicate guitar over rippling percussion for a pair of simmering beachfront jams, ably backed by a floor ready remix by NYC’s Whatever/Whatever. If anything can hasten summer’s arrival, it has to be ‘Monk Island’.

Various Artists – Red Laser EP 8

Here’s one that’ll separate the geez from the bulbs as Red Laser chief Il Bosco would put it. The esteemed Manctalo imprint hit us with their latest various artists EP, uniting old friends and newcomers from either side of the Channel in cybernetic harmony. It’s a fine showing for blighty as Kid Machine, Starion and Tommy Walker 3 deliver nebulous chug, italo noir and acid funk respectively, but Parisian debutant Alan Dente steals the show with the euphoric proto house of ‘Smokey Mountains’ – a peak time smasher if ever I’ve heard one.

Tom Blackwell – Tyrone The Gun

Whatever our preferred tastes may be, there’s one scene which seems to unite the Piccadilly staff at the moment, bringing us all together in awestruck silence. Manchester’s burgeoning DIY folk scene has treated us to some beautiful music in recent years, whether it be the languid guitar movements of DBH’s stunning ‘Time Flies’ (repressed at the start of the month) and ‘Mood’, or the electrifying blues sounds of C Joynes and Jonah Davis split LP. Now Tom Blackwell pays tribute to the Kerouac-flavoured Americana undertook by many a young man on the road with the rambunctious bluegrass of ‘Tyrone The Gun’.