Back catalogue: Trance

Review: As well as being a dance music figurehead. Paul Oakenfold is a devoted film buff who brought cinematic flair to his soundtrack for Dominic Sena's action-thriller Swordfish. Crafting a moody, high-tech sonic landscape and blending the tense energy of Dope Smugglaz's 'The Word (PMT Remix)' with the chill sunrise vibes of Lemon Jelly's 'Kneel Before Your God' and his own electro rework of 'Planet Rock' with Afrika Bambaataa, Oakenfold paints a vivid picture of early 2000s Los Angeles nightlife. Tracks like 'Stanley's Tune' and 'Password' evoke neon-lit scenes of decadence and danger. Subtle yet imaginative, this record rewards headphone listening for max impact.

Review: Hailing from Marseille, Zar Electrik conjure a hypnotic synthesis of North African rhythm, West African instrumentation and contemporary electronics. Their debut full-length surges with ritualistic energy-'Berma soudan' leads with elastic gumbri grooves, while 'Bala dima' overlays call-and-response chants with pulsing low-end and dubby atmospheres. 'Koyo' anchors the set in driving, gnaoui-inflected trance, propelled by electric kora and pitch-shifted vocal snippets. Elsewhere, 'Sahrane Lile' is drenched in oud melancholia, and 'Chouf enour' spirals into eight minutes of slow-building, ambient-rooted psych. Shorter sketches like 'Interlude 51' and 'Choukrane likoum' offer breathers between the denser percussion workouts. Drawing from wedding music, souk rhythms and Berber funk with evident care, the trio land somewhere between festival catharsis and basement heat. It's not simply fusion-it's groove as inheritance, filtered through FX units and Mediterranean sun.