Harold Heath

New on Shfl, January 2026 Nate Patrin on The World of Kenny Dennis, Hank Shteamer on Jim White, Chris Catchpole on Vaporwave, Harold Heath on Matthew Herbert, plus a nice batch of new recommendations

It's time for another #Shfl monthly newsletter and when you've got @natepatrin.bsky.social, @darkforcesswing.bsky.social, Chris Catchpole and @haroldheath.bsky.social with the bigger pieces and folks like @kodakghostpoem.bsky.social and @idiotwitchamelia.bsky.social with reviews, it's all good.

Albums of the year pt.3: Other Bangers 🙂🎧❤️

Albums of the year pt.2: Jazz 🙂🎧❤️

Albums of the year pt.1: House & techno 🙂🎧❤️

Harold's-Festive-Albums-Giga-Thread!

Another year of listening to lots of new music & trying to decide if I like it enough to write about it, although 2025 was different in that reviewers are now required to establish if the music we’re listening to is machine-generated, which has been great, obvs.

If you've made it to the end of Harold's-Festive-Albums-Giga-Thread-2025 then congratulations, you must REALLY like music 😊

There's SO MUCH NEW MUSIC ALL THE TIME, it can all be a bit much sometimes, but as ever, it's always worth digging to find the gems; hope you find something you like here ❤️🎵

Spring Revisited, by Acid Jazz Records 11 track album

Fatback Band, Millie Jackson, Joe Simon et al get quality updates from Kenny Dope, Cosmodelica, DJ Spinna, Opolopo, Joe Clausell & more

City pop, UK techno, tropicalia, film soundtracks, IDM, deep house and more on this classy Balearic selection

Echo45 Sound System, by Nightmares On Wax 14 track album

Immersive, pirate radio style, guest appearance-rich album of heavyweight reggae, dub and soul cross pollinations

Horse Meat Disco Presents Disco & Boogie from Brazil Vol.1, by Various Artists 13 track album

Joyous and highly danceable lost Brazilian boogie, disco, and funk

10, by SAULT 1 track album

Another superlative selection of enigmatic supa-tight-alt-disco-hybrid-afrobeat-R’n’B-futurist-funk.

Daybreak, by Sven Wunder 13 track album

A collection of pretty, drifty, dreamy, cinematic, kind of jazzy, semi-lounge, partly-retro instrumentals, very nice indeed

Juggling Dualities, by rRoxymore 8 track album

Cutting edge, deep, affecting music often built from seemingly slim elements; expert Emo electronica excellence

Let Me Down Easy: Echoes From Cheri Records, by Various Artists 14 track album

Gem-filled collection of 70s soul, disco, boogie and dancefloor gospel

LUNCH, by PAYFONE 0 track album

Top notch chugtastic low tempo slo mo disco from Payfone

Fifteen Years of Leng Records 2010-2025, by Various Artists 11 track album

Killer after killer, smoking smouldering deep contemporary Balearica of the highest quality

9 tracks and the whole album doesn’t make it above 22 minutes: super-concentrated, double distilled high end electro-pop full of samples that make people of my age smile

Shy Girl, by Hollie Cook 12 track album

Beguiling, bittersweet soul-flavoured Lovers rock and tropical pop from UK chanteuse Hollie Cook

Teal Dreams, by Yazmin Lacey 14 track album

Sublime collection of Lovers Rock, soul, afrobeats and R’n’B from storytelling vocalist Yazmin Lacey

Clay, by Herbert & Momoko 11 track album

Gorgeous, delicate, gently glowing Matthew Herbert Momoko Gill collab, hints of dub, folk, jazz and echos of the dancefloor contained in a set of soothing and tender songs

It's Always About Love, by Ancient Infinity Orchestra 8 track album

From delicate, meditative and immersive to intense, soaring and fiery devotional jazzing

Legacy!, by Ruby Rushton 10 track album

Supa-slick, fiery, funky, swinging UK ensemble jazz jams

Nostalgic, lush, cinematic, retro-flavoured Italio Jazz

The Love Pretender, by Spiral Deluxe (Jeff Mills, Yumiko Ohno, Kenji 'Jino' Hino and Gerald Mitchell) 8 track album

Techno jazz fusion improv album from Jeff Mills and friends that’s way better than it sounds

Expanding to One, by Phi-Psonics 14 track album

Soul cleansing, devotional, slow-burn, improv jazz

Somewhere Soul : Rituals Volume 1, by Somewhere Soul 20 track album

Killer comp of dancefloor jazz, contemporary jazz, funky jazz, spiritual jazz, every track a delight

Edge of Blue, by Da Lata 10 track album

Sumptuous album of Jazz, Latin, tropicalia, future-bossa: Brazilian soul via London

Tuff Times Never Last, by Kokoroko 11 track album

Expert soul/R’n’B flavoured highlife and afrobeat jazz

Lift Off, by Ron Trent 10 track album

A selection of smooth, slick, intricate, house, jazz and downtempo Ron Trent jams from the last ten years

DJ-Kicks: Eris Drew, by Eris Drew 21 track album

For the, not sure, maybe eighty something instalment of DJ Kicks, Eris Drew busts out an all vinyl live mix of rave-flavoured ecstatic house and blissed out breaks