One of the best tracks from Photek's 'Ku:Palm' LP appears here backed with a super rugged Beneath remix of 'Oshun'. We've lamented the lack of proper breakbeat torque in recent Photek gear, y'know, how he used to do, so it's a pleasure to hear him delivering the sort of elegantly angular syncopation that made made us fall so bleeding hard for him in the first place, albeit now with an undertow of wide-ass dubstep bass. Flipside, man-of-the-moment Beneath rolls out with a shark-eyed swivel on his take of 'Oshun', also from 'Ku:Palm', collapsing and rebuilding the structures of '06 dubstep, house, jungle and techno with a proper UK flex. Bad lads, both of 'em.

**Upfront Exclusive** Odessa delivers a solid, house-wise solo debut for Shifting Peaks, complimented by dapper remixes from Ossie and Artefact. The original trio of tunes take in escalating piano chords and bumping subs on 'Get Right' and more rugged, tribalist flavour in 'Put You Down' and the hypnotic kinkiness of 'Tell Me'. Remixing, Ossie squares up to bigger rooms with a finely crafted piece of funk'n, soul-burning tech-house, and Artefact holds his end with a darker, grubbier take on 'Tell Me'.

"Noteherder is Chris Parfitt who plays Soprano Sax and shouts. He is also part of improvising trio 4thirtythree also playing flute, keyboards and electronics and is a long time back office organiser and performer with Brighton’s Safehouse experimental music collective. Geoff Reader is McCloud. He shouts and plays synthesisers, field recordings and cheap effects units. Before that he used to run Beast Baseball Records, and is now mostly to be found introducing acts at The Spirit of Gravity night in Brighton wearing an ill-fitting Ginger wig. Bartosz Dylewski is a visual artist… Read more

Canny disco-house epic from NYC's Neurotic Drum Band (John Selway and Elliot Taub). Over the course of an epic, extended A-side NDB tip the tempo gauge from below 100bpm triplet grooves thru kosmiche disco push to a fatty acid New York jack, which Adultnapper duly reduce and fold in to itself with a swinging, moody re-groove with a raw finish reminding of certain DJ Sprinkles moments.Filipsson and Linblad give a chugging Balearic remix, Dirt Crew go smooth and swinging, Sewan Danke gets frisky disco and Escape Art take off into the night sky.

Erik + Fiedel aka MMM ramp up two Kwaito-spiked disco aces on their 6th release together. 'Que Barnaro' is a beast; surgically funky guitar licks laced to pistoning hi-hats and hip-swinging sub hits for proper exothermic reactions. Whip this out at the right time and you've got a ceiling slamming party on your hands, no messing. Flipside, they invert the formula to more reserved, energy-conserving effect with the moody acid motif and clipped keyboard percussions of 'Casio Dub' coming off like Heatsick soundtracking a sticky rave on a ghost ship somewhere in the Bermuda triangle. TIPPED!

*The return of two of the most elusive and influential dancefloor technicians anywhere in the world* As fans of quality dance music from Detroit to Djibouti well know, MMM records are the definitive article, reflecting the last 30 years of electronic discotech music with the ultimate efficiency and guaranteed play-anywhere appeal. 'Nous Somme MMM' is their sophisticated take on rave techno with a scorching lead line and peakin' vibes primed for the most discerning dancers. 'Let's Git It On' follows with a proper house-charged killer, lacing a jacked-off box-beat with noisy warni… Read more

The second infamous twelve in the legendary MMM Series. Penned by Eric "Errorsmith" and Fiedel, this is one of the most fierce, demented, jacking, destroyed and decimated electro 12"s you'll ever hold in your hands...

*One of the greatest dancefloor twelves ever...finally on download formats* Without doubt one of the most definitive dancefloor twelves EVER released - caned time and time again by absolutely anyone who's anyone and a desert island jacking twelve to beat them all. No excuses this time round...

Absolutely crackers new single from MMM, indulging their taste for UK Funky and outernational rhythms to the fullest. Aside from being utterly lethal and undeniably effective, both these tracks are perhaps an unknowing middle finger to those Disco, House and Techno snobs who've turned their dopey noses up at Grimier, soca-synched street-level sounds in recent years (you know who you are, and you can't dance). Anyway, rant o'er, you'll find the amped swagger of 'Dex' on the frontside, a blinding slice of optimised tribalism romping with dubstep-style subs, ear-clipping claps and party-fu… Read more

Four driving, grungy techno tools by the German producer. A-side features a fearsome live mix of 'Drehimpuls' recorded live in Paris and a light-footed, skippier groove called 'Charger'. Flipside, 'Eigenzeit' gets to work with that signature bass heft and 'floor-flaying hi-hats beside a rugged swinger with sweeter melody called 'Isolant'.

'Lilin Dewa' is Loren Nerell's enchanting suite of gamelan manipulations originally issued on the SPK/Lustmord-curated Side Effects label in 1996. It's his followup to the brilliant 'Point Of Arrival' (1986) which was only recently reissued by Forced Nostalgia, and treads in similar footsteps, transforming field recordings of gamelan music from Bali and Java into surreal zones of contemplative electro-acoustic drone blurring the liminal boundary between the real and the hyperreal.We're reminded of certain Threshold HouseBoys Choir recordings and Francisco Lopez location recordings, howeve… Read more

**Disquieting textural abstraction, ghostly avant-pop, repressed industrialism and blown-out folk from Alter's uncategorised, unheimlich duo.** "Sane Men Surround is the second album to emerge from Southend-on-Sea's Liberez. Following on from their 2011 debut, The Letter, the 9 tracks here continue the groups penchant for savagely EQ percussion, guitar, violin and electronics into abstraction. Tracks like A Warning and My Madness Offends still bear the industrial, almost ritualistic, atmospherics of its predecessor, whilst Nema Te and What's Mine Is Mine introduce a new style of composi… Read more

UTTU's nu playa introduces himself with two lean neo-garage cruisers. 'Late Night Trip' steps out red-eyed and hungry with gloopy bassline garage warp and a sort of Zomby-esque melodic cheek inna technoid style. 'Need For Speed' pumps belly punching kicks and niche bassline under 'lectroid synth skies for the shades-on-at-midnight crew.

Ramp's Brainmath sublabel re-emerges with a soul-smudged house bumper from Canuck producer, Kevin McPhee. Whilst his recent issues on Hypercolour and WNCL have expressed a more robust, jacking sound, this is McPhee at his most yearning, slow-burning, riding slompy kicks and fat square bass with a heartaching vocal sample and keys.

Dread halfstep mission from Osiris fam. Kaiju heads up his third 12" for the label with the murky slaughter of 'Hunter', placing Flowdan in the middle of a space-bending LFO bass warp and droning synths; 'Snagglepuss' lurches forward with chest quaking sub pressure and noirish sound design.

Very tasty and classic New York garage house, reissued for the good of the dance. Jovonn's 'Stump It' EP was originally released in 1994 and has been the preserve of those in the know - Theo Parrish, Ricardo Villalobos, Efdemin to name but a few - over the years since. It's headed up by the irresistible sub-driven groove and breathy pads of 'Garage Shelter' and only gets heavier on the swinging vocal jam 'Love Destination', or the febrile polyrhythmic romp 'Tribal'. For modern context, Tuff City Kids remix 'Garage Shelter' with a more kinetic, intense re-arrangement. Sack your Bicep records and cop a load of this lot; your 'floor will thank you!

**RIYL James Blake, Jamie Woon, Dean Blunt** "Fire In My Hands is Jono McCleery's return single, a collaboration with electronic producer Royce Wood Junior. It's a stunning evolution in McCleerys sound; a rapid fire, skittering drum beat and blues piano driving an fathoms-deep vocal. Its musing delivery belies the developing sense of resolve, and the song leaves the listener's mood curiously but profoundly improved. The package is completed with "Painted Blue", a timeless soul number with a swaying, elemental melody and a harmonised chorus that would have the most cele… Read more

Live album capturing Jaga Jazzist on stage at The Barbican with the Britten Sinfonia. The goateed attack of opener ‘One-Armed Bandit’ is such that you could be listening to Nucleus or Centipede or one of those woolly 70s British fusion groups, with due prominence given to proggy electric guitar, fuzz bass, flutes and vibes. ‘Kitty Wu’ is rather nice, the heavy sway of the strings and a punchy, four-to-the-floor rhythm framing bright, bolshy brass and dreamy, Neil Ardley-in-space synth lines. Effortlessly shifting and shimmying from modal jazz introspection to thunderous sp… Read more

Virulent ravers from Portugal's One Eyed Jacks stable - tipped by none-other-than 'Energy Flash' scribe, Simon Reynolds. 'Dopamine Rush' fires mentasms, Todd Terry stabs and sirens from the hip in a tight-jawed framework of brittle, grimy syncopation; 'Tundra Riddim' comes off like a rude-rmentary Wiley play; 'Dread' leans in with crispy breaks locked-on a hardcore '92 tilt; 'Logistics' juggles dark 'n light rave tropes in cheeky form reminding of something you'd find on modern day UTTU or vintage old-skool Grooverider set. Bangers to lose your bananas with.

Slamming, spaced-out and frantic Chicago house missions by the analogue convert, Ike Release. After a split with Hakim Murphy as Innerspace Halflife this is his first solo outing for M>O>S and duly sets out a unique sound combining rugged old-skool drum machine and psychedelic, sci-fi-esque melodies with the nasty pound of 'Cosmic Supreme' and the acid jerk of 'Spells', but the big highlight is a staggered jacker called 'Westview (Extended Version)' smothered in gorgeous Detroit pads and riding big-boned square bass line.

UK house player Huxley heads up the latest Rinse 12" with three tracks straddling garage, deep house and 2-step. A-side is a proggier, acid-touched houser 'Lost Lost' revolving requisite downpitched vocal, warm pads and shifty hi-hats; B-side he turns out smudged soul vox and elastic bass swing inna UK take on US styles, and 'Walk 2 U' likewise does a classic UK thing with Tod Edwards-style cut up vox with the feminine pressure of classic 2-step.

Trippy, funked-up avant-house groovers from a talented young Italian producer. Proceeding an album and 12"s for Bosconi Records, Herva's 'What I Feel' EP cuts loose with a mad blend of broken beats, techno and frustrated funk, flipping from almost Footwork-like hypersoul motion on 'Paranoid Thinking' to the squashed house stepper 'Crocodile Tears' and onto the wild, whirring technoid futurism of 'Gorilla's Machine' and a Detroit booty-whipper 'Snow And Clouds'. RIYL AMUS, Nubian Mindz, Pepe Braddock, Anthony Shakir.

Gosh, it must be that time of year again! Panorama Bar have enlisted Steffi to select and blend their latest mix CD and here's the requisite sampler 12". She's got an exclusive Fred P cut, 'Project 05' spreading deepest rolling and shuffling New York house vibes on the top; Juju & Jordash wriggle acid bass and swinging industro-house drums inna dubwise style on 'A Stab In The Dark' beside Big Strick's swinging, polyrhythmic Detroit play 'Hayday' on the flip. Cool.

Matt Mondanile ov Ducktails turns up alongside Spencer "Skaters" Clark as Egyptian Sports Network on the former's New Images label. 'Interstitial Luxor' spells out the futuristic tale of a Zero Gravity Sports network soundtrack being transmitted from the Olympic Space Station via satellite feed over five tracks of lushest microtonal melody, prismatic polyrhythmic flux and radiophonic freakery sounding like Bruce Haack's wildest dreams, or something that a future Jonny Trunk might dig out in fifty years time. A total charmer.

Drexciyan DJ and shadowy Detroit producer Sherard Ingram aka DJ Stingray (Urban Tribe) keeps the faith strong on three aqua-electroid killers for UTTU. Outside a select handful of artists, there's very few producers who even brave this style any more, and it's fair to say that Stingray has made it his own. A-side he unleashes the submerged funk of 'Solitude', percolating hydraulic bass and waves of acidic electro current around an alluring, siren-like vocal sample, all arranged with his remarkable signature fluidity. B-side 'Cryptic' tucks into a more aqua-dynamic 4/4 formation laye… Read more

No Hats No Hoods pull up DJ Eastwood's classic instrumental grime riddim, now backed with Spooky and Untold remixes. Originally issued in 2003 on white label, the swift 8-bar flex of 'U Ain't Ready' was a staple at Sidewinder and Eskimo dances, and even attracted the attention of John Peel, earning Eastwood a slot on his legendary BBC Radio 1 show. Untold barrels out a lethal 2010 remix chopped up with signature hyperrhythmic intricacy, but if we're picking favourites then the droning bass and hard-jawed pressure of Spooky's has our money. Top shottas all round.

Review to follow shortly…

Review to follow shortly…

Wonderful '80s pop tributes plucked out by Matt Mondanile for his impeccable New Images label. You could have told us that yung LA resident, Devon Williams released these two track on LTM thirty years ago and we'd be none the wiser.

Deerhunter return with their seventh (or thereabouts) studio album; it’s obviously manna from heaven for their many devotees, but will it win them any new converts? It actually might, you know: to their credit, they’ve moved away from the washed-out, colour-bled shoegaze sound that's defined them for most of their career; Bradford Cox’s songs are now more robust, and the performances - bolstered by a second guitarist and new bassist - feel full of fight, harder to ignore or forget. The marvellous ‘Neon Junkyard’ and ‘Blue Agent’ sound like White Album-era Beatles dragged through the bushes b… Read more