Best Albums

August 2024

- Warp
  Seefeel - Everything Squared
  
  The experimental band's first extended release in 13 years doesn't feel like a band trading on their reputation—the initial impression is one of change. Everything Squared finds Mark Clifford zeroing in on his production process while Sarah Peacock's vocals continue to provide a crucial human quality to the band's reliably enigmatic sound.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- Nice Life records
  Tinashe - Quantum Baby
  
  Outside the brief flirtations on Quantum Baby's singles—including of course, the viral hit "Nasty"—Tinashe's seventh album is really about striving for authenticity. The 22-minute album leans toward the hazy, subdued end of her catalogue, while still delivering on the kind of smoky, sexy numbers that we'd expect from her.
  
  Listen:
  Apple

- Strut
  Kampire - Kampire Presents: A Dancefloor in Ndola
  
  Kampire has helped champion envelope-pushing East and South African music from the '70s up to the present day. On her debut compilation, she steps into the role of curator proper. A Dancefloor in Ndola is a captivating exercise in crate-diggery, setting renowned heavyweights like Samba Mapangala and Tshala Muana next to unpolished gems with gritty production values, party-ready grooves and minimal Google footprints.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- Incienso
  Loidis - One Day
  
  Huerco S. brings back his Loidis alias on One Day, a stripped-back record that shows the producer falling back in love with the art of a simple loop. Across eight tracks, he writes deep, muted and wobbly rhythms filled with the sort of gorgeous dub techno melodicism you might hear on a Shinichi Atobe record.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- Sacred Bones
  Chrystabell & David Lynch - Cellophane Memories
  
  Across Cellophane Memories's 37 minutes, the pair's longstanding creative chemistry takes a new and arresting shape. Stripped of burdensome song forms and almost entirely absent of beats or easy melodies, something genuinely mysterious emerges—a mystery you'd be tempted to describe as "Lynchian" even without knowing who was behind it.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- Domino
  Jon Hopkins - Ritual
  
  Jon Hopkins began his journey making "serious, emotional" music with 2021's hazy, beatless Music For Psychedelic Therapy. The follow-up to that album, Ritual, originated from music Hopkins wrote for an installation called Dreamachine, named after a 1959 invention heralded as "the first art object to be seen with eyes closed." The 41-minute composition expands into eight parts that unfurl like a guided meditation.
  
  Listen:
  Apple

- Nonesuch
  Laurie Anderson - Amelia
  
  When Laurie Anderson—who first conceived of Amelia as a stage performance 24 years ago—was asked on BBC Radio 4 why Amelia Earhart's story appealed to her, the answer was simple: "She was a bad-girl pilot—and I liked that." On the LP, Anderson follows the late pilot's final flight path. The album plays like an audio documentary, drawing directly from Earhart's writing and strapping us into the plane with Earhart with shaky, surround-sound instrumentation.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- Time Passages
  Various - Time Passages 10 Years
  
  A decade is a long time in dance music, but longevity looks good on the techno label Time Passages. On the anniversary compilation, Binh's label remains the high watermark for low-slung and sinister minimal electro and techno.
  
  Listen:
  SoundCloud

Best EPs

August 2024

- Play:Musik
  Nectax - Body Talk
  
  On the first release in 14 years on Play:Musik, Nectax brings the same shapeshifting energy of the label's early output. Across four slickly produced tracks, he connects elements of footwork, jungle, techno and hardcore on an impressively varied EP that vividly reimagines the sonic kinship between those genres.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- Craigie Knowles
  Danny Daze & Jonny From Space - Tumbadora EP
  
  On Tumbadora, Danny Daze and Jonny From Space reunite for an EP that swaps the introspection of their respective debut albums for three original cuts of sludgy, polyrhythmic electro and techno. It even includes a cameo from Miami's other wunderkind, Nick León.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- NAFF
  Ciel & CCL - Tilda's Goat Stare
  
  On Tilda's Goat Stare, Ciel & CCL's debut collaboration's chaotic feminist streak found a fitting anchor in the 2002 sci-fi feminist film Teknolust. Much of the EP lands with a thwack, top-loaded with precisely the kind of dusty peak-time tracks you'd find in the duo's festival sets.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- Rare Earth Tones
  Dubbel Dutch - Cosmic Tone Poems
  
  Over a decade since Dubbel Dutch's last solo release, one of the breakthrough stars of the post-dubstep bubble returns after literally going off the grid. Cosmic Tone Poems is built around the contrast between synth lines that float like champagne bubbles and basslines that plunge the tracks down to earth, updating the sort of genre promiscuity he championed in the '10s.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

- XL Recordings
  gyrofield - These Heavens
  
  The producer makes their debut on XL with a dynamic EP inspired by a night out in Bristol. Over four tracks, they swerve from angular acidlines to delectable, sputtering drum & bass breaks.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

Best Mixes

August 2024

- JD Twitch
  All Arthur Russell DJ set, live at The Barbican
  
  Optimo's JD Twitch dives into Arthur Russell's vast catalogue for this live recording at London's Barbican Centre back in May, celebrating the late composer's extraordinary life.

- Mattias El Mansouri
  GROOVE Podcast 428
  
  For the 428th GROOVE Podcast, Stockholm-based DJ and producer Mattias El Mansouri delivers a stellar two-hour mix, traversing eclectic boogies from the likes of The Durutti Column and Barrington Levy to the deep minimal rhythms of Arkajo and Dorisburg.

- Assyouti
  XLR8R Podcast 863
  
  The Berlin-based producer and DJ goes tear-out, spinning hard-as-nails choppage from the likes of Breakage, B-Key and Champa B. If you like your drum & bass dark and weighty, this one's for you.

- Ploy
  Rinse FM
  
  While he may have initially made his name releasing wonky bassbin tracks on the likes of Hessle Audio, Timedance and Hemlock, Ploy isn't one to be pinned down. On the July edition of his Rinse FM show, the Bristol-based DJ and producer demonstrates that he's equally comfortable (and excellent) at playing house.

- Nono Gigsta
  Freerotation 2024 : The House Of Crocodiles Part 2 (Live Recording)
  
  No rhythm, tempo or genre is off limits in this truly ecstatic and goosebump-inducing set, recorded live at Freerotation from Cashmere Radio resident Nono Gigsta. Oh and there's not one but two Björk moments—enjoy.

- DJ Maria
  Kiosk Radio 11.08.2024
  
  With regular appearances at Berghain, Bassiani and VENT, DJ MARIA. is one of the best DJs to emerge out of Japan in recent years.
  
  Guesting on Kiosk Radio, the Tokyo-based artist delivers a masterclass in building atmosphere, perfectly balancing muscle with texture (including one particularly mind-bending transition in which it sounds like she mixes a field recording from a working kitchen into Ben Klock's "Wolf"). It's the kind of eye-opening session that makes you want to listen to all her other mixes right after.

- Objekt
  Live at Nowadays 7 April 2024
  
  Objekt is one of the most dynamic artists in underground techno today, and this recording—from the equally influential New York club Nowadays—captures him on typically excellent form.
  
  "I played on Sunday morning from 9 AM to 3 PM, between JASSS and Bearcat," he said, calling it "one of the most creatively fulfilling sets I can remember playing–one of those sets where the audience, environment, atmosphere, tech setup, phase of the moon, whatever, all somehow lined up for a full six hours."

- Sarkawt Hamad
  Down The Rabbit Hole 2024
  
  The versatile Amsterdam-based DJ covers a lot of ground in this two-hour live recording from Down The Rabbit Hole. You can hear her adventurous approach in full bloom, moving through starry-eyed house, hypnotic techno, squelchy acid and more from the likes of Peach, Polygonia and Zephyr.

Best Albums

August 2024

Nice Life records

Nonesuch

Best EPs

August 2024

Rare Earth Tones

Best Mixes

August 2024