New releases this week: All genres

Review: The man behind legendary London underground techno bash Lost, Steve Bicknell is back on KR3 with a nine-track LP that helps mark the label's fifth anniversary. Bicknell delivers seven of his raw signature sounds here and they combine the physical drive of techno with plenty of heady and atmospheric pads, all of which are frazzled, dusty and imperfect across four sides of wax. The first three are all intense and unrelenting deep techno odysseys with shadowy corners and unsettling sounds that bring a menacing presence. Side D shifts the tone with a 15-minute ambient piece that is tribal, luminous and meditative with cosmic signifiers and deep space energy, all keeping your mind locked in the moment.

Review: New York disco don Joe Claussell takes a scalpel to Norman Connors' 1980 uncut 'Take It To The Limit', turning a smooth Philly disco-soul burner into a swirling, peak-time epic. Originally voiced by Adaritha and buried on Connors' overlooked tenth LP for Arista, the track is flaymorphosed: pulled inside out, looped, stretched and whipped into chaos with Claussell's trademark floor-focused touch. If you've caught him lately at Body & Soul, you've likely heard this one spiralling into the rafters.

Review: Dan Curtin has been serving up genuinely far-sighted techno productions since 1992. While he's nowhere near as high-profile as he once was, Curtin is still capable of delivering dancefloor magic - as The 4 Lights, his first album in 15 years, emphatically proves. Those familiar with Curtin's spacey, futuristic and frequently funky take on techno and electro will know what to expect: think infectious, classic-sounding Motor City rhythms overlaid with funky basslines, warming chords, intergalactic-sounding lead lines and a healthy dose of electronic futurism. Curtin predictably hits the spot throughout, with highlights including future techno anthem 'What of Lazarus', the melodic and jazzy headiness of 'Trust Blind' and the sub-heavy downtempo shuffle of 'Transformations'. If that's not enough to seal the deal, this limited-edition version comes pressed to striking clear and black marbled vinyl.

Review: Astonishingly, 33 years has now passed since Cleveland native Dan Curtin made his bow via Detroit imprint 33rpm Records. More significantly, it's been 15 years since the storied techno and house scene stalwart last released an album - making this surprise excursion for Belgian imprint De:tuned a genuinely big deal. Those familiar with Curtin's spacey, far-sighted and frequently funky take on techno will know what to expect: think infectious, classic-sounding Motor City techno rhythms overlaid with funky basslines, warming chords, intergalactic-sounding lead lines and a healthy dose of electronic futurism. The myriad of highlights on show includes the densely layered tech-funk of 'Moral Imagination', the future purist techno anthem 'What of Lazarus', the melodic and jazzy headiness of 'Trust Blind' and the sub-heavy downtempo shuffle of 'Transformations'.

Review: Recorded during the final year of her life, this posthumous release finds Marianne Faithfull looking both backwards and forwards - reconciling the weight of legacy with the intimacy of reflection. Across these four new tracks, she honours the dual foundations of her 60-year career: chamber pop and traditional British folk. 'Burning Moonlight', co-produced with long-time collaborator Head, echoes the melancholic grandeur of 'As Tears Go By', while 'Love Is (Head version)', written with her grandson Oscar Dunbar, floats with tender defiance. The flip side turns to lineage and tradition: 'Three Kinsmen Bold' is stark and ancestral, passed down from her father and 'She Moved Thru' The Fair' is sparse, aching, and spectral. Faithfull was born in Hampstead and came of age in 60s London, and here, on what is now her final release, she returns to the very start - not out of nostalgia, but with grace and resolve. It's the completion of a circle, yes, but it still leaves a faint line trailing off into the air.

Review: With the long-awaited reissue of 'Magic', the trilogy of Celso Valli's early '80s Eyes Records productions is finally complete as it joins 'Future State' and 'Blue Gas' under his Five Sinners alias. Best Record caps off this Italo-disco journey from the legendary Bologna-based composer who was known for hiding behind numerous pseudonyms to separate his commercial dancefloor work from more "serious" music. Once obscure, 'Magic' and 'Precious Lies' emerge from the shadows and sound as fresh as ever. This reissue includes a stunning new remix of 'Magic 'by Dave Mathmos, confirming it as a great slice of Italian disco history.

Review: Another hailed gem of the Italo disco underground resurfaces, as 'Another Love' by Marylinlove makes its return on vinyl. Originally released on the adventurous Sensation Records - a sub-label of Milan's Disco Magic that championed bolder, less commercial cuts - this Bruno Mosti-produced track has inspired National Treasure-scale searches, perhaps owing to the mysterious sensibility of the front persona, Marylin. As is often the case with Italo disco studio projects backed by mastermind producer-puppeteers (see Sally Shapiro), there is no publicly available information about Marylinlove's identity or any subsequent musical endeavor of hers out there, which only adds to the charm of this fluttery, flamboyant, recherche equity stake in synth-Talo.

Review: 'Perfect' by Mason is one of those tunes whose melody everybody knows, but few, save for the timeliest of Eurodance heads, can recall the name of off the top. Later rehashed alongside American rapper Princess Superstar, the track invaded the Western collective cochlear cortex circa 2005, whence its plucky drive-lead roused dancefloors and iPod shuffles the world over; an eerily engineered earworm arising seemingly out of nowhere. This reissue from Armada hears a comprehensive set of interpretations from various EDM giants in the years after its release, perhaps motivated by the track's use in the 2023 film Saltburn. Aside from a David Guetta re-up, the 1991 pop-d&b is a sleeker slew of ultrafast beats, as though the original's distinctive pluck line had been pre-primed for shelling at faster velocities.

Review: Neil E and Big City Bill's latest doubles as the second offering from Spincycle, yet another a split 7" single on 180g vinyl. The twins' journey began two decades ago high up in an unnamed mountain range, where they met, after which they descended onto the city in search of purpose. Thus spake Zarathustra: down below, they toiled away in dimly lit garages, decoding mysterious symbols cast on walls by home-gaffed fluorescent lights. At first, their work seemed like madness, but there comes a time in every madman's life when toil leads to breakthrough. Thus were sowed the two fine harvests you hear here: 'Dry Rub', with its tugging taut sound design, and 'The BBV', a mistier firmament of altitudinal unknowns. No need to map out the terrain first - just give in to your ears.

Review: Obsessive sonic compulsions from OCD (Open Channel for Dreamers), who here host producer Reformed Society for a short fifteen minutes' worth of cosmic undertakings. The Barcelona frequenter drops 'Creature In The Shadow', a sordid beast whose shadowy movements leave little trace save for this audible residue. 'Soaring' and 'Sinking Lights' both up the pace by comparison, the latter track especially impressing with its deep, warm, texture-shorn plumbs of bass and bowled chord.

Review: When this French producer released 'Rose Rouge' on his 2000 landmark album Tourist, it was more than a track. It was a manifesto. Built on hypnotic jazz loops, tight house rhythms and a sample from Marlena Shaw's 'Woman of the Ghetto', it was a vision of dance music that was cultured, expansive and deeply groovy. Its sophisticated blend of electronic textures and classic jazz sensibilities earned it a rightful home on Blue Note Records, elevating it beyond clubs and into the canon of genre-defying music. It remains a defining moment of jazz-house fusion. Two decades on, Jorja Smith brought her unmistakable voice to the track with a smoky, soulful reinterpretation that paid homage while casting it in a fresh r&b light. Joy Orbison's remix of her version on Side 2 injects another layer of evolution. It stretches the track into a deep, slow-burning cut, rich in atmosphere and bass weight, yet restrained and emotive. Together, these versions celebrate the enduring legacy and adaptability of Rose Rouge across generations and genres.

Review: Even if it’s a point worth making, sometimes it needs to be made several times over before it lodges itself in the brain. Whoever was behind this original cosmic disco cut, it hammers home the principle of not stopping the music with such repetitive intent that we have to wonder whether we truly would want to stop the music had we not been inculcated as such. And though we’re unsure of its origin, ‘Don’t Stop The Music’ and its loving rerub from Leeuwarden, Netherlands DJ and producer Pete Blaker hears the artist dare not forsake the Northern English interest in such sounds by leasing his wares again to Newcastle label Hot Biscuit. Backed by a suspensory glaciation on the B, ‘Ice Cold’ with fellow producer Dionisos, you can be sure yet some other aspect of disco gold has also been reliably preserved here.

Review: On ‘Heavennnnnn’, Detroit vocalist and producer Deon Jamar evinces soul salacity like no other, following up his last Altars LP with a three-tracker of shimmering thymic neo soul, tempered by electronic smoothening and fine motor skills from recording to fine-tuning. Again released on the experimental and newly inaugural Black Music label - conceived as an "art exhibit, concert, and party series founded by Deon and Brian Oscar” - these are soul stopovers to contrast the earlier three-parter’s drastic Detroit breakdowns. The title track has a Rhodes line to die for, its trembling amplitude constructively interfering with any sense of forestalled time we might’ve brought to the listening experience beforehand; ‘Salvation Steps’ and ‘Little James Birthday’ provide further versatility over understated percussions and G-funk slapping radio leakage. A promising continuation in sound by a label you’d best keep your eye on.