Needs is back with its fifth installment of charity-raising goodness from some seriously quality producers. This time the gauntlet is thrown down by the increasingly prolific DJ Normal 4, who wields some of his signature breakbeats over a cheeky synth that nods to Da Hool for a dark and deadly roller. Israeli duo Red Axes pop up fresh from outings on !K7 and Phantasy Sound for the worldly percussion and mystical atmosphere of "Treacksheni" before Bristol bass-wielding techno titan Hodge finishes the package off with the stunning, dramatic undulations of "Signal," making this a collection of tracks that all feed into the same vein of rhythmically adventurous, moody club music.

Efficient Space's latest essential release sees Andras and Instant Peterson take a trawl through the darker, lesser-visited corners of Australian electronic music. According to the label, the pair lifted material from "local 12" singles, CD-Rs and the archives of community radio station 3RRR FM". Highlights come thick and fast throughout, from the acid-flecked, "Nude Photo" style Detroit fun of FSOM's "Resist The Beat" and chiming, trumpet-laden bliss of Ian Eccles-Smith's "The Slaughtering Eye", to the jaunty, mid-90s New York style bounce of Blimp's "Yellowgold" and the ultra-deep ambient techno pulse of Tetrphnm's "Track 11". Check, too, the enveloping dreaminess of Screensaver's drifting ambient closer, and the jazzy dancefloor depth of Inner Harmomy's "Da Lub Club".

For their latest essential seven-inch single, the Dynamite Cuts crew has raided Chicago Gangsters' 1975 debut album, "Blind Over You". Neither of the two tracks on offer has been featured on a "45" before. On the A-side you'll find "Gangster Boogie", a seriously heavy, Clavinet and saxophone-laden funk wriggler whose snappy drum break has appeared on numerous hip-hop jams over the years (including LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out"). On the flip you'll find the even more riotous and life-affirming funk-rock masterpiece "Why Did You Do It". Rich in rasping horns, wild organ lines and gnarly guitar riffs, it's just crying out to be played loud over a heavy soundsystem.

Over the last decade, few have amassed as fine a catalogue of revivalist Italo-disco, EBM and synth-wave cuts than The Revolving Eyes. It's because of this that each new release from the Belgain duo is worth a listen. Predictably, there's plenty of dark and clandestine fodder to be found on The Nature And The Metal, their first release of 2018. Highlights include the foreboding horror chords, psychedelic acid lines and metronomic throb of "Beautiful Sadness", the rising orchestration and clicking drum machine hits of "Monotrance" and the ragged and distorted, acid-EBM fusion of the titanium-clad "Ritual Serenade". The title track, which closes the EP, is alo sublime: a clanking industrial workout smothered in far-sighted, futurist techno synths.

'I've got you and you've got me' sing the cherished words of Adrianne Lenker in her opening and title-track "Hours Were The Birds" to this album of the same name. It pretty much sets the tone for the LP as she adds: 'life is easy going and easy go too,' with the delivery of her voice alongside strokes of acoustic guitar adding a boisterous nuance to her live sound. There's a slight of melancholic angst to the lyrics she sings furthermore, and as cutesy as they can be, an inner, rolling country-side deepness transpires from here music. Like Kimya Dawson did with the oh-so wonderful film Juno, Adrianne Lenker's work here is touching enough to soundtrack the next indie, hit-flick sensation. A lovely listen.

Sadly departed producer Susumu Yokota made and released some breathlessly brilliant music during his lifetime. Acid Mt Fuji, a 1994 album released in the earliest stages of his recording career, is one of the strongest examples. Here, it gets a first ever vinyl release, some 24 years after the CD edition started appearing in Japanese record stores. In typical fashion, the eleven tracks on offer brilliantly combine elements of ambient, creepy horror soundtracks, IDM and Hardfloor style hard acid with beats that veer from intense and full throttle, to skewed and experimental. It's testament to the album's timeless nature that it doesn't sound like it has aged one bit. In a word: essential.

There's something uniquely Japanese and slightly off-kilter about the pop-making prowess of Eiko Ishibashi, a singer-songwriter, improvisational drummer, pianist and all-round experimentalist that counts Editions Mego and Oren Ambarchi's Black Truffle as labels she has released on. She returns to Drag City, an all time Chicago label famous for records by Pavement and Stereolab to more recently music from Ty Segall and the all-talented John Mulaney. Ishibashi's music here, however, sways from heavy industrial beats to future, funky and avant pop numbers like "Iron Veil". It's a record that will take some getting used to but there's no denying you will get used to it too; if you can keep up with its modernity that comes from way out leftfield.

With the addition of Sally Pilkington to Hen Ogledd, the band - now three albums young - go from trio to quartet. Hen Ogledd (or 'The Old North' in Welsh) this time around transgress from their acoustic origins and sound heard more-so on Bronze from 2016 to now flirting and experimenting with an electronic tip (nerds may spot that space echo delay) with high and hollering vocal performances still standing out in their indie, synth pop style. Find some Welsh poetry and spoken word on "Gwae Reged o Heddiw" and "Transport & Travel", while elsewhere "Sky Burial" hits those melancholic sweet spots, and it's as if Enya inspirations are in there somewhere. A patchwork of witty, evoquial, sweet intelligence.