Janus Rasmussen's snappy new album is super, super ert

Janus Rasmussen, him out of the rather wonderful Kiasmos, is cooking up a stunning solo album.

I've covered Kiasmos before. I declared their self-titled debut album the Third Best Album Of 2014, which undersold it something horrible because it was most definitely the number one best album of that year. Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen's amazing collaboration still twangs my brainstrings even if I catch a single note.

Rasmussen's new solo album Inert, released on 9 June 2026 on Berlin's Embassy One Records, will delight anyone who wants a bit more oomph to the Kiasmos sound. It’s called Inert but it's super un-inert. Ert?! It's made for the club – tip top trouser-wobbling, clog-clomping, elbow-waggling fayre.

He says of the album: "Inert is my attempt to break out of a mould I somehow found myself in while writing music. I felt a need to open things up, to sing, and to let the songs move freely between genres without overthinking where they belonged.

"Lyrically, the album is very open-ended, almost like meditations on guilt or feeling bad for no clear reason, which makes it the most revealing body of work I’ve written so far. It feels like an honest reset, both creatively and emotionally."

Consider the mould successfully broken. It's so dang SNAPPY. Full of ear-tickling wubbles and bubbles. There's the delicious arp curves of Murk, and a full-on synth pop stomp called Fumes complete with EDM synth giddiness and sassy call-and-response vocals.

The tricksy moments are pleasing too, such as the de-spannered found-sound beat of Tomb or the scampering rolling percussion of Blame.

It's one of those sad vocal albums, with lyrics like "I thought you were there in a puddle of mud" and "fingers trace where the tracks decay." But as long as you can cope with the tuneful moping, you'll be fine.

It'll appeal to people into James Blake, Modeselektor and Bicep. Pre-order here.

Pictured: Janus Rasmussen with Inert album cover

Further Fats: Best electronic albums of 2014: three (2014)

Further Fats: Listen to Bicep's Glue – it'll stick with you (2017)

Best electronic albums of 2019: eight

8 – Janus Rasmussen ‎– Vín (Ki Records)

It's him. Y'know. That bloke. The guy from Kiasmos, the band that had the best album of the decade. No, you're confusing him with the drummer from Genesis. No, that's Frank the window cleaner from number 42. Oh never mind.

Janus 'Kiasmos' Rasmussen's first solo album Vín is incredibly pretty. It's as pretty as a nice vase that has a really pretty design on it. I'm not good at describing vases. The melodies are simply layered, the beats driving: it's an attractive journey from A to B.

What lifts it is the IDM warmth to the drums and the dual sensibility of classical and club that made Kiasmos so compelling. Here, the energy is almost euro-beat; sequences in primary colours that feel made for a truly international audience. And it's delicately dynamic: listen to the way the summery eight-bar melodic loop of Lilla splits into layers as the track progresses.

A fine-sounding work. Unlike Frank the window cleaner who looks the offspring of a bin lorry that's mated with the scraggy dog that hangs outside the launderette. At least trim your forehead hair, Frank.



Scroll the full best-of-2019 list here.

This is the best album of the decade, you b*stards

I got asked a difficult question the other day. The question was: what was your favourite album of the past decade. It's a humdinger, right?

It's probably the most vexing question ever to be asked of a member of the public. Worse than Brexit, worse than gold dress or blue dress, worse than Gareth Gates versus Will Young.

The people asking were Picky B*stards, a name I've had to censor so my blog doesn't fall foul of swear filters. I have to be honest: a few brain cogs fell out. Choosing the best album in a ten-year period is like choosing which puppy to shove into a blender, but in a good way. That said, when the answer came, it came easily. It hit me like a bl*ning fl*pd*bble.

In fact, there are few other albums so closely woven into my life over the past few years than the album I've chosen. It's Kiasmos by Kiasmos (pictured), a work I once rated as the third best album of 2014 but have now very much promoted it to legendary status inside my own noggin.

Read more about my choice of Kiasmos among the Picky Bs list here.

Further Fats: The 5 best electronic music tracks of the decade so far (2017)

This Bonobo / Kiasmos video is definitely better than "weird and trippy"

I've not had much time to post this month, so have some hold music.

It's a Bonobo remix of Blurred by Kiasmos. I've woofed on about Kiasmos before: you can read about the original release of Blurred here. And Bonobo did a good video a while back which I called "weird and trippy" because I was short of words that day.

This Blurred video came out a couple of months ago, and sets the rousing remix to a Faroese love story. The directors Arni & Kinski did a load of stuff with Sigur Ros, including Hoppipolla, so you know the vibe before you even put a donk on that play button. You'll want to hit repeat - it's wonderful.

No more harrumphs: Kiasmos are back

I've been feeling a little fragile of late. An ongoing medical niggle mixed with danker evenings, I guess. My head's full of an American Beauty style turmoil, which is why I've been turning up in your bed scattered with roses.

I woke up miserable this morning. Just now, I saw the bin lorry collecting my paper recycling, and I harrumphed. Who harrumphs at a bin lorry? Bin lorries only do good in this world. I really need to get this head-funk sorted out.

And then I saw something telling me Kiasmos are releasing a new EP today.

I remember Kiasmos, I thought as I scowled at the bin lorry's compacter winch mechanism. Their astonishing 2014 debut on Erased Tapes was one of my bestest albums of that year. I wonder what they sound like now. Oh my. Have a listen below to Blurred, taken from the Blurred EP.

It never fails to astonish me how music lets light into the darkness. Props due to Erased Tapes who, alongside bringing back Kiasmos, also release an album from Gus Gus chap Högni this month. That's a corker too - I can't help thinking of him, somewhat reductively, as a male Björk. Have a listen to the evocative and eccentric Crash below.

Things feel brighter. Now... do roses go in the paper recycling or what?

A bite-size look at Bleep's best electronic music tracks of 2016

Every year, the online retailer Bleep sells a package of 100 bestest tracks of the year. It's usually a great big steaming pile of brilliance. Here is a brief peep into that Bleep heap.

Belfast duo Bicep remixed 808 State's top ten classic In Yer Face. Bicep also co-run a record label. Do you know what it's called? Feel My Bicep. Good job Willie Nelson never set up a similar label, eh? Arf.



Ben Lukas Boysen turned out a blissful opus called Nocturne 4. It's mixed by labelmate Nils Frahm, the bloke from nonkeen who's worked with Ólafur Arnalds from Kiasmos. In other words, we're in heart-breaking classical territory here.



House DJ Midland recently won Pete Tong's Essential Mix of the Year, so he's got an embarrassment of riches right now. Makes sense then this track, debuted at Boiler Room, is called Blush. Nice fat synths.



And finally, the one and only Boards of Canada remixed Sisters by cLOUDDEAD's Odd Nosdam. BoC are usually chilled, but this is a different flavour of chilled: more heavenly and glisten-like thanks to the original's choir vibes.



'Feel My Willie.' It was a dong joke. Oh never mind. Enjoyed these four tracks? Loads more where that came from. Grab yourself Bleep's excellent top 100 tracks of 2016 here.

Further Fats: Ten plaudits Bleeping (2010)

My top ten album countdown: a postscript

I tend to know most of my annual top ten before publishing it on my blog. Or at least, an idea of what might be in the running.

Still, as part of the process, I earwig around 80 albums. Some albums I listen to a lot, including the ones that don't make it. Many of them are part listens: I just know if something is going to count for the final ten or not because, well, the end-of-year chart is a culmination of absorbing 12 months of music scene.

The final listening process is more about plugging gaps, and wrestling over whether something is going to be number twelve or ten or eight. Kassem Mosse benefited from that process this year, while Flying Lotus lost out.

Sometimes that avalanche of 80 albums can bring an unexpected discovery. Kiasmos (pictured) was one of them. I'd never heard of them, and I was won over within half a minute of the first play. They ended up at number three in the chart after I caned the replay button.

And it seems friends in webland are now converts. Which makes the top ten all the more worthwhile. Hurrah.

Here's some Kiasmos.

Best electronic albums of 2014: three

3 – Kiasmos – Kiasmos (Erased Tapes)

Featuring a BAFTA winner – Olafur Arnald –makes me want to scrub my blog with a scouring pad. Even though Kiasmos was seven years in gestation, it all seems so mainstream. A house beat, some gentle piano, touches of intensity. Maybe it’s a fading echo of last year’s top album. So much logic working against this. And yet...

Feel the energy on Looped. The bite of Burnt. Let it hook behind your ribcage and flutter your organs. Can you feel it? It’s a close, personal album; snare drums are swapped for finger clicks.

Less is more. You'll play this to bits.

[Click here for the full top ten]



Some also-rans

Venetian Snares, bless his cotton elks, delivered an absolute tune with the title track of My Love Is A Bulldozer (Planet Mu). A bit more chilled was Gunnar Haslam's ambient and organic Mirrors and Copulation (L.I.E.S.). Prins Thomas evoked old cinema with disco on his Prins Thomas III (Full Pupp). Actress' Ghettoville (Werkdiscs / Ninja Tune) was too fuzzy-edged, while Actress collaborator Copeland went pleasingly Tricky-like on Because I'm Worth It (self-released). Cristian Vogel's Polyphonic Beings (Shitkatapult) was a little too academic and weird. I didn't include the chuffing excellent FKA Twigs and LP1 (Young Turks) because it was too singer-songwriter for this list. And - drumroll - the worst album of 2014 was Roni Size's Take Kontrol (Mansion Sounds). Half-cocked, mind-numbing dull 'n' bass: he's capable of so much better.

[Click here for the full top ten]