ARTIFACT is again hot off the vinyl presses with a private edition, curated by stalwart editor BOTTIN. First off, “Manifesto Balearico” does exactly what it says: providing a blueprint of the Balearic Beat genre: thick layers of dreamy keyboards over a lavish mid-tempo groove, topped by a sparse macho voiceover and chanting sirens. With “Palmy Days” we leave the Mediterranean Sea for the ocean and the French West Indies: it’s not so much Latin music, but rather sophisticated tropical new wave. On the B side we cross the U.S. of A. for some naughty Californian Hi-NRG treat, better served straight into your ear channel: “Got Headphones?”. Finally, we head back to Bottin’s homeland and explore an Italian city well after dark. “Ok Goodnight!” Buonanotte, amiche care.

The record is almost new, but it has 2 “pops” at the beginning of track A1, apart from this issue it sounds almost unplayed. Also, due to another production error the title “Bottin Presents” and the tracks A1 and B1 are not readable – the ink was not applied correctly so there is a white spot)