Album art from Parov Stelar's 2009 album, Coco

Parov Stelar, who is actually an Austrian named Marcus Füreder, takes 30’s jazz and swing samples (among many other things) and stitches them up into electrifying electronic music. While equally adept at making chilled-out tracks as well as more danceable up-tempo tunes, the line between them is, rather excitingly, not always very clear.

Sometimes, Parov Stelar‘s electroswing runs the risk of degenerating into inoffensive Buddha Bar-like background music that everyone hears but no one listens to. But there is enough variety, detail and flourish to prick your ears even on repeated listens. I’ve had the double disc Coco album on repeat mode for several weeks now – stand-out tracks include Libella Swing, The Flame and the fabulously danceable Matilda. This album was my first introduction to the sophistication and invention of Parov Stelar and it has only made me search out for his older work.