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Review: Twenty years ago it sounded like an oddly poignant evocation of pre-millennial tension. Two decades later it stands as an eerily prescient glimpe into the technological alienation and dislocation of of a new era. Yet more importantly, OK Computer is no more or less than a sparkling, dramatic and moving collection of songs that haven't lost any of their impact in the interim. The sound of a band stubbornly refusing to follow up the stadium-strafing stylings of its predecessor The Bends - and instead bursting headlong into experimentation and wild creativity -is portrayed in still more vivid colours by the alarmingly strong collection of out-takes and B-sides collected herein, Yet there's no getting away from the chill and spark that marked out OK Computer from everything surrounding it in the post-Britpop malaise, and continues to do so in the pre-Brexit counterpart.

Review: Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, of Cramps fame, team up to deliver Leather Jackets and Diesel Smoke, a whopping 50-track compilation that documents their utmost personal favourite rock recordings, in the micro-veins of acid folk, rockabilly and psychobilly. We'll doff and eat our hats if both said punk legends' rising signs aren't Scorpio. With madcap performances from Donnie James with the Mighty Joe Houston Orchestra, Tall Tonio And The Mello-Dees, Chris Christian And The Chordaires, Elisabeth Waldo, Fred Katz and John Reedy and His Stone Mountain Trio among many more, this is a cavalcade of no-hit wonders, every last one of them a gem. Amounting to a contemporaneous account of the music that The Cramps heard and loved during their rise to notoriety, not to mention the lesser-known music that would've graced the halls of New York's CBGB club, of which they were favourite performers.

Review: My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields has talked a lot about the stress of making Loveless, the band's now iconic 1991 sophomore album. It took over two years (and trips to 20 recording studios) to make, such was Shields sharply focused desire to capture a very specific sound. As this reissue proves, his attention to detail genuinely resulted in what many critics cite as their best album - a wonderfully immersive, wide-eyed and enveloping set that fuses their fuzzy alt-rock guitars with gaseous musical textures, dreamy aural colours and painstakingly layered musical soundscapes that sound as gloriously intense and druggy as they did way back in 1991. It's an album that everyone should own - or at least all those who doubt the sonic potential of primarily guitar-based music.

Review: On its digital release earlier in the year, Celeste's debut album rocketed to the top of the album charts, thus making her the first British female artist to see her first set get to number one for over five years. Finally available on vinyl in a "deluxe edition" that boasts a couple of bonus tracks and an accompanying booklet, Not Your Muse remains a classy and inspired debut, with Celeste's smoky, timeless vocals fitting producer Jamie Hartman's accompanying backing tracks - a mixture of pared-back folk sounds, lavishly orchestrated easy listening, synth-laden power-pop and fuzzy, retro soul-influenced numbers - like a particularly comfortable glove.

Review: Given that Warp Records has described this set from ambient legend Brian Eno as "almost as much musical novel, as a traditional album", it's perhaps fitting that this limited edition comes housed in a hardback book. The album's narrative unfurls slowly across the album's four tracks, picking up pace during the 26-minute "Fickle Sun" suite of tracks. Predictably, it's all hugely atmospheric and attractive, featuring a mix of dreamy electronics, twinkling pianos, poetic spoken word extracts and, according to Eno's own notes, "three-dimensional recording techniques". Perhaps most intriguing of all, though, is closer "Fickle Sun I'm Set Free", which sees Eno paying tribute to the hazy, psychedelic pop of Harry Nilsson.

Review: Just when you thought all hope was lost along come The Strokes to fulfil the promises they made way, way back with their startling debut 'Is This It'. That was 17 years ago, and while the outfit have made plenty worthy of note in the years between then and now, we'd be surprised if we're the only ones thinking this latest is their best effort since that inaugural outing. Confident but also hungry, rather than bloated and lazy, there's plenty here that you won't be able to get away from in a hurry. 'Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus' might define the package best, delivering some powerful pop energy in an all-round homage to and critique of the 1980s, an era revisited again on 'Bad Decisions', which owes plenty to Billy Idol's Generation X classic, 'Dancing With Myself', with tracks like 'Why Are Sundays So Depressing' diverting to a synthdom route and 'Not The Same Anymore' throwing crooner styles into the mix. Exceptional stuff.

Review: South African jazz-influenced sounds take the lead on this new companion from the tireless Brownswood label. The collection explores the linage of the sounds and communities who helped it evolve as is spread across the country meaning plenty of subtle synths are taken in. The eclecticism is what makes this so essential as the music ranges from the hugely spiritual (from The Brother Moves On) to more late night and inmate (tasks to a fine entry from Sibusile Xaba) via the neo-soul drenched styles of Thandi Ntuli's beautiful 'Dikeledi' which is a particular highlight.

Review: While it would be fair to say that My Bloody Valentine's most celebrated works are by and large albums, their EPs - and particularly the four released between 1988 and '91 - are every bit as alluring and ground-breaking. For proof, check this fine collection, which not only gathers them together but also adds rare tracks and deep cuts that have long been fan favourites (see the full, 10-minute version of 'Glider', a cacophonous but strangely addictive psychedelic soundscape, and the baggy-but-ghostly 'Instrumental No. 2'). Over the course of the two discs, it's possible to chart the pioneering band's sonic development over a three-year period in which they went from visionary alt-rockers to a band that not only defied categorization, but also played by different rules to their contemporaries.

Review: Inspired by the slightly unlikely collision of the Thai music of the '70s and The Shadows, Khruangbin - the name means 'aeroplane' in Thailand - are purveyors of a deliriously mellow and beguiling form of jammed-out power-trio guitar music - far removed from standard notions of psych and dreampop, partly owing to its pan-global influences, its nonetheless both psychedelic and dreamy, not to mention possessed of an unhurried, reflective and spacious lilt that renders this Texan-London outfit a rare treat in an information-saturated age, taking on delicate soul and funk with exotic atmospheres and making the journey feel both blissful and effortless.

Review: In line with the timely reappraisal of all things R&S related, the resurgent Apollo have seen the opportunity to bring one of their most celebrated records back for another round on CD. Aphex Twin's ambient recordings mature magnificently with age, sounding ever richer and more emotive as the rest of electronic music continues to play catch up all around. From the gentle breakbeats of "Xtal" to the aquatic techno lure of "Tha", the airy rave of "Pulsewidth" to the heartwrenching composition of "Ageispolis", every track is a perennial example of how far ambient techno could reach even back then. It's just that no-one quite had the arm-span of Richard D. James.

Review: Lowfish originally released his 'Burn The Lights Out' LP in 2007 on the US label Satamile but we have found some copies of it in the warehouse. Synth-pop meets breakbeats in an electrifying fusion of emotive melodies and bass-heavy beats across all four sides of the long player with ten then-new tracks and two classics from his Sat.31 EP. They all show that his music, complex yet accessible, evokes images of Blade Runner, Wave Noir, or William Gibson. It is post-modern in approach as it skilfully blends past and present styles to create a sound uniquely his own, seamlessly bridging the gap between eras while pushing the boundaries in his own way.

Review: Since launching a few years back, Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Records has released some terrific albums from a string of talented but often little-known artists. This brilliant set is another. It comes from Hania Rani, a pianist, composer and producer better known for her collaborative work with the likes of Christian Loffler, Dobrawa Czocher and Hior Chronik. "Esja" is Rani's solo debut and sees her sashay between atmospheric, often poignant pieces that put her impeccable piano playing at the heart of the action. It's exceedingly elegant and picturesque, with Rani's subtle use of field recordings and crackling background noise only enhancing the listening experience.

Review: Straight outta shoegaze central, Oxford UK, since 1989, Swervedriver have been providing us with smoothly distorted guitars, vocals of refreshing reverberation and just those hints of angst and melancholia to get you through the decade. Future Ruins, like a lot of post and alt-rock to hit the shelves these days has touches of nihilism abound, although it's no secret Swervedriver have been offering this atmosphere for aeons longer than most. For fans of bands like Dinosaur Jr. yes, Swervedriver's latest effort remains firmly within the grungey and pastel confines of shoegaze, and with the genre's hey day missed so much but so many, it's never a pain to revisit the glory days of motion picture soundtracks.

Review: There's a chance this Liverpudlian four piece will be familiar by now. This, their 11th studio outing, first unveiled as the 1960s slipped into the 70s, is a bonafide epic from an outfit that weren't lacking in epics; in many ways a culmination of their time together, marking the end of their active years and beginning of their legacy. By this stage, then, they've emerged from years spent on the inner journey and time on the outer, space cadeting to the hallucinogenic fuelled tones of "Sgt. Peppers" and "Revolver". Of course, there's still plenty of explorations happening, but the gritty blues rock of opening track "Come Together" really sets the tone. Five decades on, it still sounds great and maybe even better than you remember. Even if you own the original, this anniversary edition is worth having.

Review: Downwards' latest release shines a light on Melbourne's famed experimental music scene by bringing together tracks from two of the city's most interesting artists. On side A there's a chance to savour all four tracks from Bonnie Mercer's previously cassette-only release Old Moon, New Moon, with the experienced artist combining elements of desert rock (fractured, discombobulated, fuzz-toned guitar textures) with droning tones, reverb-laden samples and gentle washes of ambient colour. Over on the flip YLP - the duo of Joshua Wells and Harry Schwind- take over, delivering a suite of suitably cosmic tracks heavily influenced by Spacemen 3, Suicide and Sun City Girls.

Review: McCartney III was the18th solo album by legendary musician and former Beatle Paul McCartney. Imagined is the remix version that came digitally back in April and now lands on vinyl. The artists chosen to remix were all selected by McCartney himself and are said to feature "friends, fans, and brand new acquaintances." The record has picked up plenty of positive reviews already and that should be no surprise given the heavyweights included. The likes of Beck, Khruangbin, Dev Hynes, Ed O'Brien, Damon Albarn, Josh Homme, Anderson .Paak, Robert Del Naja, and Idris Elba all make for a contemporary mix with diverse results.

Review: Of all the artists past and present who claim to let their music do their talking for them, Burial is one of the elite band of whom this truly is the case. In fact, so reluctant is he to engage with the cult-of-personality hoopla that surrounds almost every modern producer and musician of merit, that he remains a genuine recluse; he has never appeared live, only one obliquely-angled publicity photograph is known to exist, and the number of interviews he has given can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Yet despite this, his music speaks loud and wide, and the world has been listening ever since his 'South London Boroughs' EP debut on Hyperdub in March 2005. His eponymous album, which began life as a low-key release in May 2006, is now widely regarded as the benchmark release of the ever-widening dubstep genre, picking up unanimous critical acclaim along the way, and ending the year heavily featured in many 'best of' polls. Now Burial returns with 'Untrue', a new record of weird soul music, which lovingly processes spectral female voices into vaporised R&B and smudged 2step garage. Vocal lines are blurred, smeared, pitched up pitched down and pitch bent until their content is cast adrift from their original context and they whisper their saccharin sweet nothings into the void. The album continues with the debut's crackle-drenched yearning and bustling syncopations, haunted by the ghosts of rave, but also reveals some new Burial treats with a more glowing, upbeat energy. Kicking off with the skittering 2step syncopations and vocal science of 'Archangel', 'Near Dark' and 'Ghost Hardware', before long it descends into a space of radiant divas and ambience. Where 'Burial' first was humid, suffocating and unrelentingly sad, 'Untrue' is less sunless. Many of the tracks are so sweet, they become toxic, underscored by the almost geological rumbles of growling basslines. Unlike the overpoweringly melancholic prevailing mood of before, Burial's sound is now better defined as a downcast euphoria typified by the epic, muted optimism of the album's last track 'Raver'. Forget central heating the radioactivity of this album is all that you'll need to keep you warm this winter. 'Untrue' is available as full 13 track digipack CD, including recent underground hit 'Ghost Hardware', and 9 track DJ friendly double vinyl set, from which some of the beatless pieces have been edited.

Review: Golden Pudel's number one DJ-turned-producer, Helena Hauff, returns to Actress's Werkdiscs with her debut LP, marking a fine start to the September release downpour! Compared to her last effort for the label and her banger of an EP on Lux, Discreet Desires spans across much vaster landscapes, and while we knew that she was heavily into Detroit electro, the album is heavily focused on fast, broken beats brimming with synths. "Spur" and "Funereal Morality", for example, are a pair of Drexcyian bombshells, while "Piece Of Pleasure" clearly takes inspiration from Kraftwerk and the resulting synth pop wave. Instead, "Silver Sands & Boxes Of Mould" showcases her more experimental side thanks to its cinematic soundscapes and sparse beats, along with the beatless sway of "Dreams In Color". A fine debut LP that cements Hauff's position at the vanguard of current electronics.

Review: Apart from having one of the best and most singular names in electronic dance music, The Future Sound Of London have been one of the pillars of modern UK dance music, pushing through a mixture of house, techno, and breaks since the early 1990s - and, in fact, some of their tunes like "Papua New Guinea" are still getting regular play time in clubs today. While they have released a huge amount of music over the last 25 years, they've got an equally vast amount of unreleased gold in their treasure chest, a collection of tracks that have seen the light of day thanks to the present Archived series. This week it's time for the series' eighth instalment, another twelve unmissable bundles of electronic delight. However, this is a lot more than just a compilation, and the tunes work their fine mixture of melodies, breaks and electronic beats into a sublime collection of sounds. If you're into vast and explorative music with a cutting-edge, you needn't look any further.

Review: Only Swamp 81's second full length release in its four year lifespan thus far, Boss is Dave Jones' third transmission for Loefah's label under the Zed Bias moniker after debuting on Swamp in 2011 with the now sought-after double pack Stubborn Phase. Like that release, Boss sees Jones engage in more of the sort of heavy set garage-indebted house music he's so good at. Tracks like "Eingang", "Boss Skank" and "We Are There" (which features the vocals of house legend Roy Davis Jr) could easily slot into most contemporary house sets, while the likes of "Ye", "Cupper", "We're There" and "Flamm" offer the kind of darker, more syncopated material that will have fans of muscular bass music salivating.

Review: First brought to the world's attention via a YouTube video posted on the Dangerous Minds blog, Khun Narin's Electric Phin band have risen from their origins playing wild, primal drone-based and percussive music as a soundtrack to the daily rituals of a small village in Thailand, through their own home-made PA system. The Phin of the band-name is a type of three-string lute, amplified by Fender pickups, and heavily affected. With the help of a blown-away Los Angeles-based producer Josh Marcy, field recordings were made of this initially sceptical troupe, and the result is sixty minutes of mesmerising trance-like rapture that exists strangely outside of place and time, resonating on a ceremonial level, yet also quite capable of showing the majority of Western 'psych' acts a few lessons on what it truly means to be psychedelic.

Review: Long lost groove gold from South Africa, The Movers blessed the world with almost 20 albums during their tenure throughout the late 60s / 70s. A fluid collective with scant documentation on their history, key players changed in the band frequently but Soundway have traced the credits of this rare opus down to producer David Thekwane and musicians Jabu Sibumbe, L Rhikoti, Lloyd Lelosa and Sankie Chounyane. Whoever the line-up was, the key sounds were always consistent as the troupe writhed and frolicked around disco soul axis, as is best celebrated here on the thumping funk fusion of the title track, the sweaty insistency and tightness of "Beat" and the awesome falsettos of "Work Is Done".

Review: Given the brilliantly simple concept behind this fine compilation - contemporary Detroit producers remix Funkadelic - we're rather surprised nobody's done it before. With 17 varied re-rubs stretched across two hugely entertaining CDs, there's plenty to enjoy. Highlights come thick and fast, from the deep house/P-funk fusion of Alton Miller's take on "Get Your Ass Off and Jam" and Andres' loose, hip-hop influenced revision of "Music For My Mother", to the thrusting loops and heady late night hypnotism of Anthony Shake Shakir and T-Dancer's version of "Standing on the Verge". While many of the versions stay relatively faithful to the original, the more "out-there" interpretations - see BMG's outer-space ambient dub of "Maggot Brain" and Moodymann's epic revision of "Cosmic Slop" - are also consistently impressive.

Review: Given the hype that surrounded the release of the first Moderat set back in 2009, we can surely expect more of the same for this second outing from Apparat and Modeselektor. Those familiar with the first album's woozy blend of IDM, Thom Yorke indebted vocal dreaminess, porchlight techno and post-dubstep rhythms will immediately feel right at home. Online reviews have focused largely on II's atmospheric warmth, and the way in which the Berlin-based trio seems to have refined their sound. Both are valid critiques; certainly, there's a maturity and musical complexity to the album that betters much of their previous works. It's not much of a dancefloor set, but that's entirely the point; this is locked-in headphone listening for the wide-eyed generation.

Review: Having built up his self titled label alongside his sterling work as part of Oscillat, Lazare Hoche and Will & Ink, the one and only Malin Genie delivers his debut solo album. Moving beyond the pure club focus of his singles and EPs, the Genie has seized this opportunity to present a widescreen panorama of his sound, leading in with the subliminal ambience of "You" as a springboard to explore breaks, electro, techno, and especially IDM. There are so many ideas swirling round Anthropomorphic Sympathy, it's hard to know where to begin describing it. A true headphone commute for the deep listener to burrow into.

Review: Frequent Jeremy Greenspan and Morgan Geist collaborator Jessy Lanza was hailed as a future star on the release of her 2013 debut album, Pull My Hair Back. That album projected her as some kind of New York freestyle chanteuse dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, backed by an all-electronic band fascinated with the potential of future R&B and left-of-centre synth-pop. This belated follow-up, which was once again produced in cahoots with Jeremy Greenspan, is even better. Colourful, vibrant and attractive, the ten songs are truthful to their '80s NYC inspirations, but smartly avoid the pitfalls of such blatant retro-futurism. In other words, it's a superb collection of future R&B and pop gems.

Review: One of Patrick Adams' many aliases, and quite possibly one of the most carefree and funkiest, Cloud One allowed Adams to explore the instrumental disco landscape with no 'big hit' expectations or demands of featured artists. As a result, much of this 1978 album still sounds very current with its dubby FX and jazz-minded off-piste adventures on versions such as "Music Funk" and "Funky Track". Only five tracks deep - with a quick jaunt into straight-up disco soul with "Happy Music" - this will still knock a knowing dancefloor sideways to this day.

Review: British electronic duo Future Sound Of London celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2018. In From The Archives Vol 9, unpublished tracks from their extensive archives see the light of day for the first time spanning the period from the early 1990s to present day. Discover progressive electronic experiments from the depths of the FSOL catalogue - timeless and innovative expressions in IDM such as "Semi Conscious Participant" or "Super Tide" could have been created during any era, through to sublime ambient house excursions like "Ocea" or "Riverbed". Upbeat moments can be heard on the drum 'n' bass influenced "Without You It's Meaningless" or the blustering beats of "Oska Traveller.

Review: Minimal Wave is proud to present The Sound of Indifference, a rare cassette released in 1981 by Aural Indifference. Aural Indifference was a post-punk studio collective from Sydney, Australia. The two principal members were Brian Spencer Hall (the M Squared in house producer) and Kevin Purdy. The cassette album, The Sound of Indifference, was released in 1981, featuring tracks such as "Theme", "Park, and "Man Am I Progressive". Their sound ranges from minimal synth, to post-punk to quirky guitar-driven electronic folk music, some of it resembling John Maus. "Theme" appeared as the closing track on The Minimal Wave Tapes: Volume Two compilation and "Park" appeared on The Bedroom Tapes compilation. Here for the first time, we are offering a reissue of the original cassette, remastered from the master tapes and complete with original artwork, limited to 300 copies.

Review: Very little is known about the collective of musicians behind the SAULT project, but their music in many ways speaks for itself. Earlier in the year they delivered Untitled (Black Is), a heartfelt, angry and righteous set of soul, funk, drill and spoken word tracks that provided a brilliant commentary on what it means to be black in 2020. It's a contender for album of the year, for sure, and the good news is that this speedy follow-up is every bit as essential. It's undoubtedly more celebratory than its predecessor, but every bit as musically detailed, combining cutting-edge electronics and all manner of infectious rhythms with enlightening vocals and all manner of live jazz, soul, punk-funk and jazz-funk instrumentation (as well as some seriously evocative orchestration).

Review: Marseille's Ravanelli Disco Club returns with Antwerp-based Aymeric, resident at Geheimzinnig and Transit clubs, for their eighth release. Expect sexy, disco-tinged deep house all the way across That Sound EP. From the dreamy and low slung title track which gets a sultry, boogie down rework by mighty Frenchman Anoraak up next. On the flip, more club ready vibes await on the uplifting, Chicago inspired vibe of 'Peace' followed by the thumping funky house of 'Little Loving' with a distinct "French Touch" vibe that you'll love as much as we did.

Review: Back in the late 90s, first time tech house was still booming, and Nathan Coles and Terry Francis were right at the heart father sound's best material. Some of it came as The Delinquents, who now get proper and worthy reissue treatment thanks to the always vital Mint Condition label. Their Room on Top EP from 1998 showcased the best of their sound - there's the dark and driving "Room On Top", then the more tripped put and late night "Fares Please". "All Change" gets back to bouncing, punchy drum led business and "Hold Tight" offers a perfectly gooey and woozy downtempo track to get things started or end them in stylish fashion.

Review: Since releasing his debut album 12 years ago, Solomun has become one of the world's most popular tech-house artists - a DJ/producer with a wonky but accessible style tailor-made for big rooms and debauched afterparties. His change in status is reflected on belated second album Nobody is Not Loved, which appears via major label MBG packed with guest stars including Jamie Foxx, Zoot Woman and Planningtorock. Wisely given his DJ roots, the Hamburg-based producer has made the set a non-stop mix that gently increases in intensity before mellowing out again right at the end. Highlights include the minimal-meets-deep soulpop opener 'Ocean', the Isolee-influenced melodic shuffle of 'The Center Will Hold', the tech-house-goes-electroclash sleaze of 'Tuk Tuk' and the moody, new wave-inspired darkness of 'Kreatur der Nacht'.

Review: The finely named Leeds based crew Gentleman's Dub Club come back once again with a sixth studio album. This one has some standout guest spots from Hollie Cook and Gardna and is again filled with the sort of festival pleasing tunes that have become their bread and butter. Much of Down To Earth was recorded during live studio sessions - during the various lockdowns that happened in the UK - and so the magic of their on stage performances is captured perfectly in the tunes. Turn it on, turn it up, turn yourselves out.

Review: N.I based beat-maker Violentlyill's full length Iconoclast on Ill Records is an all instrumental affair. It's one filled with treats for fans old and new as well as curious beat lovers as it chews up and spits out plenty of iconic sounds. The dusty boom bap beats are all carefully produced and assembled and though the whole thing is diverse in sound it also holds together as a cohesive listen from start to finish. A multitude of vocal and spoken word samples are sprinkled throughout to make it all the more layered and rewarding with every listen.

Review: Back in 2018, previously unheard artist James Infiltrate impressed via a punchy EP of club-focused electro numbers. It later emerged that the mysterious producer was none other than Constant Sound founder Burnski. Here he dons the alias once more for a full-length excursion three years in the making. It's a fine album, too, with the long-serving producer delivering a winning combination of punchy, club-ready beats, sci-fi fired synth sounds, moody Michigan bass and the kind of authentically spacey atmosphere that has long been associated with the greatest electro records. There's also enough subtle variety in terms of tempo and style to guarantee that you'll not get bored of it any time soon. Highly impressive, but did we really expect anything less?

Review: When announcing the release of their new album, G'D's Pee at State End - their first full-length missive since 2017's Luciferian Towers - Godspeed You Black Emperor attracted headlines by calling for the abolishment of prisons, police, imperialism and the rich. Given that statement - one that is totally in-keeping with their anarchic attitude and music - you'd expect the album to be angry and rage-filled, but it feels more poignant and melancholic, thanks in part to the long-serving band's use of strings throughout the four lengthy post-rock soundscapes that make up the album. Peppered with blasts of shortwave radio, and rising and falling melodic themes, it's a far more cinematic concoction than many may have expected - a kind of sighing, tear-soaked soundtrack to the end of days.

Review: South Korean-born and Toronto-based musician Jessica Chao aka Korea Town Acid spans the divide between disparate musical cultures with her new record Metamorphosis. It is a collaborative work with DESIIRE from Toronto, Korean pianist and rapper Pianwooo, as well as Seoul rapper PNSB, LA producer Dreamdave and New Jersey MC, L.J The Alien. Glitch, home, jungle, boom bap and trap are all distilled into the 10 tracks, with sultry grooves next to more dark and stark instrumentals, often with carefully deployed raps and whispers elevating each tune above mere ear chewing gum status.

Review: classic 2010 Theo Parrish album Sketches back in stock on CD.

Review: Tropics - AKA singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chris Ward - deals in a smooth and spare electronic sound, in which the love of '80s Peter Gabriel and Arthur Russell that he grew up is parlayed into yearning songs that are both stylishly understated and emotionally engaging. Never less than inventive and melancholically melodious, 'Rapture', his second album, makes for an exquisite litany of heartache and regret, as Ward delivers the kind of late night tales that will be manna to anyone whose tastes veer in the direction of Sade, James Blake and The XX alike.

Review: There's no doubt that determined man-of-mystery Panoram has a unique musical voice, as anyone who checked his thrillingly evocative, impossible-to-pigeonhole debut LP for Firecracker, Everyone Is A Door, would no doubt attest. It's unsurprising, then, to find that this follow-up is equally as evocative, with even more musical reference points - skewed downtempo jazz, Balearica, solo piano pieces, vibrant synthscapes etc. - joining his usual liquid ambience, synth-doodles and immersive electronic moods. The album is nominally a meditation on "the nature of memories and reality", but it many ways the concept is secondary. At the end of the day, the music is magical, and that's all that counts.

Review: In Colour is of course the long awaited debut solo album from The xx's in-house knob twiddler Jamie 'xx' Smith, arriving through regular home Young Turks backed with a whole host of guest appearances. The more obsessive Jamie xx fans out there (of which we wager there are many) will no doubt already have burned out their laptops and retinas basking in the all too colourful pre-release streams of In Colour, but it's always nice to grip an album in your hands. The eleven tracks on In Colours come across like a low key ode to the rave from Jamie and pals, with Four Tet, Romy & Oli xx, Young Thug and Popcaan featuring, and yes there is also plenty of steel pan. "Hold Tight", which sounds like Jamie's attempt at forest techno, is a definite highlight!

Review: Last year saw Cultures of Soul, American crate diggers extraordinaire, serve up a fine compilation of Caribbean disco, soul, and boogie in the shape of Tropical Disco Hustle. Clearly they were only getting started as a year later we find a second installment from Cultures of Soul which broadens the remit to take in the flavours of St. Lucia and Guadeloupe too. Trinidad & Tobago calypso act Wild Fire feature prominently, providing three tracks of which the Moog laden "Try Making Love" is a compilation highlight. "Music Makes The World Go Round" by The Hamilton Brothers being another, a delicious horn laden, rasping disco bumper that DJs will find a lot of mileage in. A fine compilation.

Review: It's been a while since Soul Jazz tapped into the seemingly bottomless well that is the Studio One archives. This latest trawl through "Sir" Coxsone Dodd's landmark label focuses on the Jamaican imprint's ska output in the "downbeat" period between 1962 and 1965. It was in this period that the ska movement, reflecting Jamaica's newfound independence from the UK, truly began to find its own voice. While that alone makes Studio One Ska Fever worthy of further inspection, it's the tracklist - heavy on early scene classics such as "Freedom Sounds", "Marcus Garvey" and "Mad World", as well as lesser known gems and early works from Lee 'Scratch' Perry and the Wailers - that makes is essential listening.

Review: It's been a while since Freerange boss Jamie Odell (better known, of course, as Jimpster) delivered an album; in fact, his last full-length dropped way back in 2006. Seven years is a long time between drinks, but the rest seems to have done Odell good; Porchlight & Rocking Chairs is arguably his strongest album to date. While deep house remains his focus (see the intricate "Glowing Embers", Detroit influenced "Cracks In The Pavement" and Moodymann-ish "High Wire"), there's a soulful bagginess and barely concealed jazziness throughout. More impressively, many tracks hark back to his pre-house days as a producer of lovingly crafted downtempo gems (see "Jasmine Dragon", "Wanting You" and previous single "These Times".

Review: With a wealth of modular techno and experimental sounds to his name, Ralph Cumbers is a prolific producer by anyone's standards and he seems to be going through a particularly productive spell of late. As well as records on PAN and Public Information being announced recently, last year's excellent Acid Tracts cassette has now been reissued on vinyl thanks to the Alter label overseen by Luke 'Helm' Younger. Fans of Bass Clef's under rated Punch Drunk LP Reeling Skullways are encouraged to investigate here, as the potential shown on that album is opened up in glorious fashion across wider stylistic spectrum. Already an album filled with witty track titles, this vinyl edition comes packing an extra previously unreleased one in the shape of "Music Sounds Better Without You".

Review: Experimental musician Leyland Kirby has been skirting round the edges of electronic music since the tail end of the '90s, delivering curious concept albums under a dizzying variety of pseudonyms (The Caretaker, The Stranger, Billy Ray Cyrix, Butcher Claws and Bored in Columbia, amongst many others). Here he dons his familiar V/VM alias for a discordant trip into drone territory supposedly inspired by fading memories of the last throes of early '90s outdoor raves. In truth, there's little in the music - a typically hissing, dystopian fusion of murky textures and becalmed electronic tones - to justify the concept, but it matters little. Kirby is a master at creating vaguely spooky, industrial-influenced soundscapes, and The Death of a Rave (A Partial Flashback) only enhances his reputation.

Review: When The Prodigy's The Fat of The Land first appeared back in 1997, it captured the mood of the times. By blending the psychedelic obsession of the Chemical Brothers and the rock-obsessed rhythms of big beat with their usual rave-influenced nastiness, Liam Howlett and company blew the competition out of the water. Almost overnight, they became international dance music's most in-demand live act. 15 years on, the album's lost none of its sparkle. This celebratory edition presents the remastered album in full, alongside a sextet of remixes. While they don't all hit the mark, Major Lazer and Noisia's booming reworks of "Smack My Bitch Up" are pretty darn tasty.