Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Super Spicy's Super Spicy Recipe series is back with a sixth mouthwatering offering and once again it's a super hot outing of party-ready house and disco sounds. First up is the irresistibly colourful disco charm of Birdee with the freewheeling 'Underground' and its groove-infused piano. Label boss Monsieur Van Pratt then adds his own spin to a rare groove classic with a lung-busting soul vocal and Pato Watson is in edit mode as he tweaks 'Ella Fue' to perfection. Italian don Paul Older brings some funky jazz fusion sounds to his steamy 'Turkish Lights, C. Da Afro keeps it a party with his 'Nothing But The Funk' and Mexican Juan Soto slips into a more deep and loved-up funk-house vibe on 'All Is Full Of Love'.

Review: Brokntoys has been helping to set the electro agenda for some years now. This 85th outing is a hand-stamped, white label 12" in mad limited quantities from Alex Jann and it opens with a cosmic adventure in the form of 'Cold Light Wave'. Things get much darker on 'Collective Paranoia' with its menacing low ends and booming sub-bass, then 'Pass 3' takes on a creepy atmosphere with sequential synth bleeps and bumpy broken beats keeping you guessing. Last of all is a funky cyborg disco workout in the form of 'The Chamber'.

Review: Jinje is a solo project from Lee Malcolm, a founding member of the Leeds-based experimental band Vessels. His music in solo mode is just as singer and hard to categorise as with his band and here on Mesh he veers between electronic, synthetic and organic sound worlds with driving breakbeats topped with gorgeous string sounds, hype-real synths and a shimmering sense of sonic futurism that is awash with melody. These are hugely detailed tracks but the overall picture is never confused as his arrangements ebb and flow with great clarity and make both a physical and emotional impact.

Review: The Joe Gibbs label is busy reissuing some classic and often fairly sought-after roots tunes from back in the day and next up is this one which comes on a limited run of 45rpms. It kicks off with Junior Murvin who is of course best known for his iconic 'Police & Thieves' tune used in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Her hit is his tough vocal cut 'Cool Out Son' from the late 70s gets served up and is sure to get put through its paces on plenty of big systems this summer. On the flip is a fine dub from The Mighty Two.

Review: The Pressure Beat crew throw it back to the heyday of roots reggae here with a superb pair of tunes from 1969. One of these in original for will cost you a few quid so it's nice to have good sounding copies on fresh wax available once more. Ken Parker's A-side cut 'It's Alright' is short at under three minutes but boy does it hit a super sweet spot with his delicate falsetto vocal over rickety roots low ends and rolling, warming bass. On the flip, things get more upbeat and energetic with some raw horn work on Johnny Moore & The Cobbs's 'One Love' with its off-balance chords.

Review: Rush Hour has been one of Europe's independent musical powerhouses for decades now. Now only does it have Amsterdam's best record shop, but it throws the best parties and puts put the fresh new records from several different genres. next to that of course they also know how to dig deep and unearth vital reissues, which is what they do here with a triple headed Japanese house affair. Katsuya Sano keeps it OG Chicago with his 'I Need Luv', then Junichi Soma offers the analogue depths of 'Ubnormal Life' and Shuji Wada shuts down with more brilliantly atmospheric sounds on 'Endless Load.'

Review: Joe Babylon's cultured US label Roundabout Sounds has never rushed music out but when it does serve up new material it is always timeless and top quality. This latest EP is the first installment in the new All Hands series and it features some real house heavyweights. Frits Wentink kicks off with the mystic and lo-fi depths of 'Jellyfish, then DJ Aakmael layers up his soft edge chords and cuddly kicks drums with some muted horn motifs that bring the romance. The label head brings some upright drums and spoken word lyrics for a beautifully warm sound and last of all Detroit royalty Rick Wilhite links with Jon Easley for a final blissed-out and breezy deep house day dream.

Review: While rooted in the quintessential sound of the late 1950s and early 1960s, UK jazz ensemble The Jazz Defenders explore fresh territory while honouring their jazz heritage on their third album, Memory In Motion. Tracks like 'Chasing Fantasies' and 'Fuffle Kerfuffle' showcase their swing jazz finesse, while 'Meanderthal' and 'Snakebite Playfight' infuse soulful grooves akin to 1960s jazz legends. Collaborations with UK rapper Doc Brown on 'Rolling On A High' and the uptempo funk of 'Net Zero' add modern flair, while introspective moments like 'Take A Minute' and the closing 'Enigma' offer a serene balance. Memory In Motion celebrates jazz's legacy and innovation, blending tradition with contemporary influences for an immersive listening experience.

Review: 40 years after the band's formation, The Jesus & Mary Chain have delivered their eighth studio album, their first full length release of new material for seven years. Admirably, the Reid brothers have refused to rest on their laurels and offer-up something undeniably nostalgic - catnip for long term fans if you will - but instead have fused elements of their familiar sound and style with plenty of fresh ideas. There are audible nods to Suicide, Kraftwerk and the improvisational practices of jazz, but also tons of fuzz, feedback and aural chaos. It's an invigorating mixture that's best exemplified by 'Jamcod', where the pair's red-raw guitars, low-slung bass and acid-fried vocals rise above a skittish electro beat, the slipped shoegaze-goes-dreampop flex of 'Chemical Animal', and the pleasingly spiky and punchy 'Girl 71'.

Review: Dwell Time II is the second part of a three-part project on Past Inside The Present from T.R. Jordan. Each of the albums was made using the same material in the same time frame, and they are all part of one overarching and coherent suite that he refers to as "musical composting." This is the cassette tape version and it is full of grainy, fluttering howls, soft warbling pads, pastoral references like flowing streams and mossy rocks and plenty of grand spatial elegance that harks back to the likes of Hiroshi Yoshimura and early Brian Eno experiments. Another immersive offering from this fine label, then.

Review: Kintsugi is the Japanese art of fixing broken stuff in beautiful ways and thus embracing the item's history. It is also in part the name of this new Kintsugi Soul Stepper's album that mirrors that concept by "celebrating the beauty found in piecing together diverse fragments to create a harmonious whole." Filipino Canadian collective seekersinternational and beat-maker jjuwanstockton lead the charge, on a record that celebrates the fusions of many diverse sounds from dub to soul to nostalgic 1980s Japan, as well as many different cultures, and identities.

Review: Final Symphony II delves deeper into the cherished melodies of the Final Fantasy series. Renowned composers Roger Wanamo and Jonne Valtonen skillfully craft rich and intricate arrangements of Nobuo Uematsu's iconic compositions from FF5, 8 & 9. Additionally, Masashi Hamauzu offers a captivating suite inspired by his monumental original score for Final Fantasy XIII, while Valtonen sets the tone with his atmospheric opening piece 'In a Roundabout Way - Fanfare'. Pianist Mischa Cheung shines brightly in the spotlight, captivating audiences with his masterful performances in 'For the People of Gaia' and the emotive solo arrangement 'You Are Not Alone'.

Review: Let's face it, Hollywood director Christopher Nolan broke the mould with his re-envisioning of Batman. Taking things closer to the original comic books, themselves forced to 'go soft' by censors in the early-1950s, his films payed direct tribute to the saga's direction from the mid-1970s onwards. A trilogy of movies that were visually arresting, tonally dystopian, and viciously unhinged. It's not clear if we'll ever get a superhero (or anti-hero) film series of that class and calibre again, the world on screen so immersive you quickly feel like a Gotham native. A big part of that universe-building comes through the music, which enlists two of the greatest names in the history of soundtracks to help weave the tales. Hans Zimmer has composed for more than 150 films, James Newton Howard in excess of 100. This compilation of their shared caped crusader efforts proves why they're so well respected.