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Review: Many critics have been quick to praise Arca's latest album (her fourth in total), highlighting the startling vibrancy and accessibility Barcelona-based Venezuelan's latest work. Where she was once renowned for wilfully challenging experimental sounds, "Kick I" combines her long-standing lo-fi noisenik instincts in ear-catching leftfield pop vocals, fiendishly heavy beats variously influenced by dancehall, reggaeton and Kuduro, sparkling bursts of kaleidoscopic synthesizer sounds, and bass beefier than a herd of highland cattle after a few months on industrial strength steroids. As a result, it's an album that beautifully balances ear-catching attractiveness with serious dancefloor grunt and just the right amount of experimental noise.

Review: With its crackly, gravelled textures, subtle melodic details and off-beat rhythms it's no surprise comparisons have been drawn between 'Finomehanika', Vladislav Delay's 'Mulitia' and Autechre circa 'Confield'. Fittingly, those turn-of-the-millennia masterpieces also arrived around the same time Merlak's 'Albumski' landed, his most recent long form outing until unveiling this, his latest effort. Talk about a long time coming, while the stylistic similarities might suggest a lack of progression since 2001, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, what's here could be perhaps best described as avant-garde electronic warbles and shuffles, of the type you might hear after stepping into a capsule floating through blackest space. But although familiar, the album arguably represents the artist's deepest exploration of what can be done with a combination of synthesis, piano and field noises.

Review: Romare's third album is another exercise in finding the exact sweet spot where happy and sad collide. By now he is something or a master at it and here laces those sorts of sounds with a sense of spirituality, hints of disco, touches of identity and plenty of funk. These more serious influences come as a result of the artist becoming a father, but the album never grows too sentimental (though "Deliverance" sure is a nice adult lullaby.) Elsewhere there is slow acid on "High" and joyous, heartfelt melodic house on "Dreams." Versatile, emotional, dancey - what more could you want?

Review: Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter has more or less disowned the krautrock-inspired music he and the late Florian Schneider recorded pre "Autobahn". From that album (1974) onwards, they became the electronic futurists we know and love today; before that, they swum in more organic musical pastures, mixing rudimentary synthesizer and other electronic instruments with guitars, drums, flutes and electric organ. It's this sound that's captured on "Soest Live", a rare recording captured for WDR-TV in 1970. Accompanied by drummer Klaus Dinger, Hutter and Schneider offered up a mixture of arty, proto-ambient experimentalism, and surprisingly funky, groove-based krautrock epics that combine prototype Kraftwerk grooves with the organic sounds of flute, violin and organ.

Review: Alexandre Gande AKA Le Syndicate Electronique presents his new project on the new Libertine X label series from Libertine Records. Billed as a journey into more exploratory, or 'wavey' sounds for a guy many herald as one of France's coldwave/electro crossover pioneers, that shouldn't be taken to mean things lack solid grounding here. As per 'Find Me Fine', its unashamedly rave-y stabs, acid line and druggy, looped mantra, this is still about setting it off.

From the mind-melting 4AM hooks of eerie and bass heavy 'The Roots', to the low-end organ growls of the epic grower 'Strange Birds' and the full-force of 'Onslaught's techno hoovers, this isn't just a lesson in how to produce super-weapons for leftfield dancefloors. It's a lesson in how to make sure the finish on those weapons so bright everyone in earshot is left grinning from ear to ear.

Review: Even in its sparsest moments it's impossible to hide from the funk that 'Runden' seems to have been built upon, a bedrock of toe-tapping, head-nodding groove that's infectious as hell, making for some real ear worm tracks that take hold and refuse to let go - whether that's the laidback 1960s espionage movie score-worthy 'Mikado', the sparse plucks and stabs of 'Horch' or sexiest of the lot, 'Parallellen'.

It's hard to really put your finger on genres here - this entirely instrumental collection owes a debt to jazz and funk yet isn't really either. Its arrangements often follow the patterns set out in more open-mined and freewheeling electronica, but it's entirely organic and natural in sound. Perhaps oxymoronic, then, despite the obvious contradictions the recipe makes for a coherent and incredibly intelligent whole.

Review: Originally released in 1985 on cassette, this sel- titled record from Flaming Tunes was their only one. It's a cult home recording that came after collaborative time spent together by childhood friends Gareth Williams and Mary Currie and is influenced by Williams's time spent travelling India and studying classical Kathakali dance. The music was recorded in a house in South London and makes use of piano, bells, clarinets and percussive sounds that are layered up into simple arrangements. The lo-fi melodies, oblique rhythms and hypnotic qualities of it make it a gold standard for anyone who prides themselves on unearthing the more outlier albums out there.

Review: With the exception of Skee Mask and the Zenker brothers, no producer has released more EPs on Ilian Tape than Stenny. For that reason, it would be fair to say that "Upsurge", his first foray into the full-length format, is long overdue. In keeping with the creative opportunities provided by the longer format, the 12-track set is framed as a "journey through the ups and downs", with hazy strolls through ambient, IDM and dub techno sitting side by side with skittish, off-kilter and occasionally dark forays into more club-focused electro, post-jungle and broken techno territory. There are plenty of subtle variations to be found within both broad categories, with Stenny managing to provide a unified front thanks to the pleasingly atmospheric and mood-matching nature of the collected cuts.

Review: A year after his debut on Chloe's Lumiere Noire label, young Mexican DJ and producer Inigo Vontier is back causing more sonic trouble with his haunting grooves and twisted sound designs. There is a tribalism and mysticism with cosmic overtones to the man's music that makes it utterly immersive and cinematic: "El Hijo Del Maiz" is an aural trip stuffed with creepy details and weird effects that have you looking over your shoulder, as if you're wandering through a haunted jungle in the dead of night. Highlights like "Bo Ni Ke" draw on shamanistic leads, while "Awaken" is the most traditional track of the lot, opting for some trance inducing grooves and dreamy vocals. Whatever he does, it's fascinating.

Review: On their hotly anticipated debut album, Passive Refraction invites us up to the "27th Floor" of an imaginary hotel in the heart of Tokyo, a place where you can gaze in wonder at the neon-lit cityscape. Musically, it's an immersive experience, where dreamy, slowly unfurling ambient chords and vivid synthesizer sounds reminiscent of Vangelis' "Blade Runner" soundtrack intertwine with sampled voices, hazy aural textures and quietly loved-up melodies. It's the kind of album that you can imagine being classed as a 21st century ambient classic 20 or 30 years from now, which we think you'll agree is high praise indeed.

Review: The Microcosm: Visionary Music Of Continental Europe, 1970-1986 presents works from 'cosmically-taped' artists; legends like Vangelis, Ash Ra Tempel, and Popol Vuh through to more obscure names in the form of Bernard Xolotl, Robert Julian Horky and Enno Velthuys. According to Washington State label Light In The Attic, the compilation aspires to present these these works of "ambient, new age, neuzeit, prog, krautrock, cosmic, holistic stuff, whatever one calls it - as a pulsating movement unto itself", and they've done a fine job of that when you hear how well curated this album really is. From major label recordings through to limited obscure cassette editions, it unearths some truly captivating and oddly inspiring gems from beatless electronic music's recent past.

Review: Following a couple of decent but arguably overlooked 12" singles, Tecwaa has decided the time is right to drop his debut album. The Swedish artist proceeds to languidly shuffle through evocative, occasionally icy tracks that variously draw influence from deep house, 1980s wave music, spiritual jazz, leftfield synth-pop, trippy electronica and chugging psychedelic disco. It's an interesting and entertaining set, with each success delay-laden track delivering a new twist on his hard-to-pigeonhole late night/early morning sound. By the time the bubbly, acid flecked "Those Cosmic Plains" rounds the album off, you'll be ready to listen to it all over again.

Review: James Ruskin and Mark Broom return with a third installment of their wayward electronica project, The Fear Ratio. Far from the bruising techno they normally throw down, "They Can't Be Saved" is an introspective trip into the knotted realms of hip-hop influenced machine music produced down to the nth degree. The beats crunch hard and the atmospheres come shrouded in mystery, slotting in perfectly on the legendary Manchester label Skam. Both a wonderful revival of leftfield electronica and a vital, fresh approach, this third album is another triumphant one. Slap this one on and revel in the sound of two hugely accomplished producers cutting loose and having fun in the studio.

Review: Jagged textures, ghostly tones and frenetic notes are omnipresent on "Filterealism", a highly experimental 9-track odyssey of warbling, jittering, metallic sounds that's quite possibly going to be like nothing you've heard before. Or at least that's the case on "Aluminium Dub", where tribalism meets futurism, or "Kosmaj", which could be read as an exercise in spatial awareness - a series of echoed synth stabs and whirring sounds where gaps say as much as the keys. Elsewhere things are less mind-bending, although only slightly. "All This Is Not A Dream", for example, might be an experiment designed to see what happens when freeform jazz meets feint touches of jungle percussion. "Continental Outcome" chugs without dropping a real beat, "Photon Garden" treads close to a prototype of electro while remaining staunchly eccentric.

Review: Husband-and-wife team Carl Hultgren and Windy Weber have been successfully fusing elements of ambient, dream pop and shoe gaze since the early 1990s, keeping up a steady release schedule that has so far resulted in no less than 11 studio albums and a string of inspired collaborative sets. Their latest album, "Allegiance & Conviction", is their first for three years and sees them drowsily drift through a selection of opaque, otherworldly tunes rich in densely layered guitars, hazy aural textures, barely audible vocals and dreamy, delay-laden sounds. It's a hugely enticing set all told, with our favourites including the glistening head trip of "Moth To The Flame", the Labradford style post-rock drones of "Alone" and the slow-burn bliss of "Crossing Over".

Review: The generous run of Zero 7 reissues continues with the welcome return of their 2006 LP "The Garden". While it received something of a frosty reception on release, this album has refined with age to become a fan favourite and an all-round wonderfully accomplished work that highlights all the best qualities of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. From lush, starry-eyed and '60s tinged psychedelia to bittersweet pop and plenty of lounge-ready moods, it's incredibly easy to sink into like all the Zero 7 material, but shot through with depth to keep you listening attentively. Sia also makes some standout appearances, not least "Throw It All Away" and "Waiting To Die", while Jose Gonzalez is on stunning form too. Fans have been waiting a long time for this, and no doubt there will be plenty more converts to the Zero 7 sound too.

Review: Music From Memory are spending some time exploring the world of music created for dance and performance. There's a common interest in experimentation between the mediums, but not at the cost of musicality, which comes here with a distinct 80s veneer. Gerard Stokkink has a thread of drama and poise about the vivid synthscapes of "Yellow Turtles" while the self-titled track from Ivory Playground calls to mind the delicate fingerpicking guitar you might expect to hear from Alexis Georgopoulos & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. Atlantis Transit Project have a heavier tribal lilt to the percussion on "Bird Perspective", and Ramuntcho Matta's "Zoique III" holds a mirror up to the freaky disco drum work of Jan Schulte and Niklas Wandt.

Review: Malin Genie welcomes an extensive EP treat from Lava Lap, an emergent producer with an affinity for the kind of braindance that will have fans of Jodey Kendrick beating their drum machines with approval. The acid is slippery, the structures ever-shifting and a wealth of expression spills out of every bar. There are faster drum & bass paced bits, melancholy detuned electro and much more besides. Far from just being clever music though, it's also amazingly emotional and so impeccably produced. Any electronica head should be all over this.

Review: If you're in the market for a beginner's guide to krautrock and "kosmiche", then the first two volumes of Soul Jazz's Deutsche Elektronische Musik series should be essential listening. This third volume - the first for four years - should be on that list, too. It arguably goes deeper than its predecessors, combining cuts from pioneering electronic and art-rock bands like Neu!, Cluster and Popol Vuh with tracks from lesser-known artists such as Michael Bundt, Dronsz and Achim Reichel. Musically, it's also far more diverse than its predecessors, containing as much space-rock and proto-punk as early electronic experimentation and droning alternative rock. As ever, the accompanying sleeve notes from author David Nobbs expand on the story in brilliant detail.

Review: Local Talk hits the rather significant catalogue number of 100 with a forward thinking EP that stays true to its MO over the last few years. It finds MLiR aka Modern Life Is Rubbish joined by Arnau Obiols to serve up a brace of brilliant tunes that blur the lines between a myriad different dance styles. "Lajbans" is a playful, fun tune with tooting arps and cosmic melodies all married to a chugging beat that Todd Terje would be proud of. The Bellaterra dub on the flip reworks it with plenty of space echo, knob twirling effects and sci-fi atmospheres. A tidy little package.

Review: Three years after delivering a stunning debut album that cemented their position as this century's finest fusionists of Middle Eastern music and analogue electronic music, Acid Arab return with a sophomore set that's every bit as impressive. The basic ingredients remain the same - think Arabic vocals, instrumentation and percussion mixed with heavy drum machine rhythms, raw electronics and mind-altering TB-303 motifs - though the resultant tracks arguably draw on a wider range of electronic music influences. So as well as nods towards acid house and techno, the album also contains throbbing, dancefloor-centric workouts informed by EBM, Italo-disco, new wave, synth-pop and industrial. It's a subtle switch-up, but one wholly in keeping with the French quartet's distinctive vision.

Review: Trailed as a direct sequel to his previous solo album, 2017's "Avanti", "Volume Massimo" sees Nine Inch Nails member Alessandro Cortini offer up another immersive trip through droning guitar textures, repetitive synthesizer motifs, exotic sitar parts and fuzzy electronics. It's effectively a series of "maximal" instrumental soundscapes with sounds so large and layered they rise above the "meditative" tag pushed by Mute's PR team. This is no criticism, though, just a reflection that while contemplative at times, one of the most joyous things about the album is Cortini's ability to build thrilling walls of sound.

Review: Given that it's called "Coloured" and appears on shocking pink vinyl, you'd expect Adam Longman Parker's debut album as Afriqua to be a decidedly vibrant and kaleidoscopic affair. It is, of course, with Longman Parker offering up tracks that mix tropical-sounding electronics, glassy-eyed synthesizer motifs, processed vocal sounds and evocative musical flourishes with jaunty, interesting rhythms that neatly sidestep conventional genre rules. It's a mixture that makes for hugely enjoyable listening, with highlights coming thick and fast. These include - though are by no means limited to - the densely layered dancefloor cheekiness of "Shout", the minimalist ambient bliss of "Noir", the hypnotic, intergalactic oddness of "Native Sun" and the bubbly club warmth of "Jumpteenth".

Review: Domestica presents a vinyl version of Oscar's X-mas Carols. For this album's tracklist, Jordi Serrano and Oscar Smit made a personal selection from the three previous cassettes which were originally released on Christmas Day 1984, 1985 and 1987 respectively by Smit's imprint Noel Tapes in Holland. The 15 tracks here are a selection of the best tracks of these three cassettes, mastered from the originals by Ruud '66' Lekx. It also features a cover painting by Max Kisman, laminated translucent sleeve and is hand stamped. Complete with dossier including liner notes by Smit, band bios, photos and download code, it's allegedly the only experimental Christmas compilation ever published.

Review: Following up an impressive debut on Baaz's Office Recordings in 2016, the mysterious Trux return with a collection of dubby ambient electronica and experimentalism on Orbiter, for Avenue 66 - which has previously presented works by Joey Anderson and Lowtec. This diverse album takes in a wide variety of moods: lush and aquatic deep techno as heard on the title track or "My Row". Tracks like "Blinko" are hazy, texturised, beatless excursions geared for armchair journeys, while "In My World" or "Angoma" respectively delve deep into exotic electronica - much in the vein of artists on French label Antinote. A stunning and cohesive effort which indeed has been very much worth the wait.

Review: Having taken time out to travel the world and experience new things (including psychedelic substances in California), John Hopkins planned to make Singularity, his ninth album, "a sonic ecosystem that starts and ends on the same note". He soon got frustrated by these limitations, so instead just laid down a fluid and hazy album that combines his usual luscious, ambient electronics with a variety of sparse, heavy and off-kilter rhythms. While undeniably laidback in parts, the album also boasts a number of foreboding techno workouts and uses a wider palette of instrumental sounds than we've come to expect (including some fine strings and his own intricate piano playing). The resultant set is rather impressive, all told, and while not quite a "sonic ecosystem", it's certainly an enjoyable journey.

Review: While there is barely any solid information as to the identity and ideals behind the Lokal Affair project, this is the sort of material that speaks for itself, and one which has successfully tapped into the current state of affairs in the electronic game. This badass EP lands on the increasingly relevant Boomarm Nation, and carries three killer infusions of cryptic pseudo house and ethnic rhythms for the more open-minded DJ. If there was such a thing as 'small-room tools' then these would be it; watch out for the Alter Echo remix on the flip, too, as it's a rather voracious affair for the dance. Big ol' tip here!

Review: We are honored to release 'A Boy Alone', a double LP set from Manchester electronic music pioneer Eric Random. Best known for his early recordings for New Hormones and Les Disques du Crepuscule and collaborations with Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks), Cabaret Voltaire and Nico. As an original member of The Tiller Boys with Shelley, Random injected a healthy dose of Krautrock into the dour Manchester post-punk scene in 1978/79 before going solo the following year. Random's first 7" "Subliminal"/"23 Skidoo" was released in 1981 via Les Disques du Crepuscule and explored ominous sonic surrounds. That same year also saw the release of a second 7" single on New Hormones, "Dow Chemical Company"/ "Skin Deep". Both tracks offered bubbling, rhythmic sound patterns, and were the first to feature other musicians that would become know as The Bedlamites. Consisting of Lynn Walton on vocals, Ian Runacres and Andy Diagram of Dislocation Dance, and bassist Wayne Worm, aka Wayne Sedgeman. Their debut 12" single "Subliminal Seduction"/"Bedlam-a-Go-Go" was released in 1982 through Plurex, mixing arid funk textures and sparse melodies. That same year the group contributed proto chill-out track "6.55" to Plurex compilation 'Hours' and the highly filmic track "In Cassette Conference" to the Touch cassette package 'Feature Mist'. In 1983, Random spent several months in the Himalayas with a group of musicians from the Kulu Valley and studied non-Western instruments such as tabla. On returning to Manchester, Random convened a new group of Belamites including Walton, Sedgeman and drummer Graham Dowdall aka Dids of Ludus. They released the 12" single "Mad As Mankind"/"Dream Web Of Maya" in 1984 on Cabaret Voltaire's Doublevision, embracing electronic, industrial and dub styles. In 1985 they contributed the soothing "Pure Power" to Food Records' "Imminent Episode One" compilation. Our reissue also includes 4 unreleased bonus tracks from Eric's archives recorded between 1981-1984. The whole set adds up to 115 minutes of sinister, somnambulant Random music. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each copy is housed in a gatefold jacket designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a spread of ephemera, photos with liner notes by James Nice of LTM.

Review: As Warp gears up to celebrate its 30th birthday, it seems fitting that the label should be putting out a fresh album from one of its longest serving artists. As Plaid, Andy Turner and Ed Handley played a significant role in defining the label's approach to electronic music during the "Artificial Intelligence" era in the mid 1990s. All these years on, they're still capable of crafting fizzing, melodious, off-kilter electronic listening music that defies lazy categorization. "Polymer" is a hugely enjoyable and entertaining set, with highlights including the jumpy beats, post-electro melodies and mind-altering acid lines of "Los", the metallic bounce of "Maru" - a kind of twisted take on Afro-tech that's amongst their most club-ready cuts of recent times - and the disturbed, Autechre-style clang of "Recall".

Review: Zomby returns to Hyperdub with his first album in three years, trailed in high profile fashion by that Burial collaboration "Sweetz." That particular tune is one of Ultra's headline attractions, alongside eyebrow-raising collaborations with Darkstar, Banshee and Rezzett. What really impresses, though, is the skewed, left-of-centre nature of the mask-wearing producer's heavy, post-grime rhythms, sparse but sparkling synth work, and the breathlessly cut-up R&B vocals dotted throughout the set. Interestingly, there are subtle nods towards new wave synth-pop, ghetto-tech, spacey ambient and alien IDM, making Ultra Zomby's most intriguing and consistently on-point album to date.

Review: While the mythical The Future Sound Of London duo are usually associated with the late 80s and early 90s wave of techno and acid house, they two producers haven't exactly been quiet over the last five years. Their original material is what made them famous, larger than life personalities within the electronic music world but, over the last five years, their Environment series have taken developed - and even matured - their style significantly. That's because they're free to experiment here, just as they did back in the golden years of club music, except that they're now doing this without the restriction of 4/4 patterns, Roland drum machines of acid baselines. The sixth volume of Environment is is a work of beauty, an all-out journey into the deepest reaches of electronica, downtempo, and and drone. Seen through the lens of two veritable pioneers of modern, experimental music. Don't miss it.

Review: Jean Pierre Decerf's records have been sampled by top talent in the game (Wu-Tang Clan's RZA) and have also been massively inspirational to the likes of indie talent such as Air. However, the Parisian has always been something of a recluse and it's only now that his best moments have been collected into a definitive compilation by Born Bad Records. As both the cover and title suggest, this stuff is pure psychedelia from start to finish and tracks like "Like Flight" are simply stunning, where freaky guitar riffs meet with twisted synth patterns, funky percussion swings and seductive vocals. Not to exaggerate or anything but this LP might well be the best thing that's landed here at Juno HQ this week and you'd be silly not to pick it up. Essential electronic and discofied innovations.

Review: British ambient producer Jimmy Billingham aka HOLOVR has previously flaunted his wares on respected imprints such as Opal Tapes, Firecracker and Indole where he presented the brilliant Line Of Flight LP last year. "Into Light" or "Apparent Motion" could pass for The Orb or even CTI's early ambient electronica experiments, both awash in soothing analogue pads, hypnotic bleeps and faint 303 acid flourishes. On the flip, there's more quality to be found on the cosmic journey "Involution" that's full of vintage analogue synth flair, screeching and squealing all over the place; it's pure bliss.

Review: Luke Wyatt is an NYC lo-fi experimentalist, now dwelling in Berlin and heads up the Valcrond Video imprint: which in recent times has served up great work by fellow retroverts in the form of Aussie electro fiend Privacy, the L.I.E.S. affiliated Steve Summers and analogue techno heroine Xosar. The sludgy and slow burning midnight rock on the title track is reminiscent of The Birthday Party via Ry Cooder, until he throws us a curveball with the aquatic electro frequencies of "Poser". On the flip, the vibe remains the same however "Stealing Geodes From The Nature Company" is a much deeper and experimental take on the Dopplereffekt sound. Finally, Wyatt gives you his perspective of Bob Dylan on the cheeky post punk ditty "Not Quite Music".

Review: Given her stratospheric rise in recent years, it's something of a surprise to find Dust is Laurel Halo's first album since 2013. It's the Michigan native's third full-length excursion and was apparently recorded over a two-year period at the EMPAC performing arts centre in upstate New York. Interestingly, it's even more difficult to pigeonhole than her previous sets, with Halo and collaborators - including Lafawandah, Michael Salu, Maxmillion Dunbar and experimental percussionist Eli Keszler - gleefully fusing elements of wonky electronica, skewed R&B, drowsy synth-pop, neo-classical, humid Balearica, creepy jazz and off-kilter ambience. In other words, it's a hugely vibrant and entertaining set that's more than worthy of your hard-earned cash.

Review: The MIC label has undoubtedly been one of the best things to happen this year. The London independent kicked off a few months ago with an excellent hidden gem by Mike Collins, a fringe drum machine enthusiast from the 80s, which was a record that we saw as totally unmissable (and one which flew of our shelves like hotcakes!). The imprint is back with LAPS, a cold wave duo who are making similarly stripped-back machine music, except that these two girls have only been around for a few years. This is a great signing from an indie, because it's the sort of crew that will likely be picked up by a bigger label in the future. The duo's sounds linger in mid-air beautifully, from the opening shots and burst of "Gush", to the more dancehall-flavoured chants of the leading "Who Me?", and the pensive twists and turns of "Ode To Daughter". "Edges" oozes a thick bass amid stepping drums, whereas "Lady Bug" offers the only real moment of r&b delight, all filtered through a raw and loose sort of framework. Top stuff. We love this label.

Review: Given the rise in popularity in new school jazz in recent years, it seems a fitting time to welcome back Ninja Tune stalwarts The Cinematic Orchestra. "To Believe" is not only their first album in some seven years, but also one of their strongest releases to date. Opening with the poignant neo-classical/soul fusion "To Believe", the set sees Jason Swinscoe and company attractively saunter between jazz-electronica fusion (Roots Manuva collaboration ("A Caged Bird/Imitations Of Life"), pastoral jazz epics (the sunset ready epic that is "Lessons"), gentle downtempo songs ("Wait For Now/Leave The World"), ambient jazz ("The Workers Of Art") and slowly unfurling dancefloor workouts (killer closing cut "A Promise"). In a word: stunning.

Review: James Clements continues his explorations into the depths of the grey zone as ASC with The Farthest Reaches double pack on Auxiliary. Samurai Music's Presha has excitedly called these four tracks "a definitive musical statement from one of the most important electronic musicians of our era," and who are we to argue with him? Making full usage of the format and available space, this is ASC in exploratory mode across a quartet of deep ten minute plus productions that have it all; sound design, atmosphere, groove, bass weight. To simply call these epic is selling The Farthest Reaches short!

Review: British duo Raime are back with the first album since 2012's brilliant Quarter Turns A Living Line and their signature style of dark ambience and haunting imaginary soundtracks which incorporate jungle, dub and post-punk influences into the mix also. The album is said to be largely influenced by their side project Moin which incorporates rock and metal influences too. According to Blackest Ever Black "the DNA of dub-techno, garage/grime and post-hardcore rock music spliced into sleek and predatory new forms." Highlights include the moody subtractive rock of "Dialling In, Falling Out", the dub and post punk crossover of "Dead Heat" and the brooding mood-lighting of "Cold Cain".

Review: Osaka's Koshiro "YPY" Hino built his reputation on a series of fearlessly experimental cassette releases, before breaking cover to deliver a 12" of frazzled techno on Nous last year. Zurhyrethm marks his long-form vinyl debut, and contains eight suitably experimental tracks stretched across two slabs of wax. While there are clear tropical influences, a humid feel and nods towards the visceral pleasures of ambient, Hino's greatest strength is his eccentric drum programming. Zurhyrethm's dense - but often subtly mixed - percussive backing dominates throughout, with nods to African and South American rhythms, Sweet Exorcist's C.C.CD-era "clonk techno" (look it up), and the metallic clanking of classic industrial music.

Review: COIL is just one of those cult outfits whose reputation and hero worship amongst fans will likely never diminish. That said, perhaps only dedicated avant-garde electronic heads will know about The New Backwards, the final project from the seminal industrial band Coil. Last year it came as a particularly gory reissue splattered with the murderous blood of listeners who didn't survive the album's first incarnation from beginning to end, as well as containing eight additional tracks. This version is simply a straight reissue of the original for those who are a little queasy.

Review: Veteran Irish producer Lerosa is back with a new one this week on local imprint Lunar Disko. The Trust EP features six terrific tracks all delivered in his singular style. On the A side, it opens up with the experimental synth intro 'Who Can You Trust', followed by the moody, almost John Carpenter-ish soundtrack vibe of "Revelations' and 'Reborn'. On the flip over, he heads to Detroit on the sci-fi electro of "Condition 1" and the acidified computer funk of 'Slow Bear'.

Review: Following up two volumes in the Sextant various artist EP series, the enigmatic Tachyon makes their full proper EP debut here on Swiss imprint Unruh. 'Fried' is very much an advanced take on the minimal techno sound and will effectively warp minds at the afterhour, followed by the mutant electro textures of 'PCM' (dub). Over on the flip, the icy and spatial 'Traffic' takes its cues as much from 2-step as dub techno, followed by the eerie twilight beats of 'Late Chatter'. Tip!

Review: Geo Rip is the trio of Aaron Leitko, John Calvin Jones and Mike Petillo who made their debut four years ago with a cassette release on U-Udios out of Takoma Park, MD (USA). Their eponymously titled sophomore effort here on The Trilogy Tapes features four experimental cuts, all said to be improvised live-to-tape. From the wonky electronics and splintered beats of opening track "Drop In Center" leading into the off-kilter deepness of "Nah Press Fake Text", their sound then diverts into more electro (-ish) sounding territory on woozy B2 track "Underwater Bodycam".

Review: This reissued LP from 1984 follows Strangelove's previous issue of Sjunne Ferger's early singles and soundtrack work on Children's Mind. Restored and fully remastered from the original tapes, it comes with new liner notes and photography. A sonic snapshot of Scandinavia's early '80s electronic/progressive movements, Mindgames is a singular album with a Balearic outcome that showcases a lifetime of musical and personal exploration by the Orebro native. As a child jazz drummer prodigy, arts venue operator, music teacher and Aikido practitioner, a bewildering array of personal and creative influences are channeled into Ferger's only long player.

Review: Detach Recordings is proud to present their third EP, 'In Order To See' by Nekyia. Following releases on re:st, UVB-76 and Voidance Records, the Italian producer further explores his introspective sound, joining the dots between experimental psychedelia, dark ambient and post-drum&bass. Opening with the heavy, drone-driven 'Meta' and 'Leave Your Flesh Behind', the pace soon quickens with 'Breaches', a driving 170bpm collaboration with Books (re:st, Detuned Transmissions). The pressure increases on the B-side with a fierce remix by Sam KDC (Auxiliary, Samurai, Sublunar). The EP closes with 'Form Constants', a 2017 dub unavailable until now.

Review: Tracing The Future Sound of London's back catalogue right back to 1988, when 'Stakker Humanoid' blew minds with a blueprint that would go on to define the standard formulas for British electro and breakbeat before either had been drawn, you quickly realise the journey back to where we are today involves passing landmark after landmark. It's hard not to consider Rituals as another. Marking a return of the outfit's Environments series, which already had six innovative instalments preceding this, hit play on opening number 'Hopiate' and you're immediately transported to every great morning after a night of amazing hedonism before. Pretty, reflective refrains and warm, Earthly details parting for a moment of silence before unifying rolling drums kick in - soundtrack to the best rave at 9AM you've either been to or not. Cue another 12 tracks that are equally transportive and explain so much about why, decades after these tones first hypnotised youth, we're still lining up for more.

Review: The Castles In Space label has been quietly supporting esoteric synth works for the past seven or so years out of their home base in Biggleswade. Amongst the artists they've previously released are Antoni Maiovvi and CHXFX, and now they're presenting a new venture by the name of Twilight Sequence. So far, so synthy. The music on this single-sided one-track sureshot fits the vibe as well, dealing in expertly sculpted melodic patterns interwoven in a manner which sounds like it might well come from a modular set up, such is the undulating movement inherent in the sound and the symbiotic nature of the different elements.

Review: Nine tracks of 'life-affirming downer music' by Swedish duo Charlott Malmenholt and Joakim Karlsson aka Treasury Of Puppies. Mitt Stora Nu is the Gothenburg-based duo's second album, following last year's titled Lollos Dagbok and their eponymous debut back in 2020. A collection of lo-fi and quirky indie-pop ditties, all said to have been influenced by Edgar Allan Poe as much as Britney Spears. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and pressed in an edition of 1000 copies. Comes with insert.

Review: It's nice to get a new edition of Muslimgauze's 'Emia Bakia', a long out-of-print and hard to find album from 1994, because the album remains one of the most unique in the late, great producer's vast catalogue. The set's uniqueness lies in the surprising shape and focus of the rhythms that Muslimgauze utilised on the album; while as percussion-rich as ever, and often cloaked in his usual dark ambient sounds, dub-influenced basslines and Eastern exoticism, the beats are regularly far more dancefloor-focused than you'd expect. This isn't otherworldly ambient dub, but rather some mind-altering mutation of psychedelic house music that still sounds like nothing else around.