Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve: The Soft Bounce review – sweet psychedelia

Around the turn of the new millennium, the London DJ Erol Alkan got indie kids on the dancefloor at the London club, Trash, spearheading a fertile crossover between alternative rock and hard beats. This collaboration with his remix partner Richard Norris finds him in more reflective, psychedelic mode, on an absorbing chill-out album with an eclectic cast and a varied palette. Highlights include Mystery Jets’s Blaine Harrison wigging out Sabbath-style on the crunching Iron Age; Euros Childs sounding sweetly spaced-out on the gently circling Door to Tomorrow; and the Magnetic North’s Hannah Peel cooing airily over the Stereolab/Broadcast-style, dark psych-pop of Delicious Light – but the Soft Bounce is a trip best taken as a whole.