TYPE 303 Vinilo y CD

Review: While quite a few of Type-303's releases have been heavily dependent on twisted acid lines and jacking drums, his latest missive looks to colourful Italian dream house and nostalgic 1990s deep house for inspiration. The results are predictably impressive, from the lilting synth-trumpet melodies, carnivalesque percussion, sturdy house beats and hands-aloft piano riffs of 'Is It Magic' (a kind of 21st century update of the classic Don Carlos sound), to the eyes-closed, sun-up gorgeousness of Mediterranean house classic-in-the-making 'Summer Nights'. Sandwiched in between you'll find the acid bass-propelled early morning hedonism of 'Garden of Love' and the breakbeat-driven dream house revivalism of 'Sexy Sax', where rubbery synth-bass and squally synthesised saxophone sounds catch the ear.

Review: While it's difficult to second-guess what Placid will select for each volume of his We're Going Deep label's compilation-style EPs, you can guarantee that it will be timeless-sounding, exquisitely produced, and most likely have some link to deep house, electro, acid or sci-fi techno. All of those boxes are ticked and then some on volume eight, which skips between melodious, acid-flecked dancefloor wooziness (Affie and Leila Yusuf's 'Dublvr'), warming sunrise-ready electro bliss (Zobol's 'Sense The Consensus'), ultra-deep, eyes-closed acid electro (Acidulant's 'The View of Her Shade') and IDM-tinged, intergalactic and dramatically pitched-down proto-jungle (Type-303's exceptional 'Knowhere'). Like its predecessors, this EP is nothing less than essential.