Barry Adamson - The King of Nothing Hill (mute)

The former Bad Seed and Magazine bassist has carved out an important career for himself, releasing dark and interesting music, including some major soundtrack work like David Lynch's "Lost Highway" (with Trent Reznor and Angelo Badalamenti). His latest work builds on that foundation, though this promo copy on contains three of the tracks from the album. 'Black Amour' is a lush film soundscape topped with a funky vibe and some deep soulful vocals a la Barry White. 'Whispering streets' is completely different, a funky cabaret piece in the style of Scott Walker's solo stuff (think '30 Century Man') with a suitably powerful vocal and a delicious organ sound.

It ends all too soon with the dark and brooding electronic sound of 'When darkness falls', which is in keeping with his previous stuff and has much in common with his labelmate Alan Wilder's creations as Recoil. On the basis of this sampler, I plan to buy a copy of the album for myself, and I can't give a stronger recommendation than that.

Donnacha DeLong