OCTOBER Vinilo y CD

Review: Fresh from his excellent ebm-influenced debut album, UK producer Julian 'October' Smith October looks to a more reflective approach. Working with his long-term collaborator and fellow Bristolian Appleblim, he lays down an lurching, acid-soaked bass and jittery drums on "Other Side of the Sky". These elements complement the melodic chord sequence that flutter their way through the arrangement. On the flip side, Appleblim delivers a remix; retaining the mellow chords but replacing the backing with a stepping, dub-wise rhythm, it makes for a gloriously blissed out take on the dance floor-based original version.

Review: Bristol's finest Jules Smith aka October is back with more reduced EBM mutations following up the dusty and rusted experiments ts as heard on his great Death Drums cassette on No Corner just last year, not to mention 2015's wicked Black Body Radiation. It's the second edition of his new eponymous imprint here. On the A side we have "Repentant (version)" a grotty acid slow burner that squeals away menacingly above the seething dirt of vintage drum computers. On the flip "Judgement Dub" goes for an early Chicago vibe somewhere between Jamie Principle and K. Alexi with its haunting pads and funk bass supported by spitfire rhythm patterns and morose atmosphere that's geared for the early morning hours of a sweaty Berlin basement party.

Review: Bristol's leading exponent of other-worldly house and techno makes the leap to Fred P's Soul People imprint, following a successful turn on Voodoo Down earlier in the year. Here October is turning out a more melancholic strain of his jagged abstractions in keeping with the label's spiritual aesthetic, with "Goddess Is Woman" particularly haunting in its thick swathes of chords. "Dub Fi Borealis" lets a touch more bite into its techy construction, but still the alluring notes abound, before the emotionally sideswiping prowl of "Invisible Serene Space" with its murmuring bassline and loaded strings.

Review: Following a pair of various artists EPs featuring the likes of STL, Anton Zap and N'conduit last year, the nascent Voodoo Down label from New York present their first full artist EP from Bristol house producer October. His straight up, yet ever so slightly off kilter take on house makes him an ideal candidate for the label, with "Unstable Phenomenon" combining dubby yet euphoric chords, robust bass and intriguingly sequenced percussion; "Entropy Ends" is even more interesting, locking its looping piano half-uttered vocals samples and Korg M1 stabs into a strange kind of feedback loop. On the flip, the title track is remixed to fine effect by Joey Anderson, who reworks it into a deep, atmospheric jam filled with distant ripples of melody, while Voodoo Down turns in a more rolling, tribal - yet still decidedly abstract - version of "Entropy Ends".

Review: Brooklyn's Voodoo Down Records, part run by the always excellent L'estasi Dell'oro, has kept close to a few key artists since they're first releases back in 2012, namely Germany's STL and Bristol's October. The latter returns to the label and this time he's joined by the mysterious Voodoo Down himself - an alias we are yet to unmask - with two certified floor-shakers; the first, "Las Modelos", is a chord-heavy, dubwise house thriller with a crunchy yet clean analogue sound, and the flipside sees October himself turn in a masterful dub version of the original, minimizing the chords down to their bare bones and bolstering the low-ends considerably. An effective pair of tunes for the dancefloor.

Review: Previous instalments of Soul People's Earth Tones series have featured the likes of Move D, Fred P and Joey Anderson, and the lineup on this fourth outing more than maintains these standards. October, Aybee, Adam Lundberg and Dakini 9 all feature and contribute house and techno of the deep and sensuous variety. Bristol don October's "Galactic Dawn" is a typically deep piece of cosmically-tinged house with synths wrung out like blankets soaked in space dust, while Aybee's "ATCG" is a classic piece of chord-driven house whose melodic elements are submerged beneath a deep layer of murky atmospherics. Adam Lundberg's "Remember" places breathy vocals over a dubby, brushed groove filled with sub-aquatic sounds, and Dakini9's "Daemon" hits the perfect mid-point between driving techno and a dreamy melodic sensibility.