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A decade is a long time in music, but it feels less epic when the music in question is timeless, picturesque and immersive. This is one of the reasons why NuNorthern Soul, a label founded to champion music with feeling – or, if you prefer, “music you can listen to, but in the right context also dance to”, as founder Phil Cooper puts it – arrives at its tenth birthday in ruder health than ever.
Founded in London, run from Bali for a period, and now based in Ibiza, NuNorthern Soul has grown from humble roots to become one of the most popular outlets for Balearic music on the planet. While pinning down exactly what “Balearic” is, musically speaking, has always been notoriously tough, NuNorthern Soul’s definition – music with soul that combines organic instrumentation, colourful electronics, slow-motion grooves and atmospheric washes of sound – is as close to the essence of the style as you’ll get.
“My own personal mission is to make Balearic music much more accessible to people,” Cooper explains. “Balearic is to me music that takes you to other places – a journey through music with no boundaries or genres.”
In the case of NuNorthern Soul, that started in the late 1990s. Long before the label launched, NuNorthern Soul was a regular Sunday session in a bar in Chester, where Cooper and school friend Jim Baron sat behind the decks and played laidback, eclectic musical selections to wind down the weekend. The name was suggested by one of the event’s regular punters, who likened the community feel of the event to his experiences as a Northern Soul dancer.
Fast forward to 2011. Following a move to London, Cooper was introduced to Ben Smith, a singer-songwriter and producer whose music he’d long admired. After bonding over a few pints of Guinness, Smith offered to hand over a hard drive full of unreleased tracks; together, the pair put together what would become the NuNorthern Soul label’s first ever release: a fine album of beautiful, boundary-free music entitled The Movedrill Projects.
Another EP from Smith, Dedications to the Greats, followed in early 2013, with the sometime Fug and Akwaaba band-member recording emotive, life-affirming cover versions in his signature style. It was followed by an EP of opaque, sunset-ready songs from Ragz Nordset, and NuNorthern Soul was on its way. While the label has subtly moved around musically since, offering up EPs and albums that incorporate elements from a multitude of becalmed and blissful styles, the core ethos remains the same. Significantly, those early Ben Smith and Ragz Nordset releases still stand up to scrutiny all these years on.
Smith has remained a big part of the NuNorthern Soul family ever since, and it’s fitting that two of his tracks – the stunning, undulating downtempo epic ‘Over Land & Sea’, from improvised 2019 album From The Ash, and Jonny Nash’s glistening, shuffling 2015 rework of ‘Hold On To It’ – are featured on this 10th birthday celebration of the NuNorthern Soul story so far.
It’s right, too, that Jim Baron, whose stints behind the decks with Cooper in Chester began the NuNorthern Soul story, also makes two appearances. His chugging, jangling, wide-eyed 2014 Ron Basejam rework of Ragz Nordset’s ‘You Started It All’ – a track that has so far racked up over three million streams on Spotify – was an early label hit, while his fragile, softly spun masterpiece as JIM, ‘Whisper in the Wind’ (featuring none other than Ben Smith on guitar), features here via a deliciously stretched-out, sunrise-ready remix from James Holroyd under his Balearic-friendly BEGIN guise.
Sentimentality aside, the success of NuNorthern Soul is rooted in Cooper’s ability to pick music to release from a wide variety of artists that fits the label’s colourful, atmospheric and tactile sonic vision. This lovingly curated box set is testament to that, with immersive, yearning efforts from veteran musicians such as Jon Tye (here appearing as Captain Sunshine, via the breath-taking ‘The Oceans Inside’) and the late, great Ryo Kawasaki (remixed by Mancunian, former Body & Soul NYC resident DJ Andi Hanley) being joined by wonderfully on-point productions from relatively recent signings such as Torn Sail (the Balearic folk swell of ‘Disconnected’), George Koultalieris, My Friend Dario and Tambores En Benirras.
The inclusion of the latter’s ‘Camino Cala Llonga’ is particularly pertinent, since it offers a neat reminder of the role NuNorthern Soul, and Cooper’s own daily Balearic radio streams, played in getting many people through the various COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 and early ’21. Tambores En Benirras is an alias of Barrow-based veteran DJ Gripper, who recorded an album of rare escapist brilliance (2021’s sublime Orbe Dotado) while confined to his home during the early stages of the pandemic.
“The COVID lockdown was an important moment for NuNorthern Soul,” Cooper says. “A lot of labels decided to pull back on releases, but I thought it was a time when people needed music the most – especially the kind of music we release. Our music, to me, is timeless, but it really came under the magnifying glass when people most needed it. We’ve been going now for 10 years, but it’s the last two years that has put us on the map.”
NuNorthern Soul’s popularity in the pandemic, during the label’s eight and ninth years in business, offers further evidence to support journalist and author Joe Muggs’ theory about “soft music for hard times”. In essence, when times are rough, we as humans instinctively reach for comforting, relaxing and sonically mood-enhancing music.
While most of NuNorthern Soul’s catalogue was not made with that ethos in mind, trawl back through the label’s bulging discography and you’ll find countless EPs, singles and albums that fit the bill. When times are good, Balearic music is a giddy, sun-soaked rush of aural emotion; in darker times, it’s a much-needed dose of enveloping musical daydreaming. Wherever you are in your life, and whatever your mood, NuNorthern Soul has you covered.
“I stand by everything we’ve released and I believe it will still have a time, a space and a place now and in the future,” Cooper says. “My mission with NuNorthern Soul is to spread the beautiful Balearic inspired joy to everybody.”
Matt Anniss 2022
Distributed by Strikeforce 360 Media
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http://www.facebook.com/Strikeforce360
http://twitter.com/STRIKEFORCE360
A decade is a long time in music, but it feels less epic when the music in question is timeless, picturesque and immersive. This is one of the reasons why NuNorthern Soul, a label founded to champion music with feeling – or, if you prefer, “music you can listen to, but in the right context also dance to”, as founder Phil Cooper puts it – arrives at its tenth birthday in ruder health than ever.
Founded in London, run from Bali for a period, and now based in Ibiza, NuNorthern Soul has grown from humble roots to become one of the most popular outlets for Balearic music on the planet. While pinning down exactly what “Balearic” is, musically speaking, has always been notoriously tough, NuNorthern Soul’s definition – music with soul that combines organic instrumentation, colourful electronics, slow-motion grooves and atmospheric washes of sound – is as close to the essence of the style as you’ll get.
“My own personal mission is to make Balearic music much more accessible to people,” Cooper explains. “Balearic is to me music that takes you to other places – a journey through music with no boundaries or genres.”
In the case of NuNorthern Soul, that started in the late 1990s. Long before the label launched, NuNorthern Soul was a regular Sunday session in a bar in Chester, where Cooper and school friend Jim Baron sat behind the decks and played laidback, eclectic musical selections to wind down the weekend. The name was suggested by one of the event’s regular punters, who likened the community feel of the event to his experiences as a Northern Soul dancer.
Fast forward to 2011. Following a move to London, Cooper was introduced to Ben Smith, a singer-songwriter and producer whose music he’d long admired. After bonding over a few pints of Guinness, Smith offered to hand over a hard drive full of unreleased tracks; together, the pair put together what would become the NuNorthern Soul label’s first ever release: a fine album of beautiful, boundary-free music entitled The Movedrill Projects.
Another EP from Smith, Dedications to the Greats, followed in early 2013, with the sometime Fug and Akwaaba band-member recording emotive, life-affirming cover versions in his signature style. It was followed by an EP of opaque, sunset-ready songs from Ragz Nordset, and NuNorthern Soul was on its way. While the label has subtly moved around musically since, offering up EPs and albums that incorporate elements from a multitude of becalmed and blissful styles, the core ethos remains the same. Significantly, those early Ben Smith and Ragz Nordset releases still stand up to scrutiny all these years on.
Smith has remained a big part of the NuNorthern Soul family ever since, and it’s fitting that two of his tracks – the stunning, undulating downtempo epic ‘Over Land & Sea’, from improvised 2019 album From The Ash, and Jonny Nash’s glistening, shuffling 2015 rework of ‘Hold On To It’ – are featured on this 10th birthday celebration of the NuNorthern Soul story so far.
It’s right, too, that Jim Baron, whose stints behind the decks with Cooper in Chester began the NuNorthern Soul story, also makes two appearances. His chugging, jangling, wide-eyed 2014 Ron Basejam rework of Ragz Nordset’s ‘You Started It All’ – a track that has so far racked up over three million streams on Spotify – was an early label hit, while his fragile, softly spun masterpiece as JIM, ‘Whisper in the Wind’ (featuring none other than Ben Smith on guitar), features here via a deliciously stretched-out, sunrise-ready remix from James Holroyd under his Balearic-friendly BEGIN guise.
Sentimentality aside, the success of NuNorthern Soul is rooted in Cooper’s ability to pick music to release from a wide variety of artists that fits the label’s colourful, atmospheric and tactile sonic vision. This lovingly curated box set is testament to that, with immersive, yearning efforts from veteran musicians such as Jon Tye (here appearing as Captain Sunshine, via the breath-taking ‘The Oceans Inside’) and the late, great Ryo Kawasaki (remixed by Mancunian, former Body & Soul NYC resident DJ Andi Hanley) being joined by wonderfully on-point productions from relatively recent signings such as Torn Sail (the Balearic folk swell of ‘Disconnected’), George Koultalieris, My Friend Dario and Tambores En Benirras.
The inclusion of the latter’s ‘Camino Cala Llonga’ is particularly pertinent, since it offers a neat reminder of the role NuNorthern Soul, and Cooper’s own daily Balearic radio streams, played in getting many people through the various COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 and early ’21. Tambores En Benirras is an alias of Barrow-based veteran DJ Gripper, who recorded an album of rare escapist brilliance (2021’s sublime Orbe Dotado) while confined to his home during the early stages of the pandemic.
“The COVID lockdown was an important moment for NuNorthern Soul,” Cooper says. “A lot of labels decided to pull back on releases, but I thought it was a time when people needed music the most – especially the kind of music we release. Our music, to me, is timeless, but it really came under the magnifying glass when people most needed it. We’ve been going now for 10 years, but it’s the last two years that has put us on the map.”
NuNorthern Soul’s popularity in the pandemic, during the label’s eight and ninth years in business, offers further evidence to support journalist and author Joe Muggs’ theory about “soft music for hard times”. In essence, when times are rough, we as humans instinctively reach for comforting, relaxing and sonically mood-enhancing music.
While most of NuNorthern Soul’s catalogue was not made with that ethos in mind, trawl back through the label’s bulging discography and you’ll find countless EPs, singles and albums that fit the bill. When times are good, Balearic music is a giddy, sun-soaked rush of aural emotion; in darker times, it’s a much-needed dose of enveloping musical daydreaming. Wherever you are in your life, and whatever your mood, NuNorthern Soul has you covered.
“I stand by everything we’ve released and I believe it will still have a time, a space and a place now and in the future,” Cooper says. “My mission with NuNorthern Soul is to spread the beautiful Balearic inspired joy to everybody.”
Matt Anniss 2022
Distributed by Strikeforce 360 Media
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http://www.facebook.com/Strikeforce360
http://twitter.com/STRIKEFORCE360
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