Audiopile Review: One of the best releases on Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder imprint is Lapalux’s 2013 debut album. The British producer was physically far removed from the LA beat scene that initially populated the influential imprint, but FlyLo himself was quick to notice that Lapalux had his own unique take on the sound that was dominating the US electronic and hip-hop underground in the late 00’s/early ‘10s. While others on the imprint infused funk (Thundercat), hip-hop (FlyLo), or IDM (Teebs), Lapalux went for an R&B approach, incorporating either stylized vocalists or chopped up vocal samples to help smooth out his bucking futurist beats. It’s a formula that was truly ahead of it’s time, foreshadowing the electronic-soul hybridizations of artists like Sampha and Kelela. Even ten years later, this one sounds remarkably fresh, not an easy feat for the fast moving world of electronic music!

Originally released in 2013 and now repressed on crystal clear vinyl, “Nostalchic” is the debut album by British artist Lapalux aka Stuart Howard. Emerging during an era in which upstart DIY talent was flooding the gates of electronic music, Howard’s voice was singular, as a brilliant artist always should be. Flying Lotus was quick to recognise his startling talent, as Howard’s shot-in-the-dark demo email to Brainfeeder Records was immediately answered by the label head himself, who quickly moved to sign him. Now considered a classic of the era, “Nostalchic” is a record characterized by its devastating emotional force, melding his beloved R&B and soul into elements of house and hip hop, all with the trademark Lapalux finish: infectious, lopsided swing and achingly deep texture.

It’s only with the benefit of hindsight that the sheer weight and scope of “Nostalchic”’s influence on the electronic scene at large is visible. A torrent of imitators followed in his footsteps, and his influence was pervasive in the music not only of his electronic contemporaries, but stretched into the realm of hip-hop, repeatedly referenced and sampled. Lapalux, however, was the original architect.

A decade on from its original release, the album sounds as vital, contemporary and infectious as it did then. Exemplified by the success of ‘Without You’ featuring Kerry Leatham – a woozy R&B classic and fan favorite that has been streamed a gazillion times and spawned a gazillion clones. The rainy-day, heartbreaking blues is made all the more powerful by the slowed-and-sped vocal. Sung straight, it wouldn’t have had the sense of shattered, conflicting emotion that it does.