Electro charts

Review: Astonishingly, GRIT is Luke Vibert's 18th album under his given name (he's released many more as under other aliases such as Wagon Christ, Kerrier District and Amen Andrews), though his first for a couple of years. It's a predictably fun, TB-303 heavy affair, with the prolific Cornishman giddily sprinting through rubbery acid-electro ('Surrounded By Neighbours'), deep acid wooziness ('Decay Hole'), thrillingly wayward machine funk ('Partron'), subdued, bass-heavy swingers (the vaguely Wagon Christ-ish 'Gas Legs'), surging jack tracks (the breathless title track), jaunty house retro-futurism ('Swingeing Cuts'), Kerrier District-goes-acid insanity ('Disco Derriere'), hard-to-pigeonhole madness ('Screwfix Typeface'), and much more besides. A must-check for lovers of trippy acid lines and sweaty, loose-limbed beats.

Review: Exit Planet Earth continues its exploration of the world of electro universe with an expansive, extended six track EP, featuring The Advent x Zein Ferreira, DeFeKT, London Modular Alliance, Konertymi and Zobol. The Advent, whose weekly Gardening Club residency in the mid-90s helped to drag electro out of the realms of the retro and back into the future, team up with Zein Ferreira for a Kraftwerk-on-speed extended mix of 'CarpeDiem', before London Modular Alliance's more moderately paced but still squiggle and bleep laced 'Lump of Coal' plus a 'beats' breakdown for the DJs. The B-side brings us the acid-powered 'Pulssi' by Konerytmi, the bouncy, breakdance-friendly 'Radar' by DeFeKT, and the relatively pure, optimistic sonics of Zobol's 'Data Wars'. Thumbs up all round.

Review: Trickstery braindancer Luke Vibert lays down his next album via De:tuned Records, following prior releases on the imprint such as 'Arcadia'. Refusing to opt for hypey trends, Vibert stays true to his craft on 'Machine Funk', sticking to cute electro, winding melodies and a light-hearted sense of humour. Packed with playful puns for track titles and music spanning everything from electronic reimaginings of helter skelters to funny spoonerisms, the 808 and 303 ring most true here. Whirly FM synthesis pokes through on tracks like 'Juxtafication' and 'Moderneers Modernize', while even a rare Vibert footwork bit shows up on 'Taming Of The View'.

Review: Aside from the founding fathers of acid house - DJ Pierre in particular - few producers can make a Roland TB-303 sing quite like Luke Vibert. That much has been obvious for decades but should further proof of Vibert's '303' mastery be needed, 'Machine Funk' provides it. An exemplary exploration of 'acid' as an art-form that puts the distinctively twisted, mind-altering sounds of the legendary bass synthesiser front and centre, the 11-track set skips between breathless, sub-heavy, bongo-laced monsters ('Taming of the View'), slo-mo IDM ('Lucon Acid'), dreamy mid-tempo house ('Nonce Tarter'), acid-disco of the sort associated with Vibert's Kerrier District project ('Juxtafication'), and plenty of punchy, suitably psychedelic electro jams.