JOHN SHIMA Vinilo y CD

Review: John Shima's recent rise has been built on an uncanny ability to produce futurist electronic club music that's almost overpoweringly melodious. Or, to put it another way, the Sheffield producer makes high-grade tracks that simultaneously move the head, heart and feet. Shima's latest outing - his first for DMK - is another superb collection of cuts. Such is the quality, it's hard picking favourites, though we'd direct you towards the glistening, sun-bright melodies and snappy machine drums of "Din Sync", the contemporary clonk (look it up, kids) meets Detroit flex of "Rotary" and the technological sweetness of opener "Stealth". Recommended.

Review: John Shima has been quietly plying his trade in techno soul since 2010, shoring up on labels such as Boe Recordings, Contrast-Wax and FireScope. Now he inaugurates Distant Worlds with another fine clutch of introspective beats delivered with a classic early 90s feel. It's hard to ignore the influence of B12 on "Renegade", while "Machine Works" takes on a moodier tone without losing that inherent warmth that makes his music such a pleasure to listen to. "Veloc" reaches for a heavy-lidded euphoria, and then "Troglodytic" makes for the consummate B2 track by heading out into ambient pastures, showing off Shima's synth skills in fine style.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Serenity is a new label geared towards raising money and awareness around mental health in the music industry. The label kicks off in fine style with the supple, expressive techno of John Shima and Mihail P offering up two tracks each. Shima takes the A side with the warm and bubbling synth expressions of "Seasons" before taking things in a more hypnotic direction on the ever-so-slightly trancey "Hunter Mind". Mihail P maintains a similar vintage techno sound palette, but pings for positive constellations with the jubilant "Momentum" before veering into blissful breakbeat on "Neon Hologarden".

Review: Given the UK's lust for non 4/4 dance music, it seems like a crying shame that we don't produce more electro labels on a constant basis. Luckily, Verdant Recordings and us are on the same wave-length, and the label have answered our wishes with a heavy debut EP from a mixed bag of new and interesting talent. Fatal Tangent member John Sima steps up first with "Omni", a glitchy, metallic slice of deep techo, while Semantica's excellent Plant43 verges into more traditional Detroit pathways with the supremely industrial "Light The Way". Mihail P's "Prismatic" launches an all-out attack thanks to a bubbling succession of bass shots and hazy synth waves, leaving Leigh Dickson's "Follow" to take the tempo down with "Follow", a majestic, cold-hearted, pseudo acid bombshell wound down to head-nodding levels.