New releases today: All genres

Review: Chilean-born, Bristol-based Shanti Celeste has always brought a unique colour and emotion to her often bass-heavy sounds. She's a party-starting DJ, too, but delves into whole new realms with her wonderful sophomore full-length. Romance sees her exploring themes of love and friendship through shimmering pop textures and emotionally resonant songwriting. Her vocals take centre stage for the first time and lead single 'Thinking About You' is a heartfelt tribute to a late friend with a glowing groove and airy falsetto. Crafted between Bristol and London, the album features collaborations with Batu and harpist Miriam Adefris, whose delicate touch enhances its celestial tone and following last summer's acclaimed 'Ice Cream Dream Boy,' Romance is a luminous return and smart evolution.

Review: Details - for now, anyway - about Respite remain shrouded in mystery, but this is the second release on their own label. It's a quietly profound exploration of minimal to kick off with as 'Track 1' layers up subterranean kicks with wispy melodic curlicues that get you in a dream state. 'Track 2' flips the script with bulky kicks that are in your face and softened by more swirling ambient pads. 'Track 3' is pure late night sub submersion coated in vocals crackle, dust and static that feels somehow intense despite being such a sparse sound. 'Track 4' allows some more light-emitting and radiant synths to cut through the murky atmospheres and it has a moving, uplifting effect.

Review: The COVID era amused many artists with its desolate streets and locked-down excesses of time, but few artists ran with its associated concepts such that they named themselves after one if its nanny state cornerstones. Whomever they are in real life, Track & Trace (maybe they're a duo, or maybe not?) join the Danish NES crew (the label project of one DJ Popup) for an exquisite mid-twents take on deep house and experimental sonic Aquarii. 'Question' deploys deep Balearic whispers and forgotten, Akai-esque voxsyn highs, and 'Spatial Awareness' goes in on synth replica pan pipes and bruk shades. One of many great new aquasonic additions to an already self-outdoing label.

Review: Tony Price's new album on Maximum Exposure delivers eight raw, no-nonsense house tracks packed with attitude, all of them recorded swiftly in his Toronto studio to capture the energy of the moment. The album - a dancefloor-focused follow-up to his jazzy Requiem for the Ontario Science Centre - is a fierce homage to Chicago house so it collides slamming drum machines, sharp synths and radioactive funk into new forms that hark back to everything from Z-Factor, Prince and WBMX to Ron Hardy. Street Theatre channels midnight energy with primal intensity that adds up to a truly ecstatic statement.

Review: For the latest missive on their reissue focused Rezpektiva imprint, Parisian label KMA60 takes us back to 1997 and the sole release from Bert Boon and Jaco Van Rijswijk as N.O.T, 'The Sound'. Flipping the order of the '97 12", this edition begins with the pair's original mix - a warm, colourful slab of purist, UK style early tech-house of the type most associated with Pantone-obsessed producers Circulation. On the flip-side opening 'Nice & Tide Mix', the Belgian duo opt for a chunkier and more bass-heavy late 90s deep house sound - all restless keyboard stabs, sampled house beats, effects-laden vocal snippets and winding acid lines - while the 'Dream Mix' is a bold, heavy and lightly psychedelic techno reinterpretation.

Review: Originally tucked away on a 2020 12", Quiroga's 'Snaporaz' EP gets the treatment it always deserved with this expanded, four-track edition from Balearic archivists Archeo. Based in Naples, Quiroga stretches his original into a languid, Rhodes-soaked jazz-house glide on the A1ifull of crackling percussion, soft-focus pads and a bubbling low end that carries the melodic line into increasingly heady territory. A loose hand drum finale seals it with flair. 'Escorpiao' on A2 is subtler but no less vibrant, a slick fusion jam where keytar and cowbell meet over a featherlight grooveibalancing restraint and virtuosity in equal measure. The B-side belongs to Rome's Francesco de Bellis, appearing under his L.U.C.A. alias. Known for his Edizioni Mondo material, he warps 'Snaporaz' into a dreamlike new age dancer, slowing the tempo and steeping it in hazy atmospheres and woozy melodies. His 'Quirky Beat' version strips it further, letting skeletal drum edits carry the mood alone. Bridging Neapolitan warmth and Roman oddball finesse, this is a limited edition reissue that more than earns its second life.