Various Artists - Late Night Tales: Barry Can’t Swim (2LP)

In the last two years, Barry Can’t Swim has released two albums – When Will We Land? and Loner. The debut was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, winning 2024’s Best Dance Act on BBC Radio 1 and being nominated for Best Dance Act at the BRIT Awards in the same year. The latest album, 2025’s Loner, hit the top ten in the UK charts and was number one in the dance charts. This summer, Barry Can’t Swim cemented his position as one of the most singular new voices in electronic music with a gangbusting performance as a headliner at All Points East in London’s Victoria Park, building on his back-to-back performance with Bonobo at Coachella in 2024.

Barry’s Late Night Tales mix brings together disparate styles and forms them into a coherent narrative. The powerful house tracks, like Lance DeSardi’s ‘Power of Suggestion’ and Daniel Avery’s remix of Factory Floor, intertwine with the abstract grooves of Freddie Da Stupid or Ronald Langestraat’s leftfield reading of Boz Scaggs’ ’70s smash ‘Lowdown’. There are exclusive tracks from Barry Can’t Swim himself (in the form of new single ‘Chala’ and an exclusive edit of Superpitcher’s ‘Yves’) and from friends and contemporaries, like Ninja Tune labelmate O’Flynn. Leaving aside the obvious quality of the mix, with its serpentine twists and dramatic turns, you can tell Josh is a fan of this series by bringing in his own personal poet, the brilliant Seamus, for the spoken word section right at the end. He’s a one-man Late Night Tales programmer.

1. Jackson Mico Milas - Sea, Interior
2. Majid Bekkas & Magic Spirit Quartet - Annabi
3. Jesse Bru - The Coast
4. Loket - Afternoon At Barenquell
5. Superpitcher - Yves (Exclusive LNT Edit)
6. Scott Orr - Scott B3 Barry Can't Swim - Sometimes I Feel So Alone
7. Marigold Sun - Here Lies Love
8. Barry Can't Swim - Chala (My Soul Is On A Loop)
9. Freddy da Stupid - Back To Pangea Part II (Jazzapella Version)
10. Factory Floor - How You Say(Daniel Avery Remix)
11. Ronald Langestraat - Lowdown
12. Lance Desardi - The Power of Suggestion
13. O'Flynn - Kola
14. Accelera Deck - This Bliss
15. Pépe - Goma (A-Mix)
16. This Mortal Coil - The Lacemaker
17. St Francis Hotel - Dawn
18. Barry Can't Swim - Ferdinand Magellan (Exclusive Felt Cover Version)
19. Seamus - Ultrasound (Exclusive LNT Spoken Word Track)