Back catalogue: Experimental/Electronic

Review: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Joe Goddard, two luminaries of electronic music, have united to create Neptunes, a celestial collaboration that defies genre boundaries. This EP is a sonic journey through a vast, ethereal soundscape, where intricate synth work, pulsating rhythms, and haunting melodies converge to create a truly immersive experience. The title track, 'Neptunes', is a mesmerizing exploration of the namesake planet. Smith's modular wizardry conjures up a cosmic soundscape, while Goddard's rhythmic prowess provides a driving force. The result is a track that is both hypnotic and invigorating. Throughout the EP, Smith and Goddard showcase their individual talents while seamlessly blending them into a cohesive whole. Smith's ability to extract haunting melodies from her modular synthesisers is matched only by Goddard's knack for crafting infectious grooves. Together, they create a sonic tapestry that is as beautiful as it is complex. A testament to the power of collaboration and a record that rewards repeated listens, revealing new layers of depth and complexity with each play.

Review: In 2020, Nicolas Jaar composed Piedras for a concert at the Museum of Memory & Human Rights in Santiago, Chile, which honoured the many victims of Pinochet's dictatorship. The project evolved into Archivos de Radio Piedras, a radio play shared via Telegram between 2022 and 2023. In 2024, it became a 24-channel installation at MUAC in Mexico City. The music, partly attributed to the fictional Salinas Hasbun, explores themes of memory and identity. The play unfolds in a future with an internet blackout, where characters use DIY radio to mourn Hasbun's disappearance, with the unstable radio frequencies symbolising shifting truths. Now served up on vinyl, the album is a blend of ambient, found sounds, experimental rhythms and eerie synth design.

Review: Berlin-based producer JakoJako aka Sibel Kocer's debut album for Mute - after appearances on a stream of leading German labels including Tresor - is described as a distillation of ideas that she's been exploring for many years. In reality, that means working on a minimal set up, away from the computer while restricting herself to just a Eurorack and a Waldorf Iridium Core, in the search for spontaneity. She found it, for sure, as the results - recorded in Vietnam during the Tet Lunar New Year celebrations - are a feast of glistening arpeggios and lush modular textures, stripped back but full of expression and personality. 'Ghi-ta' will appeal to fans of vintage perky ambient productions the Pete Namlook/Mixmaster Morris collaboration Dreamfish, while 'Gio' has a touch of Tangerine Dream's classic widescreen sensibilities. Bold tones, bold debut.

Review: Allegedly one of the first ever records to make use of sampling, Jean-Michel Jarre's seventh album Zoolook brought with it a unique vibe, one well worth looking back on in light of its latest Sony reissue. In terms of notoriety, Zoolook pales in comparison to the electronic music crackerjack's 1976-8 heyday, which saw to both Oxygene and Equinoxe; but this is understandable, as Zoolook came much later, and sacrificed the grandiose mood of otherworldly space-awe for an eerier menage of playful factory hits and cacophonous dance hubbubery. Perhaps this sound - a jankier one that grew in popularity in the mid 80s - was driven by Jarre's use of the Fairlight CMI workstation and sampler, an example of a piece of gear that had the power to define an entire sound. We'd venture to say that the titular "Zoolook" is a kind of gaze that, by virtue of us living in a machine society, makes animals of us all.

Review: This is surely one of the most classic electronic albums of all time and an oft-referenced inspiration for countless new generations of electronic music producers. It remains a pioneering masterpiece almost 50 years after its original release in 1976 which is why it now gets reissued once more. The album's six interconnected tracks evoke themes of space, nature and environmental fragility which make it as emotionally stirring as it is sonically innovative. Highlights like 'Oxygene Part IV' showcase Jarre's ability to create timeless, hypnotic rhythms that transcend genres and make this a visionary work demonstrating the enduring power of minimalistic yet deeply atmospheric composition. A true landmark in the history of sound design.

Review: Arriving five years after his seminal Oxygene long player, Jean-Michel Jarre's Les Chants Magnetiques again showcases his mastery of synths and his innovative approach to electronic composition. The album's five tracks weave a tapestry of pulsating rhythms, shimmering melodies and experimental textures that reflect Jarre's fascination with the interplay of nature and technology. 'Magnetic Fields Part II' and its infectious sequencer-driven groove became a standout hit while other parts explore ambient and avant-garde realms. Looking back now, the album bridges the gap between the cosmic explorations of Oxygene and Equinoxe and the emerging digital soundscapes of the 80s.

Review: Originally released in 1984, this album remains one of the most experimental and groundbreaking albums in electronic music with Jarre's fans including everyone from Jeff Mills to Eno and Depeche Mode's Martin Gore. With its fusion of cutting-edge sampling techniques and rich, multicultural vocal work, the album stands out as a pivotal moment in both Jarre's career and in the history of music production. For its 40th anniversary, the album has been reissued in a remastered edition, with a bonus track, 'Moon Machine', making it an ideal time to revisit its timeless innovation. The album utilizes the Fairlight CMI sampler to manipulate vocal samples from over 25 languages, creating a truly unique soundscape. Tracks like 'Ethnicolor' and 'Diva' exhibit Jarre's use of avant-garde techniques, blending musique concrete influences with electronic textures and vivid, expressive vocals from artists like Laurie Anderson. The album's surreal qualities are further enriched by its diverse use of genres and influencesifrom the haunting 'Ethnicolor 1' to the funky, upbeat groove of 'Zoolookologie'. Though Zoolook diverges from the atmospheric, space-themed sound of Oxygene and Equinoxe, its experimental nature and complex structure push boundaries and make it an essential listen. While some tracks, like 'Woolloomooloo' and 'Blah Blah Kafe', slow the pace, they provide a contrast to the more intense moments, rounding out the album's broad, eclectic emotional range. Ultimately, Zoolook is a landmark in blending technology, culture and sound, and this anniversary edition is a fitting tribute to an album that helped shape the future of electronic music.

Review: The long-awaited Dialogo reissue of a true Italian library music gem, originally released in 1974. Made by renowned pianist and composer Amedeo Tommasi under the alias Jarrell, Industria 2000 is a little-harked avant-garde mantelpiece, fusing hypno-synth excursuses with industrial quizzicalities, presaging the works of John Carpenter and the noise and industrial movements to follow. Now available again in a limited run of just 300 copies, in a faithful replica of the original packaging, it forms part of a broader ecumenism by Dialogo to highlight the Italian arm of RCA's 'Original Cast' series, the imprint through which Industria 2000 was originally released. Long regarded as one of the most forward-thinking experimental library records, Jarrell was able to jerry-rig twelve tracks of mechanised environments and abstract synthesis, and offer a neat intro to Italian library music at that.

Review: In 2005, Jan Jelinek "pitched" his electronica/kosmische vision to the potent collective fan by way of ten ecosystemically-informed, prepared ambient numbers. Spanning Bibio-esque reversy guitar and sloshing exotica, this one existed for an inordinate period as a digital download, in which much time elapsed until now, its 20th anniversary - at which point we hear it available again, arriving for the first time on vinyl. Modelled on the sonic prototypes of his German rock forbears, this early electronica work from Jelinek amounts to a fearsomely intricate revue, expanding on krautrock's organic textures and unremittingly restless feel.

Review: Saint Petersberg-based Kito Jempere has a strong reputation among dance music fans and critics for his ability to deliver incredible house music at an exceptional work rate. But he's also incredible at producing less 4x4, dance floor oriented stuff. Like Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness, the latest addition to his more experimental-downtempo-cinematic oeuvre. Describing this collection as the score to the "movie I've never made but have the soundtrack for", PTCPTC is a beautiful trip into the unknown, bringing together emotional folk, flamenco-jazz, 1980s Balearic and synth wave seemingly inspired by life in coastal locales. It's ambient, it's new age, it's electronic and yet somehow live and organic and none of the above. Ultimately, it's dense with bold ideas and deceptively complex business you'll find it hard to escape from.