Jim Noir Programmes For Cools Vinyl

Jim Noir's last LP 'AM Jazz' was critically acclaimed, orbiting the top 10 of many best albums of the year lists, including *2 in Manchester's Piccadilly Records.In the intervening years, Noir has managed to release a criminally underrated masterpiece, 2023's‘Rotate’LP,under the ‘Co-Pilot’ moniker, with long time collaborator Leonore Wheatley (International Teachers of POP/Soundcarriers), along with 18 E.P.'s released direct to fans via Patreon.'Programmes for Cools' draws from the best cuts from these E.P.'s, bookended with instrumental intermissions whichevoke Noir's excursions into computer game music (Little Big Planet), with an orchestrated focus, as if scored byJohn Barry with Mort Garson waving the conductor's baton at a vintage synth ensemble.The last time Noir embarked on a similar creative exorcism was for 2012's Jimmy's Show LP which selected choicecuts from 18 E.P.'s released via straight to fan subscription over as many months. The resulting album is one of hismost lauded and beloved by fans, with the vinyl now selling for silly money on Discogs.Programmes for Cools is Jimmy's Show's spiritual successor, idiosyncratic, other worldly and brimming with timelessmelodies. Noir's influences seep through the track list, wrapped with a haunting, dreamlike delivery.First single 'Out Of Sight' is a Fleetwood Mac meets Selected Ambient Works era Richard D James, four to the floorbanger. Already a fan favourite, it propels Side A forward with a somewhat misplaced optimism, much like NeilYoung's 'Walk On' starting On the Beach.Side B is more esoteric, exemplified by 'Fireworks’ which includes lyrics and vocals from Marie Claude Dequoy, produced with the wooze of golden era Boards of Canada.Elsewhere, influences as disparate as Stevie Wonder, onthe wonky clav funk of 'The Fountain', andIan Brown 'I think I found it' illustrate Noir's disregard for musicalstraightjackets (the latter may have the most unapologetic baggy, hypnotic groove since the Mondays' 'Halleluiah').As the album swells to its conclusion, via the epic Led Zeppelin meets the Warhol clique 'Morning Light’ and theheart tugging finale of 'Motorbike’(the first song released from the most recent run of E.P.'s), there is a sense ofcompletion and finality...‘This is the last Jim Noir album. There are no more Jim Noir albums after this one. This time I'm serious. It's beenthe hardest I've ever worked on anything. I think I have created my own Be Here Now…Sorry.’Joking and hyperbole aside, the album has more of an Abbey Road feel, and needs to be experiences in one sitting.If the infamous Davyhulme prankster is to be believed and this is his final outing, then you could wish for a morefitting album. - NM