Since he first emerged in 2008, Madteo has done his best to avoid lazy categorization. It helps, of course, that his records are so hard to pigeonhole. For proof, check out "Dropped Out Sunshine", an album that still manages to surprise at every turn despite regular appearances from many of his now trademark sonic ticks (dub-influenced basslines, lo-fi electronics, heavy sample abuse, nods to hip-hop, techno, deep house, R&B and ambient etc). Highlights come thick and fast throughout, from the intergalactic dub techno pulse of "Reach The Bourgeois But Still Rock The Boulevard" and the wild, redlined 21st century dancehall insanity of "Resident Alien (Broke-n-steppers Reluctant Club Mix)", to the crackling, sample-heavy loop jazz of "6AM" and the doom-laden ambient dub of "Hells Lament".

Mark Forshaw