Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Le Motel, le hotel, les Holiday Inns. Wherever you choose to stay after your raving trip, be sure to pack this wonderful collection from the innovative Belgian craftsman Le Motel. Delivered by the ever-impressive Yuku collective, the whole EP flexes the spectrum in terms of tempos and influences. From the deep ploughman techno swing of 'Raving Crew' to the electroid funk and percussive fire of 'Helix' via the cumbia-inspired and turns of the minimal head-bender '429 Too Many Requests', this is an exceptional journey into the more esoteric side of breaks and club music. Essential.

Review: Japan's cult P-Vine label serves up some dazzling hip hop edits and mash-ups on this raw and ready double 7". The first tune out of the blocks is a brutal drum assault with crashing breaks and edgy rapped vocals from Darthreider on 'Subete Maboroshi.' Then comes a re-sung version of the classic hip hop anthem 'Said Knock You Out' with plenty of extra angst and bile. Flip it over and the angular drums and big stabs continue with Utamaru spitting hard bars over 'I Couldn't Become Robert De Niro.' Last of all comes 'I Need Love' featuring 'Seamonator & Darthereider in unrelenting fashion

Review: While there is barely any solid information as to the identity and ideals behind the Lokal Affair project, this is the sort of material that speaks for itself, and one which has successfully tapped into the current state of affairs in the electronic game. This badass EP lands on the increasingly relevant Boomarm Nation, and carries three killer infusions of cryptic pseudo house and ethnic rhythms for the more open-minded DJ. If there was such a thing as 'small-room tools' then these would be it; watch out for the Alter Echo remix on the flip, too, as it's a rather voracious affair for the dance. Big ol' tip here!

Review: Four years have passed since Jessy Lanza last offered-up an album, the Jeremy Greenspan co-produced leftfield space-pop masterpiece that was "Oh No". While plenty has changed in Lanza's working life since then - she now lives in New York and improvises more with "modular and semi-modular" synthesizers - her commitment to delivering a genuinely unique take on 21st century synth-pop remains. Those versed in the work of the Junior Boys will hear the hand of regular collaborator Jeremy Greenspan in the chords, melodies and synthesizer settings, but "All The Time" is undoubtedly Lanza's vision. Combining her usual glassy-eyed vocals and ear-pleasing, often melancholic synth-pop sounds with the colourful vibrancy of future R&B and grooves that subtly reference all manner of styles (dubstep included), it's most perfect underground pop album you'll hear all year.

Review: Hyperdub continues to stamp its authority down on a wide variety of electronic music, in this case throwing the light, bouncing club-ready sounds of Canada's Jessy Lanza into the mix of a back catalogue that touches on everything from ambient to dubstep and footwork. But, while we open on the snare-happy garage-house of 'Don't Leave Me Now', and tracks like 'Drive' also look to the dancefloor, things don't stay there long. 'Don't Cry On My Pillow', for example, is a low stepping piece of alternative electronic soul. 'Big Pink Rose' opts for synth refrains and staccato drums to create a steamy, heady neon r&b brew with added yacht. 'Double Time' deconstructs pop balladry and makes it sound lo-fi yet huge, 'I Hate Myself' seems to take a lead from tropicalia-hued, leftfield electronica.

Review: Jessy Lanza has always been quintessentially Hyperdub. A label helmed by garage, dubstep and bass DJ and producer, and academic music theorist Kode 9, the imprint has relentlessly pushed the kind of dance tracks that are unashamedly direct yet unarguably clever. Beats that acknowledge the delicate balance of fun and accessible with underground and intelligent. 2023's Love Hallucination, Lanza's fourth studio album, only adds to the evidence. It bubbles with pop sensibilities, sing-along worthiness and timeless infectiousness, but does so in an incredibly thoughtful, natural-yet-razor-accurate way. From two-step to slo-mo funk, r&b and steamy electro groove, it presents the kind of songwriter who makes sure chart and radio friendly doesn't always mean throwaway or one dimensional. Infinitely repayable stuff.

Review: Ambient composer and improviser Tom Leclerc shares a series of moments with WILD in which the pair experiment and go off grid in their search for immersive ambient sounds. All of the session for this album on Giraffe Tape sharpened in the same day with a stripped back studio set up featuring minimalist synths and pedals. Both artist's own restive sounds meet in a new world where distant cosmic winds gently blow over pastural chord sequences. There is subtle movement in these tracks, some of which are darker and heavier than others which have more light, hope and joy.

Review: London producer Leeway has cooked up a brilliant album here that suggests he is obsessive about detail and magical about rhythm and groove. His tracks are super tight takes on techno and grime with elements of trance and plenty of bits for the 160 heads to get stuck into. It's one for the heart of the dancefloor or headphones alike - stoner rave for strobe lit settings, paranoid ideas fleshed out into fever dreams and alien lifeforms. It's got a hyper feel, AI feel to it but also plenty of ritualistic dance DNA that has got us mightily impressed. One of the most original albums you'll hear this year.

Review: Lewis and Void take themselves out of their own stylistic realms on this Full-On album in order to explore new and unique collaborative worlds. They are both known for their work on Editions Mego and for pushing noise, abstract and ambient boundaries, seeking out their own voices in the extreme ends of the spectrum. They fire ideas back and forth at one another here in order to find a dialogue with their tools - guitars, synths, euro rack modular systems, voices, samples and outboard processing. It is brutal and playful in equal measure with wild new shapes, sounds and textures coming at you thick and fast.

Review: Xpq? founders D Tiffany and Special Guest DJ are keeping quiet about the identity of the "married outlaws" behind the previously unheard Low Budget Aliens project. This debut album arrives with little or no fanfare or fuss, or even the usual functional info sheet supplied to record stores and media outlets. So what's in store? In summary: peculiar, off-kilter excellence. Jumpy, skittish and imaginative, the majority of the eight tracks twist warped, mind-altering electronics and strange sounds around weighty basslines and unearthly rhythms that variously doff a cap to juke, jungle, grime, IDM and what would once have been called "brain-dance". It's an exciting and sometimes unsettling template, but one that consistently delivers on its eccentric, experimental promise.

Review: What a beautiful and strange world it is, capable of presenting work like Tilt. Luke Blair is now 15 years into his productions as Lukid, and we still don't now what to expect from him, ever. Sure, there are some totems - lack of rigidity in beats and various pieces, one foot in the darkened rooms of leftfield venues, another in the serene wilderness of ambient dreams - but variety and breadth are the two operative words when considering his output. Here, then, we're invited into a place that has so many reference points it's hard to know where best to begin. The strange syncopation of 'Anatolia', which sounds like harmonies fed through crystal and then strung out over the top of fidget drums. Or maybe the twinkling, plink and plonk of 'Daisy Cutter', a subtly uplifting beat-less paradise. Possibly 'Belly', with its lo fi take on UK club. Definitely 'End Loop', and that scuzzy, emotional refrain.