Elephant & Castle: Electric Dreams

The music of Elephant & Castle depicts a world gone woozy, but welcomingly. The solo artist otherwise known as David Vincent Reep spent several years growing up in England and later learned some of the finer points of electronic music production in Oakland, CA, and the sensibilities at play in the mix of the two locations goes a good way toward signaling his sound. It's blunted, bleary, sumptuous, smeary—abstract without being difficult, always up for a challenge but still smooth. Precursors for his first full-length, Transitions, include classic acts like Boards of Canada (grainy, hazy atmospherics) and contemporaries such as Four Tet (disembodied voices, spectral moods).

But the album also takes on jazzy and sometimes even folky tinges swirled into textured electronic surfaces made all the warmer by their presence. "En Memoria," featuring vocals by Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards, negotiates a psychedelic journey down a lazy day's wandering path (and winds up in a place sounding like a modern update of a '60s paisley party in Canterbury). Elsewhere, tracks like "Altered Scones" and "RGB" play with finger-wiggling bass lines and beats that stay light even when they crack and crash. – Andy Battaglia, Google Play

Sorry, but this promotion has expired. Check Magnifier regularly for more free music.