Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Marvin Dash and Lowtec combine to serve up some house grooves here that perfectly embody the Workshop sound. They are lovably loose-limbed, dusty and ramshackle, and almost feel as if they may fall apart at any given moment, but that is the joy of them. Instead, they keep you locked amongst rickety drums, frayed pads and imperfect little vocal hooks that bring the soul. 'Track 1' does that with a hazy feel, 'Track 2' is more one out with a dubby undercurrent and sustained keys and 'Track 3' brings little more prickle and drive, like a super raw Omar-S track. 'Track 4' is all about the prying, bulbous bassline that unfurls with a mind of its own beneath DIY percussive sounds.

Review: Island Beats welcome the return of Dani Labb for his second release 'Inclementia', converging sonic memory and dystopian fiction: the DJ and producer from Rio Negra culls his inspirations from the the many grim realms glimpsed in the video games that defined his youth, daubing a claustrophobic, hard-acid breaks pixel painting. Though the game realms aren't named, we're hearing hellish sonic level design in this one, be that in the Half Life security breach voices of 'Locked Away' or the dungeon crawling Doom acid of 'Hijack'.

Review: Eliot Lipp's latest is a classy melange of breakbeats, shimmering guitar samples and his signature Korg MS-20 synth work. First cut 'Kona' opens with a punchy but dubby rhythm before easing into a breezy, sun-soaked groove that evokes the vibe of a sunset drive or a chilled beach session. Lipp masterfully blends retro analog warmth with clean, modern production as he twists knobs and filters the Korn leads into cosmic rays that feel both nostalgic and fresh. 'Silver Bass' is perfect for summer soundtracking-whether you're coasting down the highway or dancing under the open sky, it's a deeply feel-good jam built for golden hour moments.

Review: As you can tell from the title of this ongoing series, System Error likes to serve up only 100% party bombs. The third volume lives up to that once more with Parchi Pubblici kicking off with the acid-laced bumps of 'Perfect Vacuum2Disco' complete with zippy synths and snappy percussion. Lanzieri's 'Twisted Tango' hits just as hard with an electro-techno fusion that rides on psychedelic synth loops with jacked-up drums. Raku's 'Valle Dei Templi' has a more pared-back sound with a menacing and rubbery low end and creeping synths that keep you on edge. Phill Prince's 'Indigo' shuts down with something tripped out and retro with 90s techno vibes colouring the drums.

Review: Netherlands techno titan Planet Rhythm goes full percussive gas giant on their latest V/A, 'Friction', a motorsport motivator full of accelerometric elan - one of several V/As to grace their revving catalogue in recent times. Ramon Tapia leads the motorcade with 'Friction', a stabbing aerator full of overtop claps and rims, while Louis Lp's 'Radioactivity' unsettles with its seething high ringing and affectively isolated chord-stab-melody. Deas' 'Hard Dreams' nods to the real, unshakeably material core of dreams, with its rancorous full-tone acids, while Ramon Topia closes with 'Fear', a restless, chord-throttling, hard trancey, speed demonic rally racer.

Review: Dutchman Danny Wolfers aka Legowelt is one of the most prolific artists in the game. He has several aliases which all explore ambient, synth, house and techno, but this is his most well-known. Synths Below Sea Level is another singular long player packed with his signature machine-made sounds and vintage synth textures. There are intergalactic acid odysseys like 'A1200 The Valley Energy', brilliantly lo-fi deep house mediations like 'Maybe You See Them Fly' with melodies so meaningful they bring a tear to your eye and forward-thinking cosmic techno bangers like 'MKS100 CZ Reference Pod 9' which bend space and time. Another gem with artwork by the man himself.

Review: Next up on AD93 is the debut collab between singer-songwriter Marlene Ribeiro (of drone-psychedelic band GNOD) and electronic producer Shackleton, together masquerading as Light Space Modulator. A ghost-tropical ramble through what can only be described as a deterritorial comedown forest, The Rising Wave amounts to a floral, melty eight-tracker, easing up on concept in favour of a loop-breaking, mangrovey musical mood. The improv psycho-echoes of GNOD are heard in full force here - with lead shocker 'These Things' provides an especially depth-swelling burier bass down below - but Shackleton's long-honed dubstep abstractions serve to focus the mix, keeping things as beatmatchable as they need be open-ended.

Review: For over 20 years, Clay Emerson and Ian Pullman aka Loess have quietly built a reputation for crafting intricate, deeply atmospheric electronica and Battens, their fifth album on Califonrian label n5MD, sees them refining their signature aestheticistill grayscale and shadowy, but now imbued with a subtle warmth. The Opener 'Strake' features layered static hums and a slow, hypnotic beat that cycles like waves against a submerged structure. 'Halyard' introduces brittle textures and crisp rhythms, evoking wind-swept landscapes. 'Crowhurst' builds tension with submerged chords and fractured percussion. The haunting 'Koepcke' carries a sense of disorientation and search for stability, while 'Endoctamb' recalls Chain Reaction's most introspective moments, yet with a looser, more organic quality. Closing with 'Rime', Battens embraces silence, with glacial melodies fading into the ether. Throughout, the duo masterfully manipulates sound and space, allowing moments of stillness to breathe between pulsing rhythms and submerged harmonies. There's an undeniable human element in how these tracks moveilike the slow, inevitable shift of nature itself. More than just an exercise in sound design, Battens is a transportive experience, cold yet comforting, stark yet alive recording.