Optimo Music Vinyl & CDs

Review: When Magda and Jay Ahearn first unveiled the Blotter Trax project - rather mysteriously, it should be noted - the showcased cuts tended towards the more psychedelic end of the techno and electro spectrum. They've flipped the script on debut album Superconductor, a genuinely brilliant collection of funkier, far-sighted workouts that draws more on their joint love of Arthur Russell, early 80s NYC downtown disco, leftfield new-wave pop and flash-fried punk-funk. The addition of bass and guitar (from new third member Hannes Strobl and guest axe-slinger Shigeru Tanabu) adds an organic element, with lead vocals (courtesy of principal songwriter and singer Nina Hynes) humanising their sound further. A triumphant, if surprising, full-length debut that could turn out to be one of the electronic LPs of 2023.

Review: Optimo Music continue to dazzle with their increasing experimentation, this time welcoming Finnish producer and K-X-P frontman Kaukolampi to the fore. Exploring the concept of sound as a physical and spatial phenomenon, the LP explores Kaukolampi's idea of "the sphere": his metaphysical and/or musical analogy for being subject to an undetectable outside force, as if being manipulated by an unseen cult. Hypnotic, eerie grooves play out in a muted, time-crystalline fashion, all tracks evoking the feeling of being locked in spherical amber, unwitting.

Review: Glaswegian outfit Pleasure Pool - a collaboration between producer/synth player Finn O'Hare, vocalist Andrew Robertson and a rotating cast of guest musicians from the local scene - delight in creating hard-to-pigeonhole music that combines club-friendly elements with live performance, the addictive accessibility of pop and nods to a wide variety of sonic styles. 'Love Without Illusion', their debut album, is an exemplary exploration of this approach, offering aural attractiveness and a string of highlights. Our picks of a very strong bunch include the slipped breakbeats, stirring synth-strings, New Jersey organ stabs and analogue bass of 'Modern Nature', the wayward electro-dub eccentricity of 'Sell Your Stuff', the Balearic synth-pop colour of opener 'Open Hours' and the humid, immersive, sunrise-ready deep psychedelia of 'Love Without Illusion'.

Review: The ever-expanding Optimo Music never ceases to impress. The label run by the eponymous techno duo usually sees them indulge their outer-fringe musical curiosities, rather than sticking to their dance music guns, and this trend continues into the present, in which they now present a full-blown compilation of UK anarcho-punk. Featuring sonic black flags and propagandistic deeds from the likes of Crass, Chumbawumba, The Ex, Annie Anxiety and Poison Girls, this album comes at a prescient moment, not least for a contemporary Britain struck by a cost of living crisis. The message is clear: if music can squat the world once, it can do it again.