Breezy, sub-tropical Electro-Hop with a sideways yacht pop spirit from Henry Laufer aka Shlohmo. 'The Way U Do' is a tidy portside burner with whirring 808 triplets and slow, yearning chords etched with a distant, distorted diva wail for sunset gazing, while 'Wen Uuu', takes it below deck with a warmer R&B flavour, and 'Rained the Whole Time' does that smashed-on-red-wine-and-sleeping-pils vibe of James Blake to the letter.

Brainfeeder introduce their 2nd British signing with the highly accomplished 'When You're Gone EP'. Since releasing the 'Many Faces Out Of Focus' EP on Pictures Music last year, Lapalux has rapidly ascended the "one to watch" list, a fact surely warranted by these seven tracks of crystallized R&B/Eletcronic/Pop poised somewhere between James Blake, Flying Lotus and Panda Bear. He's got that killer knack for humanising synthetic sounds, able to imbue the most plastic melodic textures with a warm, fleshly tactility, yet he's equally adept at shaping the most vivid, artificial spaces. A … Read more

RVNG Intl present the long awaited compilation of Blondes' three talked-about 12" singles, including two exclusive bonus songs, and backed with complementary remixes by Andy Stott, Rene Hell, Laurel Halo, SFV Acid and John Roberts, among others. Coming from a decidedly academic and experimental background - they studied studio art and electroacoustic composition at Oberlin College - Sam Haar and Zach Steinman were soon enough seduced and inspired by a stint in Berlin and the ensuing discovery of House and Techno's textural nuance to create a sound which straddled both the dancefloor and more cere… Read more

Highly refined D&B/Electronica from two of the scene's most promising and productive producers. With 'Progression' Synkro effortlessly slips back into the 170bpm bracket following two House tempo 12"s for MoM and Stryax. The drum programming is lean, but subtly ornate, there to punctuate and accentuate the uplifting glide of his minimal yet lush arrangement. Flipside, longtime spar Indigo adds some rougher, ruder detail with taut, spasmodic Jungle breaks and a darker, keener atmospheric edge, constantly feeling like a storm is just about to break.

Nexx level R&B/House models from man-of-the-moment Jacques Greene on his freshly crimped Vase label. If 2011 was a strong debut year for the Montreal-based producer - his tracks were played and loved by everyone from Bok Bok to Pete Tong - by the sounds of 'Concealer' he's set to own it in 2012. 'Flatline' slinks up like some late night production from The Dream; cashmere-lined bass bump and champagne-bubble 808s hold a delectable vocal from LuckyMe's Ango, whereas 'These Days' tips the bass a little dirtier, begging you to grynd and slyde in his hyper-lush dancefloor dreamspace. Deeper … Read more

Japanese D&B producer and veteran of LTJ Bukem's Earth imprint turns his hand to Breakstep with smart results. A-side Makoto (Shimizu) brings 'Different Rhythm', a deft slab of amen rollidge underlined by smooth and deep subs ripe for the Broken Beat crew. B-side 'What You Want' is more elated, riding updrafting synth spirals over tucked-in Brokebeat patterns and woozy bass.

Deep Medi unleash a lean, Techno-faced triple LP slab from Japan's Goth Trad. Following in the slipstream of his tremendous 'Airbreaker' 12", 'New Epoch' presents a fluidly contoured, sharply cut sound rooted in the original principles of '05/'06 Dubstep, but evidently anxious to move the style forward with augmented traces of Footwork, driving Techno and Brainfeeder-esque synth funk. It all starts with the highly strung Kafka-esque tension of 'Man in the Maze', before giving way to the Sino-Grimy tones and sleek swagger of 'Walking Together', and the hydraulic rollidge of 'Anti Grid', soundi… Read more

Fluxion presents some of his most diverse work yet, including an exclusive versioning of an unreleased Dennis Brown vocal, and backed with a Thomas Fehlmann remix. The legendary JA vocalist appears on 'No Man Is An Island', paying faithful, respectful tribute to classic Rhythm & Sound styles with skilled finesse, while 'Desert Night' gauges deeper, shuffling Dub House licked with quiet desert guitars, and 'Butiama' steps up into slinky, urging, stepper's House rhythms. Taking Desert Night' Thomas Fehlmann teases out a more sublime late night atmosphere from its languid grooves.

*Fully Remastered* Special stuff from Stephen Hitchell and Rod Modell's cv313 alias, dropping two sturdy but spectral House grooves backed with an epic 22 minute live recording made in "the heart of Detroit". The A-side mixes of 'Seconds To Forever' are made for that non-exclusive club in the clouds, the one where every track is a gaseous anthem which only requires a slow smile of approval. Their original mix is all about strafing bassline movements whose gentle kinetic motions expel intoxicating clouds of dreamy sleep-techno tones for that deliciously anaesthetised suspension… Read more

"...pushing on from the tense atmospherics of previous Scuba material, the single fizzes with claustrophobic bass pressure and menacing narration. Backed by an exclusive non-album cut 'Flash Addict'."

CV313 plumb the depths of Dub House with one of their finest transmission yet. The original version opens a wide soundsphere where viscous, toiling dub bass evaporates into curling, intoxicating FX fumes with a quiet, stoic elegance. The flipside reduction breathes more space between the beats, elongating and accentuating the gaps and crevices with a hushed midnight magic.

100% Silk draft in fresh dancefloor blood from SFV Acid aka one of the most interesting post-whatever producers on the US West Coast. His previous entries for the likes of Post Present Medium have displayed a devilish hand at work, at once collapsing and working within the conventions of acid, house, hiphop and electro with enviably fluid ease. For our $$$, 'Grown' is one of the strongest 100% Silks yet, effortlessly, stylishly strafing from the slowfast beatdown chug of 'JusCid' and the pendulous, Vibert-esque swing of 'Daddy Daycare', onto highly useful jack jobs like 'Wetdevil', the Trax-refere… Read more

Hotly tipped Grime star sparks off a wicked session for Logan Sama's Earth616 label. Up top, 'Circles' brings the party with a cheeky rhythm oscillating between 'ardcore rudeness and bubbly madness, while 'Woah VIP' goes on a funked-up Terror Danjah tip, and 'Gargoyle VIP' keeps it lean an taut for the MCs. 'Air Waves' is our percy, working with tight, slicing edits and bilious brass stabs, then there's also the warped Jon E Cash*-bar styles of 'Overdose' for the DJs. Wicked and bad!

We're back on land this week, searching under rocks for desolate drone, introverted Americana and occult artefacts to while away baltic nights. 'The Story Begins' with Myrmyr's forlorn folk strings and tentative drones, bleeding into 'The Corascene Dog' from Earth's nicotine-stained 'Angels of Darkness, Demons Of Light II', and the blues roots of Nate Young and John Olsen's Stare Case. Meanwhile, Simon Scott surveys abandoned vistas on 'Gamma', and The Shadow Ring vanquish any semblance of hope with the arid 'Nocturnal Middle Rumbles'. Resigned to the fact, Starving W… Read more

Goth Trad on a MAAAD one for Deep Medi!!! The label's Japanese attaché has been relatively quiet over the last year - save for the wicked 'Babylon Fall' double pack - and with his 'New Epoch' 3LP looming, we find him on frightening form here. On A-side 'Airbreaker' he's performing some kind of elaborate Dubstep bondage ritual, tweaking and tying the rhythm with knotty kick stutters and pointillist hi-hat patterns while weaving calligraphic synths and lashing the whole thing with heavy duty sub swells until you're left gasping. But that's nothing compared with the flipside 'Cosmos'. F… Read more

Type mark their 100th release with a reissue of Porter Ricks' essential 'Biokinetics'. Back in 1996, dark ambient pioneer and sound designer Thomas Köner, together with engineer Andy Mellwig, presented the Techno community with one of it's most enduring and definitive albums in the form of 'Biokinetics'. It was the first album release on Basic Channel's Chain Reaction imprint, birthing three 12" singles which expanded and twisted the templates of Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus with an aquatic torque and unique vision, taking the sound to immersive, isolated depths previously unexplo… Read more

Notts/Sheffield producer Timir Goswani aka Timbah comes with roadwise FutuR&Bass chops on this debut release. Making a mellow entrance with the sticky sweet synths and 8-bit spirals of 'Can't Love Without You', 'Eski-Hugz' hits a heat-seeking fusion of Jam City and Visionist vibes, while 'Cuckoo Clock' and the absolutely on-point remix of Walter Ego's 'Level I'm On' deftly chops out a crafty flex somewhere between James Blake and Nguzunguzu. For our 2p, the baddest of the lot is the amped-up VIP of 'Eski-Hugz', but everyone's going to have their own favourite with this guy, innit? Strong EP.

Increasingly dextrous producer Raffertie drops his 2nd EP for Ninja Tune, following the excellent 'Visual Acuity' session. In our books he's one of the label's brightest electronic talents, consistently forging his own identity with a keen sense of soul and broad scope. We can hear this from the off in the title track, a frayed and knotted piece of futurist electro-soul with crisp yet elastic contours and appreciation of spatial dynamics. However, the ten minute 'One Track Mind' takes a more epic route, tripping on transfixing kosmische vectors and technoid bass tipped for any fans of the B… Read more

Styling Funky, reinforced house and bruk techno excursions from Doc Daneeka and Benjamin Damage, new on Modeselektor's 50Weapons label. It's a moody affair, more so than you'd expect, and beautifully produced - opener 'No One' sets a high standard, a vapourish, Burial-esque intro giving way to a tough, foursquare house groove, coming over like Maurizio with a Croydon makeover. Abigail Wyles' impressive vocals feature on three tracks, notably the spectral breakbeat techno cut 'Battleships' and the ambient centrepiece 'Halo'. Still, the threads of melancholy and sophistication… Read more

Witness the evolution of Bullion's idiosyncratic oeuvre on his latest, and greatest release for R&S. From his earliest 'Pet Sounds: In The Key Of Dee' through to that sideways remix of Model 500, there was never any doubt that the guy was a hugely distinguished talent, but we really didn't see this one coming. These are his most pop-sharp, imaginative offerings to date, sounding like John Maus in a psychedelic tizzy with the smudged-out dreampop of 'Say Arr Ee', or concocting some kinda Balearic minimal-wave-funk hallucination with 'What Do You Know'. Hit the samples and prepare to be impressed. Recommended!

Rrose presents another deep tripping episode of mottled, murky darkside Techno. A-side 'With All Faces Bleached Out' stoically channels sewer ambience over lurching subbass and steady bleeps in a unique style reserved for imaginative DJs and home appreciation alike. Flipside 'Worn/Scarred' refuses to resolve the rhythm in any conventional sense, arranging offset, discombobulated ketamine patterns with into a sludgy descent, while 'White/Drip' pensively precipitates Sähko-esque bleeps rendered with infinite reverbs. Ace.

Dusted, jazz-mellowed instrumental hiphop 'tronica from the Ghostly stable. With typically acute attention to detail, Shigeto's 'Lineage' offers eight tracks of deftly woven percussions, lush synths and gauzy, layered texture recalling the likes of Four Tet, Shlohmo, or Dorian Concept.

ASC presents some of his most minimal, brooding, and spaced-out productions on the 'TMA-1' EP. The title track sets the flex with flickering steppers percussion synched to half-heard subs and ghostly abandoned space station ambience while 'Aqualoop' sinks back into supremely spacious ambience, all droning reese bass and misty, fleeting melodies. Flipside 'Esper' rides a crooked electro rhythm, something like faded version of the sci-fi sounds on those two Darkestral aces that slipped out late 2011, and 'Sarang' drifts across muted but tangled, futurist D&B rhythms in ambient hyperspace.

Kompakt's annual ambient round-up lands with lovely offerings from Wolfgang Voigt & Jörg Burger's new project, Mohn, plus Superpitcher, Magazine, Marsen Jules, Simon Scott and BVDub among others. The Mohn track 'Manifesto' opens proceedings with an exercise in sublimely opiated but grungy electronics; cloud formations of padded, Gas-like textures circulate the soundsphere with an unhurried and somnambulant grace, cleansing the palette for the tantalising melody of Superpitcher's 'Jackson'. Further in, Cologne's Magazine collective deliver an album highlight with the smooth harmon… Read more

Following their Boka stonker, Killawatt and Ipman step onto the deadly Box Clever label. Killawatt's on a ruffed-up and dextrous tribal tip with 'Mantra', under the spell of darting, agile syncopation with a stinging electro finish. Flipside is a dual effort, deploying a liberal rip of Demdike Stare's 'Hashashin Chant' in wicked style on a slicing, scything piece of 140bpm junglist rollidge. This is a baad, yu hear?!

**One of the most compelling outings on NNF yet. Limited edition of 500 copies with insert** Cuticle's 100% Silk 12" was surely one of 2011's most beguiling outer-disco episodes. Making the short step to Not Not Fun for their solo debut proper, Cuticle unearth 'Mother Rhythm Earth Memory, a glowing space-dance-pop soul, deploying vocoder and more warped, sickly synths for an even odder follow-up experience. From the melancholy, moonlit robo-ballad intro comes the slinky but malfunctioning House groove 'Parallel' and the water-logged Boogie glyde of 'Liquid Crystal Drink (Pour … Read more