From my first listen I knew I was going to keep coming back to Rykard‘s LP: Hell Bent. I’m fully enraptured by the 8 tracks covering 31 minutes that make up the 25th release for Derby based netlabel dedpop.

There aren’t many details about Rykard floating about which is fine as the music is more than enough. Although after I had written a draft of this post; where I wrote that all I knew was they were a producer in the UK and surmised that it was a single person, I have since found that Rykard is the work of one Rich Wearing who hails from Preston in the UK. So there we go. He has a few other releases with dedpop that you might like to check out after you’ve heard this, his latest release.

Musically the most obvious reference I can think of; at least with tracks like Chattox and Demdike is of the mighty Scottish brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin better known as Boards of Canada. Yet it’s important to say that this isn’t a straight copy job (as we’ve seen happen with the Burial-like productions that continue to be released). Nope this is influenced by BoC, that much is clear, and yet Rykard has his own identity shining through the nostalgic downtempo ambience. Textured floating depth shine through these 8 tracks.

Personal highlights are opener Unicorn Ditto, Chattox, Jodrell Vision and Demdike. Recommended stuff.

Rykard – Hell Bent
Download

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Rykard – Unicorn Ditto
Rykard – Chattox
Rykard – Arqiva
Rykard – Elizabeth Device
Rykard – Bound Gyve Throttle
Rykard – Jodrell Vision
Rykard – Demdike
Rykard – Elizabeth Device (Forward remix)