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Review: BBE has delivered something of a future classic here, as decorated Eastern European harpist Alinha Bzhezhinska and British tenor saxophonist Tony Kofi join forces on a picturesque full-length excursion dedicated to the memory of spiritual jazz maestro Pharoah Saunders. It's a genuinely unique and hugely evocative affair, with Kofi's meandering, mesmeric melodies and inspired improvisations snaking in and out of Bzhezhinska's dreamy harp motifs and melodic percussion instruments (think bells, marimbas, vibraphone, xylophone and so on). It's not a familiar musical palette, but it's one that consistently delivers - and then some. Our picks of a very strong bunch include lucid opener 'Tabula Rasu - Blank Slate', the exotic and psychedelic 'Audite Me - Hear Me', and the picturesque, meditative closing cut, 'Altera Vita - Another Life'.

Review: Brian Williams' Lustmord project has existed in different forms for over 40 years, though it's only in the last couple of decades - when it has become a vehicle for his solo work - that new musical missives have become a regular occurrence. On Much Unseen Is Also Here, the former industrial musician turned soundtrack composer once again showcases his mastery of pitch-black sonics, creepy soundscapes and horror-inspired dark ambient workouts. As you'd expect, the sound design is incredible - listen on good quality headphones for the ultimate listening experience - while Williams' penchant for throwing in suspenseful chords, billowing aural textures and unsettling vocalisations adds further layers of paganistic mystery.

Review: While not as celebrated as some of his Jamaican contemporaries, Winston Holness AKA Niney The Observer was a hugely successful record producer. This excellent two-disc set does an excellent job in rounding up the best of his output between 1973 and '75, a period where he enjoyed countless hits at home and over in the UK. There's naturally plenty of goodness to be found amongst the 49 tracks on show, with cuts featuring now well-known Jamaican scene stars - think Junior Delgado, Delroy Wilson, Big Youth, Max Romeo, Junior Byles, Horace Andy, U-Roy and ska survivor Tommy McCook - being joined by more dubbed-out 'versions' (credited to his studio band The Observers') and local hits by artists whose fame rarely spread beyond the Caribbean (Winston Wright, Hubert Lee, Earth & Stone). In an indispensable introduction to one of Jamaica's finest producers of the 1970s.

Review: The impeccable Lithuanian label Greyscale is a real leader when it comes to dub techno and already they are racing into 2024 in fine style with a first full-length of the year from label head Grad_U! The sublime and immersive Sustain has eight larges ambient soundscapes that are detailed with field recordings from another planet. Each one is alluringly empty and beautiful, intriguing and unsettling to make for an escapist trip to another dimension. The way the producer manages to conjure up what feel like familiar emotions in such a faraway world is second to none and will leave you wanting to do it all over again the second it ends.

Review: While his immense contribution to UK dancefloors often goes unacknowledged, Colin Curtis continues to delight dancers - and jazz dancers in particular - well over 50 years after making his first appearance behind the decks. More impressively, he continues to dig for new and previously unearthed music, sharing these finds via the ongoing Jazz Dance Fusion series. Volume four - the latest - showcases 26 tracks across two CDs, mixing hot new and recent jazz dance workouts with buried treasure of all kinds. It's naturally heavy on Latin jazz, fusion and percussive jazz-funk, but also touches on samba, salsa and "Latin spoken word". In other words, it's another sublime selection from one of UK dance music culture's true underground heroes.

Review: On his return to China in 2019 after a period away, Brock van Wey noticed a "strange, sound emitting item" on the table. It was a handmade 'steel tongue drum', a unique percussion instrument associated with spirituality and meditation in Asian culture. A few days later, van Wey recorded an extended jam of himself playing it, and later overdubbed electronic sounds, melodies, chords and textures. The result is The Depth of Rain, the long-serving ambient and drone artist's second Bvdub album of 2024. Where some of van Wey's ambient sets can tend towards the intense and claustrophobic, The Depth of Rain is a genuinely melodious, evocative and spring-like affair that ebbs and flows wonderfully throughout, providing entertainment and sonic bliss in equal measure.

Review: Global Underground's' Select' series acts as a kind of annual nod to all the club-focused and after-hours music they love, mixed together by an un-credited DJ or studio engineer to keep things moving. 2024's edition - the ninth to date - is naturally packed to the rafters with tasty tracks from both established producers and rising stars. That means an attractive, immersive and frequently emotive mix of ambient-tinged deep electro (Pablo Bolivar & Nacho Sanchez), evocative tech-house (Dixon re-working Nandu's 'Around', Guy J's hypnotic, acid-flecked 'State of Trance'), pitched-down neo-trance dreaminess (Joris Voorn editing Solee), grandiose big room workouts (Fur Coat & Lexur), 21st century acid house (Phunkadelica remixing Damon Jee) and uplifting progressive house (D-Nox).

Review: Seven arresting, original new exercises from E-Saggila aka Canadian producer Rita Mikhael. She wears her love of dub on her sleeve - see the slow motion skank of 'Amnesiac' aming others - but not in the usual reassuring, bubbling echoes of dub techno, aiming for something much more angular and alarming. "Breaks remain staccato hammers," says the blurb, with maximum accuracy, "and kicks are cast to negate cardiac systems," while the rhythms veer from off kilter to nailed down and the sonics vary from the lush to the caustic. This territory to the left(field) of electronica is over saturated with identikit productions, but Mikhael does it like you've never quite heard before.