On Repeat: Joe Morris and Some Kind of Paradise

On Repeat: Harold Heath looks back at some of the best electronic music albums of 2025 in this special series for 5 Mag.

This introspective, peaceful, familiar-sounding album, the follow-up to UK producer/DJ Joe Morris’ 2011 debut Exotic Language, is very much influenced by various strains of ’90s downtempo electronic music – chill out, downtempo, trip hop, call it what you will, and to my ears, particularly the early ‘90s post-rave downtempo milieu.

Morris is based in Leeds and perhaps the city’s rich history in this particular musical area – Nightmares on Wax, Ital Rockers/Kitachi, Warp Records putting out Selected Ambient Works II and Sabresonic – was part of his inspiration. Certainly, the early ’90s chill out sound palette is reassuringly familiar: Roland 909 Soul II Soul-type beats and funky drummer-esque drum loops sit under gently floating pad chords, bubbling synth riffs, and spoken word samples of old American men and children laughing. Sleepy drum machine beats gently push synth strings-and-Rhodes grooves along, the mood is soft, welcoming, amicable and the appearance of a low-tempo laid-back house piano chord progression á la Happy Mondays “Step On” ticks the final box: this is a pretty faithful recreation of the early UK rave / Balearic long sleeve t-shirt aesthetic.

As ever with albums that aren’t necessarily pushing any boundaries and that are very much in a genre, as is the case with Some Kind of Paradise, their value among the countless other potentially similar albums released this week, for me, lies simply in just how well they do the generic thing they’re doing. If you’re going to make generic music, that’s absolutely fine, just make a very good job of it, and this is an excellently written, programmed, played and produced set of tracks, with enough variation across tempos and moods to balance their familiarity. Some Kind of Paradise sounds very much like a loving, or at least admiring, homage to a particular musical moment from the past rather than a bland recreation.

⚪️ Some Kind of Paradise Tracklisting

Joe Morris: Some Kind of Paradise (Shades of Sound / 12" Vinyl + Digital)
1. Cosmic Love (04:49)
2. The Girl In The Dream (05:29)
3. Soul Sense (04:46)
4. Some Kind Of Paradise (05:31)
5. Diaspora Blues (04:35)
6. Gaia (04:42)
7. Dream Therapy (04:29)
8. Cosmic Love (Dance Version) Digital & CD Only (07:48)
9. When Love Takes Over (05:30)

⚪️ Disclosure Statement

This record was not submitted as a promo.

✳ On Repeat: Harold Heath’s 2025 In Albums /

❇   On Repeat: Eris Drew — DJ-Kicks
❇   On Repeat: Joe Morris and Some Kind of Paradise
❇   On Repeat: 15 years of A Love From Outer Space
❇   On Repeat: Black Artists Database’s V/A Synergy Vol 3 compilation
❇   On Repeat: Unspecified Enemies and Romance In The Age of Adaptive Feedback
❇   On Repeat: DJ Bone and The End of Never
❇   On Repeat: Futuristic Sonics for the Soul on rRoxymore’s “Juggling Dualities”
❇   On Repeat: Maurice Fulton’s sparkling house album “Night Blooming Cereus”
❇   On Repeat: A decade of Ron Trent tracks come together on “Lift Off”

Don't Stay In

Get on our guest list for news from 5 Mag and you'll never miss a thing. It's free and we don't sell your shit.

SUBSCRIBE