Half of Where You Live
Recorded while he dog-sat for his aunt and uncle, this London producer's debut compacted the big sounds of techno, hip-hop and ambient into music so transfixing it could make a walk around the block seem like an adventure. The pace of his second LP is quicker, but the style is happily the same. Short samples of hand drums and string instruments ricochet around in the mix like pinballs; one-word vocal phrases like "Brazil" repeat till they sound like mantras. As a break from the busier tracks, he offers beat-free stretches of static and bells. The album was inspired by world travel, but it has a pleasantly isolated feel: a portable home, conjured between headphones.