Mathew Jonson – Agents of Time

Like a troupe of dancing skeletons, Canadian electronic producer Mathew Jonson’s first solo LP is stripped-back, funky and slightly sinister in places. He’s been involved in the jazzier end of techno for a long time now, recording and performing under several guises and collaborations – Cobblestone Jazz, Midnight Operator, Modern Deep Left Quartet.

If you switched off after the word jazz, don’t worry. Despite the naff title, Agents of Time stops well short of beardy noodling, instead drawing only the odd syncopated synth lick and a general freedom of form into its looped, minimal mesh: Thieves in Digital Land bubbles with a bassline so low it’s almost not there while Sunday Disco Romance is warped 1970s-meets-2070s hi-tech funk – there’s also a new version of single Marionette that sparks, echoes and ebbs like Carl Craig doing Isolee’s Beau Mot Plage. As with most minimal, there’s a nuanced subtlety here that merits concentration, especially on some of the spectral, mid-tempo numbers. [Euan Ferguson]