Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Caleto Records's eighth outing takes the form of this various artists compilation featuring exclusively Polish producers. The Etat Cru duo of Olszewski and Pawlescu kick off with the wire and sinewy synths and tech house pomp of 'Jasmina' then Jerry M offers two cuts. 'Gutek' is a nice spaced-out tech cruiser with flashy astral pads and 'Gondin' rides on well-designed breakbeats with an old-school bassline. Robsessive's 'Look After You' is a deeper, dubber, grittier cut for late-night vibes and SIM ON's 'Brudas' is all glitchy and dystopian urban landscaping. Poland sure has plenty of talent based on this EP.

Review: To keep it in the family is to imply things stay pure and untainted, but the irony with the Keep It In The Family 12" series is that every record sounds raw and unsheltered. So, although 'Feel' and 'Move This Way' cycle through unperturbed and dreamatic sounds, their finish is rough, suggesting a well-wrought processing chain, the music having seen through many a prodigal battle. Retromigration's 'Fret' and Cem Mo's 'Rushmore' continue the mood of vintage deep raspiness, with one-up arpeggios closing out the final track with special glee.

Review: London label Fourier Transform welcome back Rekab (James Baker) and label debuter Mre for 'Ace High'. 'Armadillos' rolls up its chassis for a serious exercise in minimal weight, reconstituting tuned percussions as it trundles along, while Rekab's 'Always Having Fun' posits an ideal life-mode: a steady, direct current of enjoyment, set to hedonically calculated beats. 'Climbing High' rebates the percussions for a subtle lark's ascent in deep acid, while 'Ace' complementarily descends across cross-rhythmic breaks and harmonies.

Review: London underground night train riders Deadbeat Records prioritise techno-breaks handmade for late night and early morning dancefloors, times when both the best and worst comes emerges from each of us. Their inaugural Deadbeat Breaks compilation hears six out of ten full digital curations brought to a shadowy, space-invaded black vinyl truncation, with modern talking synth vomits from Olly Rant, booty bass hups from Hunter Starkings, hackney parroting hurtles from Rnbws, and a closing breakstep broil from Hooverian Blur.

Review: Spanish producer Rayko has been a key figure in the disco scene since 2008, the point at which he launched the influential Rare Wiri label. His fastidious DJ sets hear him blend underground disco, boogie, funk, and electronica, and surely foregrounded his Vadillo Vice series, where Wiri outpours his rarer, outer-there sonic shinies. 'Towers', 'Cosmic Boy' and 'Napole' all command the subtle sensibility of disco edits, but these are actually originals through and through, making impressive use of what sound like sampled vocals and homegrown syntheses.

Review: Rick 8 is the techno alias of Italy's Riccardo Falsini, and here he revives the pioneering spirit of his iconic Interactive Test label with this early gem, which offers an essential slice of trance, techno and progressive house history. Known for reshaping genre boundaries, the label was a beacon of innovation, as this EP shows. Each track is a potent club tool, designed for transcendental dancefloor moments and sonic ascension from the chunky tribalism of 'Hypernotes Velocity' to the standout remix of 'C'Mon' by Sound Metaphors affiliate Trent, who injects progressive firepower. 'Born To Sinthetize' is a deeper, spiritual sound with flashy synth work married to loose drum loops.

Review: 'Thermae' feels like a track that's more about the spaces between the notes than the notes themselves. Featuring Andy Baxter on guitar, bass, and drums, along with Jim Piela on saxophone and Francesca Uberti on piano, it's a laid-back, almost meditative piece that brings to mind the warm, smooth vibes of Khruangbin and Glass Beams. The track is sparse, but not in a way that feels emptyithere's a certain tension in the way it unfolds, with each instrument carving out its own space. The saxophone, in particular, stands out with an FX-laden part that evokes the mood of Robohand's 'Palms' LP from 2023, adding a touch of depth and atmosphere that lingers in the background. There's a nice balance between the organic and the electronic here, which shows in how the track was recorded between London and New York. It's all mixed and mastered with care by Sean Woodlock and John Webber, ensuring that each element, no matter how subtle, shines through in its own time. It's a reflective piece that doesn't demand attention, but invites it when you're ready.

Review: Deep house fans can rarely go wrong with the work of Praising mainstay Frank Rodger. He's on a good run of late and now he keeps the going with a return to Seasons Limited that again taps into his signature and timeless sound. A side 'Deep Squares' is one of those long and winding sounds that slowly but surely seduces you and sinks you into its deep, evocative groves. 'Sandton Skys' then brings heavy kicks and subtle pad work while rickety percussion brings off-balance goodness. The highlight might well come last with 'Come Together', which is playful and louche, smartly sampled and underpinned by a dusty deep house vibe.

Review: Since its inception in 2023, Soul Quest Records has released some superbly deep and soulful records. To prove the point, the Hackney-based label has decided to serve up a compilation style EP featuring fresh cuts from current artists and new signings. Max Sinal joins forces with King Crowney and vocalist Liv East on the ultra-deep, super soulful warm-up sounds of 'Intentions', before Slxm Sol cannily combines loose-limbed drums, warming bass, sensitive chords, tactile Rhodes keys and soulful vocal snippets on 'NYBB'. Hitch 93 doffs a cap to Chez Damier on the excellent 'Uno Dos Tres Four', Rob Reckford delivers some bright MPC-house action ('Garden Party'), and Soul Grooves goes deep, gently dubby and spacey ('Blues Kitchen'). The gentle broken house sunniness of 'Edith' by Flying Moth completes a fine EP.

Review: In the formative years of his career in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ricardo Villalobos frequently utilised a handful of alternative production aliases - first Minta Spacew (one EP way back in 1993) and then more frequently Richard Wolfsdorf. Tia, first released way back in 2000, was the Chilean minimal maestro's second outing under that alias and has become a sought-after EP in recent times - hence this Rawwax reissue. A-side 'Echt Rot' is typically Playhouse-era Villalobos, with cut-up vocalisations, odd noises and spaced-out electronic snippets riding a crunchy minimal-house beat and looped, mind-mangling TB-303 bassline. Title track 'Tia' features simmering orchestral samples clustering around a typically wonky, stripped-back beat, while 'Feurwasser' sounds like the blueprint for many of his later minimal techno workouts.

Review: In celebration of 50 years in the performing arts, Idris Ackamoor presents Artistic Being for Record Store Day 2025-a powerful blend of jazz, spoken word and activism. Featuring the voices of acclaimed actor Danny Glover and stage legend Rhodessa Jones, this record captures highlights from the Underground Jazz Cabaret, which was performed during Black History Month 2024 at The Lab in San Francisco. Co-produced by Ackamoor's Cultural Odyssey, the release fuses poetic storytelling with evocative musical textures while reflecting on social justice, identity and resilience. Artistic Being is a profound statement from a visionary artist.

Review: The Ramones had long reshaped the world of music in their beautifully twisted image by the time they recorded this, their second live album, in Spain in 1991. But the New York punks were seemingly addicted to playing live, touring relentlessly throughout the 80s and 90s, and their tightly drilled act is at fever pitch here, careering through an incredible 32 'blink and you'll miss them' tracks across four sides of vinyl. A handful of covers - there's a blistering version of The Trashmen's early rock 'n' roll stormer 'Surfin' Bird', for instance - nestle alongside timeless originals such as 'I Wanna Be Sedated', 'Beat On The Brat' and 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker', with a healthy selection of deeper cuts from the late 80s here too. Top mayhem.

Review: After the seismograph shattering success of their last 45, 'Samba De Flora', in the summer of 2024, Argentina's Romero Bros (Xavi and Remi) have since followed an unignorable inspirational impulse, that is and was, to finish a collection of jazz and Latin-infused club tracks, ones that had been in the leftover works for years. The result is a seven-tracker of gracefully cosmic proportions, incorporating drunken piano house and a percussively soft excitability, not to mention a remix each of the very track that sparked the entire duo project, 'Samba De Flora'.

Review: Two Is One (1974, now 2025) recaptures saxophonist Charlie Rouse at the peak of his rabble-Rousing powers, commanding the popular will (through steering clear of sonic demagoguery) through effortless funk, soul jazz, and post-bop, all while orbiting that distinctive cosmic ring-edge that defined the Strata-East catalogue. Best known for his long tenure alongside Thelonious Monk, Rouse steps into a new light here, leading a stellar ensemble made up of guitarists George Davis and Paul Metzke, Cal Scott on electric cello and Stanley Clarke on bass. Together they stretch out across a set both grounded and exploratory, with a spiritual undercurrent running through the grooves. Newly issued on 180-gram vinyl, the record comes packed in a tip-on gatefold with fresh liner notes from Syd Schwartz and rare archival photos, bringing fresh focus to one of Rouse's most compelling records.

Review: A posthumous release that furthers Arthur Russell's now legendary status. Recorded in Downtown New York City on December 20, 1985, it's an intimate, unedited solo live performance recorded at Phill Niblock's loft space known as Experimental Intermedia Foundation. The takes are very raw and unpolished that it makes you feel like one of the very few in attendance. 'That's the Very Reason' is a beautiful, tender experimental folk piece showing he needed very few materials in order to send listeners on a journey of transcendence. 'Too Early To Tell' is highly idiosyncratic and produces a sound not normally associated with cello. And 'Sunlit Water' has an oriental feel and provides beautiful resolve to a resplendent set.