JAMES ROD - Boarder pass (OUT NOW ON ECLECTICS)

As the nights draw in and the temperature drops, eclectics return with a brace of winter warmers, courtesy of James Rod, both of which are packing enough heat to keep us cosy until the clocks go forward. Boarder Pass is cosmic disco with a casual nod to Norway in the loose-limbed stomp as the bass and drums rise and fall into place with calm confidence. The synth sound is so warm it's like they've been rendered in pastels by a man in a sweater by an open fire. There's no soporific after effect though, the high arpeggios and throbbing bass see to that. This tune is headed for the dance floor, it's just sorting out the underfloor heating first. "Back to Casiopea" shares similar feel, but with the urgency turned up. Shards of guitar ricochet off the glacier walls provided by the synths, which give us a structure that's familiar yet unknown - like finding an outtake of Patrick Cowley producing Tangerine Dream or digging out an hitherto unseen John Carpenter project and realising that it has a previously unheard soundtrack to kill for. In fact, Cowley and Carpenter are key touchstones. There's a live feel to these tracks that accentuates the human element. This may be machine music on first reading, but it oozes soul, bleeds spirit, and that comes from a composer who understands perfectly how to place himself at the centre of it all. -Jah Shabby