Aussie audio explorers Mildlife made a big impression with their debut album, Phase, which earned copious amounts of praise from the likes of DJ magazine, Mojo, BBC Six Music and The Guardian. Buoyed by this unexpected success, they returned to the studio and recorded "Phase II" - an 11-minute journey split into two parts, here spread across both sides of a 7" single. A-side "Part 1" is a wonderfully languid affair, with the band adding spacey Moog solos and 1960s British spy movie guitars to a lolloping rhythm track that sits somewhere between soul and jazz-funk. The "Part II" flipside version is noticeably slower, groovier and more of a head-trip, with fluttering flute solos rising above the band's impeccable rhythm section and intoxicating aural textures.

Last year, Astral Industries dived into the back catalogue of obscure ambient explorer Heavenly Music Corporation (AKA film and TV composer Kim Cascone) to present the first vinyl release of superb 1995 album "Lunar Phase". Here, they offer the same treatment to 1993's "In A Garden of Eden", Cascone's first solo release. It, too, is something of an overlooked classic, albeit one whose inspirations were more pastoral and natural than the stargazing Lunar Phase. The set is notable not only for its Pete Namlook-esque use of dreamy, elongated chords, but also for the presence of hyponotic, Global Communication style melodic movements and Cascone's liberal use of sound effects and field recordings, which bring to mind the KLF's legendary ambient house album, "Chill Out".

After slowly establishing his career via a handful of tidy EPs released over an eight-year period, Evan Baggs has really hit his stride in 2018. This outing on Partout is not only the American's fourth vinyl excursion of the year, but arguably his strongest, too. He hits the ground running on opener "New Language", where vintage Steel City bleeps rise above doom-laden chords and crunchy electronic percussion, before peppering another drum machine rhythm with spacey electro style synth lines on "5 Phased". Over on the flip, Baggs successfully breaks up the beats, ratchets up the sub bass and reaches for the deep electronics on "As It Is", while closer "Bo Jangles" is a fine slab of foreboding, acid-flecked late night techno funk.

Tom Moulton's fabulous mix of Love Committee's "Pass The Buck" was never given a proper 12" release back in 1978, instead making its way onto the band's debut album, "Law and Order". Here it finally gets an airing across a side of a record, with a new "edits and overdubs" revision by Sacred Rhythm boss Joaquin Joe Claussell on the flip. The latter builds on the soaring, grandiose power, swirling strings and urgent group vocals of Moulton's classic version, building from a layered, densely percussive start towards a sweaty conclusion via waves of instrumentation, swirling synthesized strings and everything-but-the-kitchen sink production. It is, then, a thoroughly brilliant rework of a classic - if under-celebrated - disco cut.

Five years on from the release of his first solo single, Claus Voightmann is finally ready to deliver his debut album, an expansive double album that pushes his tactile and atmospheric sound into previously unexplored avenues. Of course, there's plenty of floor friendly material in his now trademark style - see the deep and rolling, tech-tinged shuffle of "Mr Mojo Rising", the rising and falling synthesizer lines of spacey tech-house cuts "Straight No Chaser" and "Particularly Wayward", as well as a raw remix of Ibrahim Afa and the boisterous "Perpetuity" - but also a slew of impeccable ambient soundscapes that register among the album's most memorable tracks.

INTRODUCING: The Shadracks, a three-piece jangle straight out of south eastern England. Harmonic distortion and an upbeat take on swinging, garage rock is how the band are making their name, with the surf rock of "Corinna" a highlight alongside the rolling drums and punky vocals of "Every Inch Of My Mind". With the band still full of a youthful, romantic angst, their debut opus sees the troupe scramble together a playful melee of amped guitars and loose drums to fit that perfect vintage feel.

If there's a duo who know how to come up with a name, it's Holydrug Couple, and Hyper Super Mega couldn't sound any better. There's a lot of oohing and cooing on this LP, however it's the group's timid and sweet touches that hit home most. There's a friendliness to the music, with "Forever End" the album's undeniable hit number, with echoes of Elton John piano rock (you'll hear it) there to be heard in "Ikebana Telephone Line" too. Further in you'll find the more dreamy, shoegaze-y and 90's pop colours of "I'll Only Say This" and "Easy", to the change in mood that is the urban, danse noir effort "Lucifer's Coat". Take in some more lo-fi synth of "Western Shade" and there's no playing down this album is what Holydrug Couple say it is.

The skittering drums, sweet nihilistic croons and chiming melodies of Dublin three-piece Villagers make it six albums in eight years. It clearly remains, then, that they are sweethearts of the label, and they squeeze everyone's most trusted vital organ once more by romancing our chest plates with numbers like "Again" and "Fool". There are more experimental dream sequences to be heard in tracks like "Love Came With All That It Brings" though, but back on track you'll find the more feel good in "Real Go-Getter" and "Ada". But really it's about the gnarly synth jam that is this album's title track.