Lets face it, the UK in January is fairly rubbish, wet, cold, skint, pressure to go on health kicks. Chuck in the shame, fear and self-loathing of not, contriving with the annoying smugness of those who’ve succeeded, yeah not great. But, it doesn’t have to be this way! It can be a quiet month for releases after the end of year push. Which does mean a good opportunity to dig into some bits and bobs that may have slipped under the radar, or just dropped pre the end of year listathons.

So, sticking with the theme of ways to shake off the icy chill, here are five winter warmers from late 2024 that maybe didn’t get the love they needed. Add to that a slightly tenuous link between them, all bringing a generally central heated vibe to assuage the winter blues via headphones or speakers. A nice variation in tempo and feel to give more than a rounded out, and above all, warming, listening experience and see a way through the longest month. Enjoy!

Personal System - Distant Paradise (Dream Chimney)

San Fran’s Dream Chimney has been a treasure trove of oddities and information since 1997, the site covers all manner of musical delights from interviews and sleeve art to a dedicated radio and mix series. The label is run in line with the website’s ethos and releases records very much in that vein. Out last year, Personal System’s ‘Distant Paradise’ couldn’t really be more aptly named. Released on cassette with a suitably tropical cover pic to melt away the chill, and replace it with the better definition of that word.

Balearic in the extreme but with a little Pacific peacefulness chucked in, there’s exotic sax that dreamily plays over mellow but affecting keyboards and synths all across this record. Tracks like ‘Another Day Goes By’ float across the consciousness, just making the breaths a little deeper and shoulders feel a little lighter. Easy chords and strings envelop the ears like a warm ocean breeze, while soft musical waves lap at the metaphorical feet, suddenly the troubles of the world seem to drain away, like on ‘Reflections on Water’. Beautiful stuff.

Robert Leiner - Echobox (De:tuned)

Taking a more electronic route to the heart, Echobox is formed of intricate melodies from the simple combination of synth and drum patterns. Somehow combining a slightly jangly fourth world ethereality with analogue techno and dub elements into something both mindful and engaging.

Tracks like ‘Moln’ and ‘Session 0510’ tack towards the mellower end of things but are no less immersive. ‘Echobox’s’ shimmering franticness could easily be played super loud to deadly effect, breaking out into an acid freak to close. Then there’s ‘Bakom Moln’s’ more breakbeat feel with some ambience chucked in to keep the brain guessing. All in a super balanced set of exquisitely put together electronics by someone who knows what they’re doing.

Secondo - Unlikely Companions (What About Never)

Switzerland’s Radovan Scasascia, has released under various labels over years, dropping an album in Souljazz back in 2008 amongst other releases. After an apparent layoff, he’s back on What About Never with ‘Unlikely Companions’. The two mixes here provide a nice counterpoint to each other. The original’s angular bass growls and warping swerves of noise transverse into a sparsely beat driven swing with a lovely descending back beat. Maybe a kind of future jazz funk, but with a broken energy to it.

Meanwhile, Passarani’s Nature Mix sharpens up the edges into more breakbeat territory. Upping the tempo and bounce, but at the same time expanding the spaces in between with echo and reverb. The track is a game of two halves, as Act 2 dials down the hectic a little and expands into a more spacious house but without losing its edge. A little challenging? Perhaps, but well worth the application.

Nexus 21 - Sycologic P.S.P. (Network Records)

First some background to the pedigree on this record. Nexus 21 are Mark Archer and Chris Peat and following an early success were given a techno dream ticket, shipped off the KMS studios to record a follow up with the help of a couple of fellas whose names may be familiar, Marc Kinchen, Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir, plus the powerful vocalist, Donna Black. Returning home they finished the record, adding a dash of early UK techno influences, rolling in the sounds of the day to the mix. Then something else happened, what was at the time a side project took on a life of its own. That lead to this album being shelved and basically lost to the world in a dusty DAT archive. The name of that side project, Altern8.

Understandably overshadowed, given Altern8’s success, but still shamefully overlooked at the time, Mind Machines sees the light of day in full after its original conception. Suffice to say, it more than holds up now with any house music of the era and beyond. For the amateur historians out there, 1991 is 30+ years ago, and yet these still sound fresh, with a pretty much timeless production sound full of depth and more than a little machine soul.

The album touches a lot of points on the dance music spectrum, from the very much straight ahead vocal anthem touches of ‘I Really Know We Can Make It’ onto the more ethereal notes of ‘Silicon’ with its keyboard line and warped voicings. Mind Machines clearly sends echoes forward to so much that came after. Tracks like ‘Nexodus’ use wailing filtered howls to complement the tabla-esque drums and pumped up feel. Everything (No Statues)’ is lighter in feel, uplifting and playful. There’s even a live version of ‘Silicon’ from the Brain Club taken from 1991. Proper timepiece music that works for now.

Juan Ramos - Big D for Disco (Bless You)

Lastly for this five piece, Puerto Rico’s Juan Ramos hurls a three track attack of proper club music for Bless You via Sound Metaphors. The D in question is very much in evidence, rough and chunky with a few judicious touch points into good stuff. ‘D2’ is a bit of a monster, slightly psychedelic, definitely driving and not holding back. ‘D3’ is more tracky with a conga roll and more vocal presence to send the dancers round the bend, with added orchestration for added expansion. Finally, ‘Collide’ has more of an industrial influence, slower in tempo but with increased poundage, as it breaks out of its early maelstrom to a beat driven warp that has just a little touch of acidic Arabic sounds. A proper meaty three courser from Snr Ramos.