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Review: RRUCCULLA finds fresh new ground to explore here on his new Zero Freq album for Lapsus. It is a wide-ranging one with vastly cinematic tracks taking you on a trip through magnificently realised compositions that pair electronic sound design with an almost orchestral architecture. The tracks sound both synthetic and abstract but organic and real world. Rhythms range from dubby and persuasive to barely there at all. In combining such grand ideas with relatable structures the Spanish composer, percussionist and multidisciplinary artist once again shows why he is in a class of one.

Review: Well Curated is a series of releases and parties that - in its own words - "reflects the ethnomusicology of the last 50 years of music" - and aims to reach into all genres, merging classic styles and breaking down barriers. Steve Spacek occupies the A-side with the breezy broken beat and soul-in-space of 'Alone In Da Sun', while Lukid's 'Hair Of The Dog' is a more intense counterpart, with wobbling sub-bass and swirling, surging atmospherics hovering above.

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: 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: Ten years after she made her debut on Greco-Roman, singer-songwriter Tirzah drops her third studio album, a collection of imaginative and sugar-free love songs crafted with the help of frequent collaborator Mica Levi. Trip9Love, which was recorded over the course of a year at their homes and "various studios around South-East London and Kent", is relatively minimalistic in terms of the musical elements employed - think looped piano motifs, beats that sit somewhere between lo-fi hip-hop and hyper-pop, and Tirzah's now familiar voice - but still sounds surprisingly "big". It's a great example of a simple idea, executed brilliantly, with standout cuts including the infectious 'You All The Time', the ambient pop style 'Their Love', the gritty and crunchy 'Stars', and the flash-fried '2 D I C U V', where Polly Jean Harvey-esque guitars catch the ear.

Review: Thanks to countless reissues of her impeccable new age ambient masterpiece, 'Through The Looking Glass', many more people are now familiar with the work of Japanese percussionist, producer and composer Midori Takada. Even so, 'Tree of Life' remains one of her lesser-celebrated albums - despite being a genuine masterpiece of minimalism and melodic percussion instrumentation. Here reissued on CD for the first time since the album's initial 1999 release in Japan - and this time with a new audiophile-friendly mix from Takada - the set blends xylophone, marimba, kalimba and other percussion instruments with Japanese style strings, strong melodies and nods towards the American minimalism of Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

Review: "I made ['The Work'] over the last year at home in my temporary studio which was supposed to be the living room, while um, building my actual studio," Gold Panda said of his latest record, arguably his most introspective and - factually - his first full-length in more than six years. Made at home over the course of around 12 months, the track 'I've Felt Better (Than I Do Now)' has been doing the rounds for a while ahead of this full length and turned many heads in the process.

While that number, and the excellent Daniel Avery remix, is a pretty warm slice of future-bass leaning house with filter (although maybe not quite filter house), the complete package represents a more exploratory and personal sound from the music maker in question, although one that's no less immediate in its engagement of the listener. Simply put, it's very interesting and also very good.

Review: This cosmic electronic offering comes from Greek musician Yannis Veslemes. Opening track 'The Oracle Freaks' is somewhat reminiscent of the more avant garde side of British glam rock and synth pop - think Pet Shop Boys if they were from the moon. The industrial twinge Veslemes puts on his downtempo electronica gives it a slightly odd, retro futurism feel like on 'Psycho Thermo' that wouldn't be out of place in a dystopian video game - something like F-Zero or, point and click adventure games. His echoing vocals against the liquid bass is intrinsically fantastical, and 'The Well' as a whole just feels like a soundtrack. To what is up to the listeners imagination, and you will need a big one to decode the multi-layered and avant-garde 'The Cure'. In short, 'The Well' is a record that is hard to put in to words and best listened to yourself - an shareable experience.

Review: "I resynthesized some vocals that almost sounded human, but not quite. That's why I decided to name the track after a monkey." Depeche Mode mainstay, and one of the UK's finest modern musicians and songwriters, on his website Martin Gore cuts to the quick in explaining his latest solo release, which takes its name directly from Jared Diamond's book about the similarities between animal and human behaviour, The Third Chimpanzee.

It's certainly a pretty wild experience. Like the preceding lone wolf album, MG, here MG the guy gives us five tracks of synth goodness made on modular consoles. Visiting post-ambient, IDM and industrial noise, or rather luring those elements out of their natural comfort zones and into an atmosphere that almost feels as though you're lost in nature, it's a real opportunity for escapism at a time when many of us have never needed one more.

Review: Since its release way back in 1968, The Perfumed Garden has become a much-discussed cult classic. It's certainly a unique offering, with the whole thing built around Indian vocalist and poet Chitra Neogy's sultry and expressive spoken word interpretation of a centuries-old erotic text that has been likened to the better-known Karma-Sutra. Neogy's spoken word vocals, which often come drenched in reverb, are simply sublime, with some tracks consisting merely of these inspired readings. Where the album really comes alive, though, is when her words are given musical accompaniment - think sitar, tabla, strings and more - from an ensemble of experienced Indian musicians. An oddball gem that's well worth further investigation.

Review: Shack is back! The master of intricately layered drumming, who has long been twisting our melons with his dark and intriguing experimental sounds, returns to Honest Jons here for some more mind-melting workouts. These feature drums the man himself played in Dakar in February 2020 across three layered and enchanting excursions. The first is a real awakening, the second is more twisted and tight, with toms and echo and bass and hand drums all jumbled up while the third is full of intrigue and mystery, ancient drums run through with modern synth sounds to make for something scrambled yet transcendental.

Review: Antoni Maiovvi has written what is descried as a semi-faux soundtrack for his latest album, done in the style of classic British composers who have worked in cinema over the years. It's a collection of unused themes for a movie that never made use of them. It's a mix of eerie string sounds and gurgling synths, dark vocals and unsettling broodiness on the opener and from there danceable horror themes come thick and fast. Dead of Winter comes on limited edition blue and grey vinyl so it looks as good as it sounds.

Review: A Beautiful Place label founder Noha (also head of Panick Panick) offers up his latest slice of sonic wonderment with The Abyss Between A&B. Hailing from Italy's great capital, Rome, but having lived in New York for some time, once that's clear you can't help but hear a mixture of old world musicality and modern - or indeed futuristic - production happening across this startlingly good, rather different electronic effort.
Comparing the first and second tracks alone is enough to prove this, with 'Today' and its beautiful beatless harmonies invoking a kind of ancient mystery, while the dub-stepp-y 'Kudos Kid' feels very much born in the clubs and streets of our time (while also nodding to another synth gem, Elektro Guzzi). From there, things continue to flit between those two worlds, combining lush soundscapes with infectious and often slightly off centre percussion, making for one of those outings that can make you move and dream.

Review: Stephan Betke has always pushed musical and conceptual boundaries with his work as Pole, perfecting a trademark sonic style that's both unmistakably his and fiendishly tricky to pin down. 'Tempus', his latest full-length excursion, is reportedly his attempt to "consider the connection between the past, present and future" and sees him pepper hazy, minimalistic electronic dub rhythms with a combination of classically fluid jazz instrumentation, enveloping ambient chords, wayward synthesiser sounds and heavily manipulated and processed instrumentation. The result is an album that sounds more human and emotionally rich than some of his more out-there excursions, whilst retaining the heady, dub-wise pulse that has always been one of his aural calling cards.

Review: Call a track 'Rotterdam In De Jaren 90' and you can expect people to have some pretty strong feelings about what it might sound like. Especially given this double-A from Nous Klaer Audio opens on what grows into a tense, electronic, club-ready builder, for a while at least. Cast any thoughts of gabber out the window, though, because if this is the Dutch port city's rave scene on record, it's a post-sweat soaked, blissed out reflection on the wonders of whatever happened the night before. Kems Kriol's mini epic, a 15-minute long tune no less, is a beautiful combination of wistful woodwind and synthesised refrains, presumably found sounds, and strange, abstract noises. 'Tegenlicht', on the other side, shares some of those qualities in the extended intro and outro sections, but also spends some of its 18-minute running time in the basements and warehouses we were originally expecting to find.

Review: Talk about taking risks. Delmer Darion's jaw-dropping second album is like no other you'll hear this autumn. Trust us. Taking inspiration from legendary tales like Jules Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires, the record is split into two powerful halves. On the one side, industrial electronica and bewitching vocals meet in this abrasive but beautiful sonic place that owes as much to darkroom pop as it does experimental synth-dom. Blending elements of shoegaze, ambient and doom folk, it's a place thick with mystery and awe, wonder and, to a lesser extent, fear, and one you want to spend plenty of time in. Part two, meanwhile, does away with what small amount of convention was there before, and opts for an 18-minute spoken word masterpiece, rooted in Arthurian lore but at surface level focused on the 1919 sinking of HMY Iolair, off the coast of Stornoway.

Review: Japan's cult P-Vine label serves up some dazzling hip hop edits and mash-ups on this raw and ready double 7". The first tune out of the blocks is a brutal drum assault with crashing breaks and edgy rapped vocals from Darthreider on 'Subete Maboroshi.' Then comes a re-sung version of the classic hip hop anthem 'Said Knock You Out' with plenty of extra angst and bile. Flip it over and the angular drums and big stabs continue with Utamaru spitting hard bars over 'I Couldn't Become Robert De Niro.' Last of all comes 'I Need Love' featuring 'Seamonator & Darthereider in unrelenting fashion

Review: Based in New York City and famed for his sonic experimentalism, Madteo is back with another alluring three tracker on Honest Jon's. The music is all about rugged machine funk, busted loops and lo-fi house grooves that recall the greats like Moodymann. 'Str8 Crooked' is the most loose and clattering of the lot with its knackered bassline stay down low. The amusingly titled 'Build Back Better Sweatshops' is scuffed up deep house a la STL and 'Episcopi Vagantes' is an epic 16 minute tune with spinning hi hats, wonky synthesis and plenty of cavernous soundscapes to explore at 5am on a darkened dance floor.

Review: The ever-popular and always innovative Dark Entries welcomes Lust Pattern for more deviant electro explorations here and i isn't the first time the artists has graced the label in such fashion: Ryan Armbridge has previously done so as Linea Aspera many times before, exploring coldwave revivalist sounds alongside Zoe Zanias. With this alias, though, he looks to post-punk and electro-funk for inspiration. Opener 'Forming Lines' is redolent of Drexciyan squelch with plenty of live drumming powering it on. 'Choreography' has a similarly aquatic feel but with faster drums and more urgent funk and 'It's Right There In Front Of You' then slows to a predatory and menacing crawl. 'No Floor' is a motorik workout with the squelchiest of mutant synth sounds and rickety rhythms.

Review: Uganda keeps on giving, with the country currently at the forefront of sub-Saharan Africa's electronic underground: a fertile corner of the world in terms of emerging and established talent. Enter Hibotep, a Kampala-based rising star who was born and raised in Ethiopia but grew up in Somalia. Joining her on this EP, another one to know from the Ugandan capital, Hibo Elmi, a DJ, filmmaker, fashion designer, installation artist, rapper and studio head considered to be one of the most important female dance music makers on the continent right now. Running the gamut from 'Amber''s dark, hypnotising dub-hop moves, through 'Ebwino's sparse, weightless tones, which eventually give way to playful stepping rhythm beneath the relentless microphone skills of MC Will'stone, and 'Saffron' with its slow mo, exotic shuffle, if those responsible for this EP themselves reflect the incredible diversity of the city's scene, the sounds do the same.

Review: Los Angeles-based The Black Lodge began as an intimate gathering place and ritual organised around exploring, sharing and experimenting with diverse forms of electronic music. This is the fourth collection of cuts from various artists of The Black Lodge multiverse. The Poetic Painter M, an alias of Nation chief Traxx, opens up the A-side with the dark late night acid of 'Elusive Clarity Of 1 Mind', followed by Pablo R Ruiz from Detroit providing the spooky lo-fi/sci-fi groove 'El Rey De Amor'. Over on the flip, Michigan's Fashion Flesh serves up a harsh experimental soundscape on 'Kisses' and closes with the tunnelling industrial funk of Fauna53's 'Jam1' (Asymmetrical weirdo orchestra edit).

Review: Perhaps slightly better known for his dancefloor-enlivening electro productions, this is actually the third full length ambient album from UK producer Emile Facey under the Plant43 moniker. He's been writing and storing up atmospheric synthesiser experiments alongside his dancefloor oriented output since his last ambient LP The Countless Stones released in 2020, and the eight tracks here are meditative, ethereal affairs, Facey carving out a beautiful set of vivid emotions out of crystal clear pure sounds and arpeggios rolling like gentle waves lapping at a shore. Imagine classic Tangerine Dream combined with the balance and poise of Global Communication and you're getting close.
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Review: While Ben Frost's work has long been marked out by deft-touch dark ambient, experimental instincts and clandestine aural textures, he's always thrown in surprise excursions and drawn on musical inspirations that other like-minded producers would fear to embrace. This latter characteristic comes to the fore on Scope Neglect, his first solo set for six years. Remarkably, it utilises the moodiness, weight and ten-ton guitar licks of metal - played by Car Bombs guitarist Greg Kubacki and bass-slinger Liam Andrews of My Disco fame - as a starting point. Frost naturally puts these through the sonic wringer, combining them with his own skittish, IDM-influenced beats, dark ambient soundscapes and razor-sharp electronics. The results are unusual, impressive and emphatically enjoyable, sitting somewhere between timeless electronica, Nine Inch Nails and experimental metal.

Review: Some six years after it first slipped out, Simon Hayes' third album of experimental techno as Swarm Intelligence returns to record stores. This is a welcome development, because Rust is a genuinely impressive full-length. It draws deeply on Hayes love of Industrial, EBM, murky instrumental hip-hop, dubstep and lo-fi techno, but is far more experimental in tone, with the producer cladding his fuzz-fuelled beats in all manner of heavily processed sounds, droning textures, unsettling noise and buzzing tones. For the most part it's intense musical paranoia, though there are frequent chinks of sonic light amongst the creaking doors, scattered rhythms and densely layered aural textures. As a result, it's a pleasingly balanced collection of cutting-edge compositions.

Review: Lempuyang makes it to release number 15 with a devastatingly deep new EP from Deepchord Records co-founder Mike Schommer. He kicks off with 'Scapegoat' featuring the alluring vocals of Milly James which echo out over super slow-motion dub rhythms and icy pads. The Pole rework brings more crisp hits and distant eerie drones over a more pronounced rhythm but one that remains devilishly sparse. On the flip, 'Deceivers' has more hypotonic drive - a fleshy dub stepper to lock in any 'floor and then 'Believers' slows it down to a crawl once more. An essential dub EP that promises no represses.

Review: The Future Sound of London keep their fans busy with a steady dispatch of music via the fsoldigital.com label, but it feels like there's a sense of occasion around this new album. Rituals E7.001 is purportedly the first part in a trilogy, and it already highly prized by the devoted followers of Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain's music. It's not hard to hear why on listening to the gorgeous strains of 'Hopiate', which harks back to some of the duo's most iconic music (we'll let you guess which one we mean). FSOL have always had a particular touch in their exploration of electronica, ambient and outernational sounds, and it sounds rich with inspiration on this new, expansive album.

Review: It's a big week for Berlin-based imprint Amatori, with two long awaited releases coming out of their HQ this week. In addition to some blunted and contemplative beats by Stefano Stereo, there's the addition of this one by a co-founder of the collective. Ruder takes you on a journey deep into the esoteric on the Rerajahan EP, which features the trance-inducing eastern polyrhythms of 'Antaboga', the pitched down hypnotic techno journey 'Antaboga' and the majestic beat rituals of 'Tari Barong Dan Keris' being just some of the highlights - tip!

Review: Belgian synthesist David Edren has a sterling reputation as part of the rapidly re-blossoming (if that's a word) New Age music scene. Once the preserve of hippies-cum-proto-hipsters who preferred must to musk and were well ahead of their time in terms of things like seaweed-based chocolate alternatives and not being bastards to the planet, in the 21st Century their values, and at least some of their favourite sounds, are finally becoming mainstream.
Over 12 tracks, Relativiteit Van De Omgeving reveals itself to be an incredibly visual experience, both in terms of creation and consumption. Apparently, Edren was picturing widescreen imagery of the tracks themselves, from meteor showers to the miniature jungle of an urban greenhouse. This is reflected in the tones themselves, which move from earthy and woody ('Uurwerk') to cosmic ('Schaatsenrijder'), and back again.

Review: Given that he started experimenting with tape loops and electronics way back in 1965, Asmus Tietchens may well be one of the longest-serving avant-garde artists in the World. He has released a ridiculous number of albums over the years, with 'Ptomaine' originally appearing as a triple-vinyl affair in which each track was separated by a locked groove. The album has finally been reissued on CD but split into a number of different releases. This is the second and it's an undoubtedly adventurous affair - a suite of three movements (each split into multiple tracks) based around a combination of unusual, sometimes backwards, tape loops, discordant drones, unsettling soundscapes, decaying industrial beat-scapes and bizarre but inspired sound collages.

Review: Over the years, Sam Shepheard's work as Floating Points has become increasingly ambitious, moving further away from his dancefloor roots and closer to spiritual jazz, new age and neo-classical. Even so, it was still a surprise when Shepheard announced Promises, a 46-minute piece in 10 "movements" featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and legendary saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It's an undeniably remarkable piece all told; a constantly evolving fusion of neo-classical ambience, spiritual jazz and starry, synthesizer-laden soundscapes notable not only for Sanders' sublime sax-playing and Shepheard's memorable melodic themes, but also the intricate, detailed nature of the musical arrangements. It's a stunningly beautiful and life-affirming piece all told, and one that deserves your full attention.

Review: Etch on Ilian Tape; the stars have aligned on this one as the free-spirited breaksmith runs a fine yarn from deep meditative mindfulness ('This Morning, Transparently') to super wonky bass weirdness on the strange rolls and sways ('This Isn't Music') Constantly peppered with strange, well-dug samples and a tone and energy that grows across the EP climaxing with the devilishly cured breaks and sleepy arpeggio and trippy bass of 'Emmagedoon Snow Waltz'. No one else on the planet makes music like Etch.

Review: Since he first emerged on Diagonal a decade ago, Powell has been associated with abstract rhythms, hard-edged electronics, modular madness and fearsome experimentation. Piano Music 1-7, then, is something of a departure: a set that's as equally as inspired by piano jazz and neo-classical musical movements as fractured electronica and the Radiophonic Workshop. Of course, this is not piano music in the Nils Frahm sense - much of the actual piano motifs are delivered on lo-fi keyboards and synthesizers, while his fluid, attractive and ultra-melodic refrains come wrapped in studio effects and occasional electronic textures. A great example of this hybrid sound is 'Piano Music 4' - all alien electronics, woozy piano riffs and unsettling experimental intent, while the raw beauty of shimmering ambient number 'Piano Music 7' is simply sublime.

Review: The Hessle Audio label celebrated a big birthday in style recently and rightly so. It has long been a pioneering outlet for always cutting-edge electronic sounds loosely couched in bass music but often involving so much more. This latest comes from Toumba who made a fine outing at the end of last year and starts 2023 on just as solid a footing. 'Istibtan' is stripped-back body music with a smattering of tin-pot percussion and dark bass. There is more broken beat work and off-grid percussive inflection to 'Petals' then 'Hazzeh' layers up tropical synth sounds into a humid club cut before closer 'Identity Crisis' offers an introspective melody and funky broken beat patterns.

Review: If you've ever been luck enough to attend the Freerotation music festival than plenty about this remix package will make sense. Not least the interpretation by event co-founder and modular synth hero Steevio, here delivering a remix on vinyl for the first time. Bringing in elements of jazz, ambient, field recordings, dub, house music and - albeit barely audible - subtle shades of tech, it's a sophisticated package that fully buys into the theory of electronic sounds being a form of high art. Running the gamut from the stepping, poised but decidedly free spirited 'Lucid' and Deadbeat's tense, drone-y take on'Sam Gimignano', to the lush keys and white noise of Andrea Cicheki's redo of 'Siegfried 2.0' and Dr Nojoke's beautifully blissed out smoky house, it's as dense as it is accomplished.

Review: John Blackford's career got an early boost when he won a Moby remix composition. He then released one rather good EP of electro workouts on Bot in 2008, before all but disappearing. Organism marks his comeback from that extended hiatus and is really rather good. He begins with the dark, moody and intoxicating "Third Eye", before rolling through melodious, evocative cuts that variously tip a wink to hip-hop/IDM fusion ("Dopamine"), post-Drexciya dark-scapes (the jazzy "Faust"), spacey electronica ("Implicit Memory"), clandestine ambient ("Dark Matter") and slowly unfurling beauty (the creepy-but-blissful "Organism"). As returns go, it's really rather good.

Review: No prizes for guessing the source of inspiration behind Leaving Records founder Matthewdavid's latest psyched out ambient odyssey, On Mushrooms is an immersive trip in itself but actually serves as precursor to the producer's forthcoming album, Mycelium Music, due to arrive in the coming months. An homage to the natural phenomena not just of hallucinogenic shrooms, but the bond between people and the natural world, and the hidden connections of that world. "When you go out for mushrooms in the hills of California there is an experience in which you wander for hours, scanning low until your eyes are fatigued and then suddenly there is a break in the chaparral and a cluster of immaculate King Boletes appears before you, posed with an almost hieratic intensity," says Matthewdavid. If you pay close attention to that moment of perception, it is almost always accompanied by a telepathic whispering voice that says: 'Oh hello, we've been waiting for you'."

Review: DJ Sotofett is a cult hero with a sound that is never less than eccentric. This new album Braindance on Sued is a collection of material the mercurial one has written between 2002 and 2020. All of the tracks are short but high impact in different ways and despite some of them being the best part of 20 years old and pre-dating all the famous Sex Tags projects they still bang. Thrilling breaks, icy techno, mashed up jungle and deeper, more acid laced late night grooves all feature and offer a window into the mind of one of electronica's most vital talents.

Review: With an artist name like Dali Muru & The Polyphonic Swarm, and an EP title of Murmer of The Bath Spirits, the fact at least part of this record features a narrative about spiritual awakenings in bath houses, set to an eerie, atmospheric ambient soundscape, will surprise very few people. A 15-minute trip into the ether, noises and tones are as wet as they are warm, and the experience like heading out to uncover a faery land mystery.
Things get a little less specific on the appropriately christened 'Track 2', which moves us on from the dreamy quiet into a place that's more forceful, purposeful, harsh, perhaps even darker. Hypnotic loops set above staccato beats, grabbing hi hats and other elements as the track grows in ear worm qualities with each second.

Review: Richard von der Schulenburg is the much loved resident DJ at the Golden Pudel club in Hamburg and he has been since 2005. He makes disco, house and techno but is also an ambient craftsman with a new age disposition. Bureau B snap him up here for nine tracks of lush and melodic electronic music that is detailed and engaging. There are gentle xylophone sounds on the opener, while 'Caravan Of The Pentamatics' gets more mystic and otherworldly with its curious leads. 'DX7s Broken Hearts' is the sound of a machine in love and 'Planet Dragon' pairs edgy synth sounds with gypsy beats.

Review: Composer, sound designer, musician, artist. Vienna-based Ulrich Troyer has a number of strings to his bow, all of which have played into a world-building process deeply rooted in dub and sound system culture. Releases on the likes of Deep Midi Musik are a good reference point for newcomers. Here, though, we're in less structured and formalised places, with two pieces - well, one and a bit - of abstraction waiting for you to get lost in. 'Track 1' certainly comes with the kind of low reverberations and effects that call to mind huge speaker stacks in smoke-filled places. But it's also kind of deconstructed journey, it harmonises distorted beats and rhythms with beautiful melodic motifs in a way that's as innovative and beguiling as it is instantly pleasing. Flip it to find something we won't even bother trying to define, a celebration of the remnants of that opening arrangement, perhaps.

Review: Following up the inaugural release by Braintalk, Zurich-based label Human Sense Technology returns for its second edition here, this time from hometown hero Dan Piu. He rebooted his career after a 16 year hiatus a few years ago and has been more prolific than ever, with releases on Childhood Electronix, Cartulis, and Hizou Deep Rooted Music. The Modern Utopia Thoughts EP is dedicated to his youth and influenced by future visions of creation, featuring early '90s UK techno sounds that are very much in fashion at the moment ('Dysfunctional / 'Libertarian On A Mission') deep subterranean 303 acid journeys Modern (the title track) and classic Chicago house tropes as heard on 'The NATA Liaison'.

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: Meeting Point bring us four slices of moody but musical experiments from the point at which broken beat and bass culture meet. The slow motion of skeletal skank of 'Brass Beat' shows that the duo are capable of tempting plenty of character out of their machines, while 'Morning Air', with its highly pitched synth glories and stop start drums, also show they're not in the least bit bothered about fitting into existing genre frameworks. Fascinating stuff.

Review: There is a new hound in the pound of Berlin label 777. Dogpatrol bares his teeth with this razor sharp EP of visceral electro. The brilliantly titled 'Came Back From Hell & I Feel Good' opes up with roaming synths and slivery percussive slices over booming drums and broken beats. There is more space in the nimble drums of 'Safari Simulator' while 'The Deep Valley Of Self-Neglect' has a heavy, pounding and linear groove. 'Usingmyquirk' brings a haunting vibe with its low end oscillations and shimmering pads and 'Granular Memory Experience' is a wonky and kinetic machine workout for the afters.

Review: The moment 'Lip Locked' throws its hulking, lunging, jacking kick drum at you it's pretty clear this understandably rather hyped collaboration between two dons of crossover tones is going to be worth every penny. Then the hypnotic monotoned hook lands, adding a definite air of dance floor cheekiness, and the deal is well and truly sealed. The fact you can flip it to find 'Just Look At The Rain' is really just a bonus, then. But what a bonus it is. A far more staccato, broken affair that takes the tempo up a notch, and uses its breakdowns for purely percussive tension-building purposes, it's a dream of a 'UK club' tune, for want of a better phrase, calling on elements of hardcore breaks, dubstep, and garage-techno to offer something that occupies that all-too-elusive place between seriousness, fun, noise and energy.

Review: And so Bjork's majestic remix collection continues to trickle onto our shelves and into your eardrums. The legendary leftfield pop singer / producer gives up her "Lionsong" tune for remix action from none other than Juliana Huxtable; the newcomer has only got a couple of cameo appearances to their name, but she's coming through string with this one. In essence, it's a techno tune - driven by fire kick drums and minimal sonics - but her soulful twists of vocals render it to be much more than that in the end. It's a soothing, delicate techno massage with a powerful energy.

Review: Dutch industrial techno producer Parrish Smith created Light Cruel & Vain over the course of nearly three years. Each track on the record was originally conceived solo, then further realised with the assistance of contributing musicians Sofiane Brahmi and Javier Vivancos. The collaborative where no studio sessions occurred due to the pandemic - the full collaboration conducted remotely. Notable tracks include the seething post-punk swagger of "Black Scarlet" or the brooding industrial rock of "Sway", to the industrial strength breaks of "Never Break Faith" and a frantic techno banger towards the end "I Wanna Be An Idol".