Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Voice Notes is a new imprint run by London underground veteran Toby Tobias with Alphonse. A five track various artist EP, Voice Notes 002 is a time-honoured memorial for its sister label London Housing Trust, that they shut down a few years ago after 10 releases. Featuring tracks by label boss Tobias who delivers some emotive electro on 'Streets Of Gold', his evil twin Alphonse on the UK flava of 'Rujac', plus introducing Dance with the dub techno deconstruction of 'Amber', Rodney Bennett with the classic Stateside deep house of 'Palm Sunday' and Pyramids of Space with the downbeat IDM journey 'Quantis'.

Review: Passenger have embarked on a limited edition run of instrumental 10" releases. These will be issued in strictly low quantity for the DJs who prefer their tracks without vocals. First, we strip down the first two tracks from the Teamplayers series which did global damage on original release. Grab them while you can because there will never be another chance.

Review: It was a year ago that the much anticipated Aquasky "Teamplayers" album was released and here is the final installment of remixed, revamped and rejigged tunes, released on the Passenger label.. 'Bring It On Down' features Aquasky loosening up the bassline of the original, slapping in a nasty new vocal and giving it a heavy electro funk work out. Also, Baobinga goes on a solo run with a party vibe meets dubstep feel.

Review: A couple of years back, the revitalised Hooj Choons label released an album of orchestra-sporting covers of classic dance cuts of the 1990s under the HEO: Hooj Ensemble Orchestra tag, then got rave revivalists Borai and Denham Audio to remix their new version of trance classic 'Cafe Del Mar'. Here those mixes - a frankly filthy, bass-propelled 'Rave Booty' mix and a more acid-flecked, grandiose breakdown-sporting 'Pluck Dub' - finally make it onto wax, alongside the Club Glow duo's similarly previously digital-only reworks of Transformer 2's early 90s 'Hooj' classic 'Fruit of Love'. More tactile and loved up, with tactile bass, pleasing pianos and glassy-eyed vocal snippets, the pair's 'Redux' mix is simply sublime, while Borai's solo dub is a deliciously dreamy, rush-inducing affair that sounds like a future rave classic.

Review: Mental health charity label Serenity keeps it sophisticated with its sixth outing and once again donates all proceeds to charity this time Young Minds. It is underground house mainstay and DiY Discs legend Nail who steps up first with a much more breezy and balmy sound than you would expect but it sure is lush. 'Pad On' slips into his more usual and driving house sound but with swirling pads up top for summery refinement. Trixie, Connor Male & Thoma Bulwer then get deep and late night with their punchy 'Impromptune' while Trixie's solo cut 'restless sculptures' is a jacked-up and percussive number that leans into techno.

Review: The correctly titled All Killer No Filler series from the Memphis/Monevideo label is back with a second instalment to back up the fine first outing. This effective various artists release kicks off with Elias Sternin's 'Loop Hole' which is a warm, fleshy techno kicker backed up by Stonem's more lithe and broken beat workout, 'Festichola', which brings some retro 90s synth sounds and plenty of colour. Alfalfa's 'Rising Down' is the flipside opener and is a turbocharged retro-future tech sound with cyborg energy. Last of all is a deeper, slower, heavier sound from Two Phase U with the pensive 'You Are'.

Review: After some wicked EPs by Yosh, Etch and Tom Jarmey, here is some proper underground UK flavour courtesy of Burnski's Vivid imprint - a new sub label of Constant Sound. The latest one this week is by the enigmatic Tamoshi. On the A side, we have the snarling minimalist roller called 'The System' which is quite reminiscent of early DJ Krust. Over on the flip, hear a convincingly old school junglist stepper, the fittingly titled 'Darkside' that goes all the way back to '95. One for the heads.

Review: Planet Trip returns with its twelfth release which is by Tempo Temple aka label staples Caravan & Lord Safari, with a heavy 12' of elevated machine jams and dancefloor ready heaters. It begins with the celestial acid of 'Spell' followed by the deep and tunnelling chugger 'Enter The Temple' (Outstanding Invoice mix). On the flip, venture deep into the exotic on 'Days Of Chandra', be further entranced on 'Nights Of Chandra' before the break of dawn that sets the stage for some sunrise breaks on the Transit State remix of the A1 track.

Review: Dutchman Tifra is given the reins for the second release on the Dutch label Proxy and does great job of taking inspiration from 90s rave sounds and weaving them carefully into his own futuristic grooves with a tech house and minimal aesthetic. Bold bass and sleek rhythms define these cuts from the slick and spaced out sounds of 'Peninsula' to the warped and pulsing sounds of 'The Algorythm' and broken beat lushness of 'Bio Lab.' Also on the B side, Local Group bring a distinctive mix of UK breaks, d&b and rave into their arresting remix of 'Bio Lab'.

Review: Israel 'Iz' Gravning aka Tone Scientist hails from the West Coast of the United States. He has a room packed with gear - drum machines, samplers, keyboards - and he sure knows how to jam on each piece if this new EP is anything to go by on Basic Moves. 'Discrepancy' kick off with whirring chords and clacking drums, 'Heartache' is suspenseful and airy drum & bass and 'Pyramids On Mars' dubs and dives on drums that flap like sheets of metal in the wind. There is still time for the deep and sludgy 'Things Get Done' and another jungle work out in 'Esoteric Junglist.'

Review: Tooflie's latest offering dives into the allure of French pop's vocal sensuality that weaves intricate production with global influences. The opener, 'CS VG,' anchors the release with its half-step beat that flows through grainy tonal shifts and rhythms, twisting familiar elements into something new and magnetic. Its dreamy, almost spectral feel is offset by sharper, more defined edges, creating an engaging dynamic that keeps the energy fluid yet charged. As the record progresses, 'BLORN' introduces a more laid-back groove, combining minimalist funk with a sense of melancholic soul, perfect for late-night listening. The flipside continues to surprise, with 'KRLE' and 'JUWRK' fusing breakbeat elements with soft digital textures, offering a distinct and refined energy. Tooflie expertly blends the experimental with the accessible, crafting a release that's both bold and sophisticated, ready to ignite the most discerning dancefloors.

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: Toupaz is a new name on our radar but he'll stay firmly on it after this release on forward-thinking London label, Well Street. The EP kick-starts with a fusion of techno, bass and club rhythms spliced with brilliantly bubbly toms & synths that fall down the face of broken beats. The flip side explores a new take on UK funky with whirring machines and fractured vocals, whilst the closer 'Maudlin Lakitu' features the most experimental and skeletal rhythms of the project.

Review: Earlier in the year, Transmission Towers delivered one of the debut albums of 2024, the vivid and kaleidoscopic Transmission One. Now Sheffield veteran Crooked Man (AKA DJ Parrot, formerly a member of bleep pioneers Sweet Exorcist and chart-bothering 90s eccentrics All Seeing I) has delivered his "crooked transmissions" - radically re-shaped revisions in his distinctive style. On this first 12" in a series, he first reworks 'Everything', turning it into a richly percussive mutant house workout piled high with mind-mangling electronic motifs, reverb-laden drums, punk-funk swagger and echoing vocal snippets. On 'My Shadow (Crooked Shade)', he re-imagines the track as a fuzzy, lo-fi and deliciously dubbed out breakbeat roller - all sweat-soaked drums, booming bass, dreamy pads and trippy vocalisations.

Review: Manchester's Tys is back on the Simpler Times label he runs with Archie Gray, Tay and David with his third EP of cinematic, crisply rendered techno melancholy. If you're into the likes of Jon Hopkins and Four Tet you'll find much to savour in Tys' sound, dealing as it does in lingering emotive composition as the primary focus. There are plenty of deft drums driving the tracks along, but this is delicate music aimed squarely at the heartstrings, whether it's the endearing warble of the lead synth on 'Prism' or the sweetly spiralling shuffle of 'Antalya' you find yourself blissing out to.

Review: FSOL continue to be a prolific force in the sonic universe of their own making. The Environments series they started in 2007 has come to a head with a trio of albums over the past year and this is the last of them. There's a pointed callback at work on Environment 7.003, the cover explicitly referencing seminal early album ISDN, and the album is scattered with subtle nods to those mid 90s glory days. But The Future Sound Of London has always been about pushing forwards and that's precisely what Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain do on this resplendent suite of electronica, sure to satisfy the die hard fans without lazily rehashing old ideas.

Review: TSHA's new album 'Sad Girl' i due for release on September 27th on Ninja Tune i contains her most danceable work to date. This is heard as much on the recent summer single 'Sweet Devotion', featuring Caroline Byrne: the first track she's been confidently able to slot between the New York and Chicago house and techno grooves of her acclaimed DJ sets. This danceability forms the backbone of the entire record, as we witness TSHA welcome in a new era, one in which she ushers in a new vocal order, and continues to carve out a sense of creative independence, rather than seeking approval from her musical peers. From the sizzling progressive future-powerpop of 'Girls' to the string-doused, motoric breaks ballad 'Drive', this is a glisteningly urbane record, one for authentic and sophisticated pop heads.