International Women's Day: Staff Picks

Review: REPRESS ALERT: In an age of over-information, it's refreshing to see Aurora Halal take her time with the Mutual Dreaming label, which notches up just its third release since launching in 2014. It's also the New York scene leader's first record in three years, and it's worth the wait. Some elements are familiar - Halal still has a keen instinct for heavy-hearted synth lines shaped out in bold curves, but the level of expression going into these tracks makes each one stand out like a striking painting. From the eerie mood of "Fattal 22" to the crunchy bleep workout "Nasty II", the character just oozes out of Halal's productions. With a remix from Wata Igarashi thrown into the mix as well, this is a record loaded with fresh and powerful takes on techno.

Review: The latest volume in Mr Bongo's brilliant Brazil 45 series offers up a pair of MPB gems that have previously never featured on seven-inch before. Side A is all about Marcia Maria's 1978 cut "Amigo Branco", a disco-era interpretation of Djalma Dias' 1974 track "Nada Sei De Preconceito". Maria's cover is jaunty, colourful and ear-catching, pushing jaunty organs, sharp horns and spacey synth lines towards the ear alongside her passionate, full-throated lead vocal. Over on side B you'll find "Tudo Que Voce Podia Ser", an overlooked gem plucked from MPB artist Simone's self-titled 1973 debut LP. More rooted in samba, it's a lilting, string-laden chunk of emotional sweetness.

Review: Such has been the dizzying rise of Helena Hauff in recent years that the release of her second album, Qualm, feels like a genuine "event". Preceded by a limited, while label edition, the Hamburg producer's first full-length in three years is undoubtedly worthy of the growing hype surrounding it. By design, the 12 tracks are raw, distorted and lo-fi, with Hauff peppering heavyweight, redlined drum machine beats - think wayward Chicago jack, laidback electro and nails techno - with a mixture of razor-sharp acid lines, moody industrial textures and drowsy chords. The clattering intensity of the album's dancefloor moments is in sharp contrast to the creepy and evocative, soundtrack style electronic soundscapes showcased elsewhere on the album. These - ambient in ethos, but more experimental in tone - are frequently amongst the set's most inspired moments.

Review: Back in 1980, Roy Ayers assembled the Eighties Ladies - a soulful vocal quintet whose members included sometime Aquarian Dream vocalist Sylvia Striplin. Sadly the group didn't last long, but their vibrant "Ladies Of The Eighties" single - a fine disco-tinged slab of boogie/jazz-funk fusion - became a big club hit. Their debut album, which is here reissued for the first time, is equally as impressive, with highlights including the rushing, part-rapped, attitude-laden "Tell Him" - later covered in the bruk era by West London outfit BB Boogie - cheery "I Knew That Love" and the liquid slap bass-propelled intergalactic space funk jam "It's Easy To Move" standing out. Throughout, Roy Ayers' production and arrangements are as tidy as you'd expect.

Review: Hailing from the Catskill Mountains, Emily A Sprague is a talented producer and sound designer emerging from the American underground. Her two self-released cassette albums "Water Memory and Mount Vision" may well have passed you by when they first snuck out in 2017 and 2018 respectively, but fortunately the ever-tuned-in RVNG Intl. are taking care of business and gathering these two wonderful releases together and presenting them as a beautifully packaged long playing release. This is the kind of delicate ambient material that suits both mindful immersion and environmental mood setting, emanating harmony and balance at every turn.

Review: Polish composer Olga Wojciechowska is a busy woman. While her releases have been limited, she's spent much of the last few years working on commissions for a variety of film, TV, contemporary dance and theatrical productions - including, rather surprisingly, a recent score for the Royal Opera House's production of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's Medusa. "Infinite Distances" is just her second solo album as an artist and offers a neat summary of her distinctive style, which blends elements of contemporary classical, buzzing and crackling experimentalism, slowly shifting electronica and drowsy but picturesque ambient music. It's a blueprint that makes for hugely enjoyable listening, with her penchant for combining beautiful piano motifs and woozy, layered electronics coming to the fore.

Review: After a series of well received albums on 100% Silk and HNYTRX, Maya Bouldry-Morrison returns with her first album in two years, and the first on the T4T LUV NRG imprint she set up with life partner Eris Drew. It's a thrill-a-minute affair rooted in her love of turn-of-the-'90s rave culture, with the eight showcased tracks variously mixing elements of breakbeat hardcore, Belgian techno, dreamy deep house, ambient techno, ragging acid and the kind of psychedelic club fare that was once all the rage within California's LSD-fuelled free party scene. In fact, as a soundtrack to a full moon party on a remote "SoCal" beach, "Resonant Body" would sound phenomenal, with the inspired ambient number "My Body Is A Powerful" offering a fine accompaniment to the inevitable morning comedown.

Review: With a drowsy, loved-up trademark sound that sits somewhere between the beach, bedroom and the dancefloor, Canada's Yu Su is a great fit for Music From Memory offshoot Second Circle. The resultant EP is arguably her strongest to date. She begins by enlisting the help of Michelle Helene Mackenzie, who provides a drowsy spoken word vocal on the ultra-deep and starry brilliance of "Little Birds, Moonbath". Fellow Vancouver residents Pender Street Steppers lend a hand on the deep and picturesque shuffle of "Tipu's Tiger", while "Of Yesterday (Instrumental)" sees Yu Su wrap meandering synth solos atop hazy chords and gentle tribal drums. Elsewhere, "The Ultimate Which Manages The World" is dubbed-out and effortlessly Balearic, while "Words Without Sound" offers up more intricate hand percussion and some sparse electronic elements.

Review: Given her runaway success in recent years, it was almost inevitable that Peggy Gou would launch her own record label sooner or later. Wisely, she's chosen to kickstart said imprint - the freshly minted Gudu Records - with her first EP of fresh material for over 12 months. A-side "Starry Night" is an unashamedly positive and life-affirming affair, with Gou placing bouncy piano riffs, sultry South Korean and English vocals and Boyd Jarvis/Paul Simpson style synth-bass atop a snappy, late '80s style house rhythm. There's a similarly retro-futurist feel to the equally loved-up "Han Pan", where Gou's attractive vocals once again catch the ear alongside heavy analogue bass, chiming synth lines and Kwaito influenced drums.

Review: Katie Campbell AKA Roza Terenzi has been in fine form over the last couple of years, offering up must-check EPs on Dekmantel, Kalahari Oyster Cult, Butter Sessions and Bizarro. Here the Australian producer makes her first appearance on Klasse Wrecks, offering up the delightfully clanking, funk-fuelled analogue bounce of "Metal Glo"- a wonderful combination of Syclops style electronic refrains, loose-limbed machine drums and attractive melodies - and the even wilder and sleazier, acid-fuelled peak-time wonkiness of "Allstarz", whose dreamy chords offer a neat counterpoint to the ragged antics underpinning them. There are two tidy "Metal Glo" remixes, too: a deliciously glassy eyed, bleeping revision from label bosses Luca Lozano and Mr Ho, and a Morgan Wright and RP Remix that turns the track into a sweaty, off-beat treat.

Review: This time last year, Rome-based DJ/producer Adiel joined forces with fellow Italian techno heavyweight Donato Dozzy to deliver the first collaborative release on her Danza Tribale label. 12 months on she's back with another joint effort, this time in cahoots with Northern Electronics artist Anthony Linell. The pair conjure feverish, mind-altering aural textures, psychedelic acid motifs and restless drums on opener "Raso", before opting for a denser and arguably even more intense, moody and throbbing techno sound on "Decoro". Arguably best of all, though, is flipside "Punto In Aria", a surging fusion of chugging industrial bass, ghostly chords, metallic sounds and foreboding, brain-melting bass.

Review: Perlon's darling Dandy Jack & Sonia Moonaer love to clatter. A rich & versatile record that sounds as live as a frog in the rain is wet. Well done!

Review: For the 26th instalment in the label's Dance Trax series, Unknown To The Unknown boss DJ Haus has turned to Nite Fleit, a fast-rising producer who has previously showcased her rave-igniting talents on Planet Euphorique and Steel City Dance Discs. Here she offers up two weighty, thrill-a-minute new excursions: the thrusting and throbbing, EBM/acid/electro fusion of "Usual Suspects" and "Folie A Dreamland", an arpeggio-driven electro workout that's as raw and mind-melting as they come. Both tracks come accompanied by notable remixes. First D Tiffany pitches up "Usual Suspects" and turns it into a kind of braindance-meets-Nitzer Ebb smasher, before Jenson Interceptor delivers a harder and fuzzier electro interpretation of "Folie A Dreamland".