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Review: For her volume in K7's legendary DJ Kicks series, Cinthie Christl has delivered a righteous, life-affirming, no-holds-barred club mix that spends much of its time (though by no means all) showcasing old school and contemporary (if self-consciously retro-futurist) garage-house and deep house jams. That means groovy basslines, bumpin' beats, infectious organ motifs, diva vocal samples and surging piano riffs aplenty. Of course, there are diversions -see the crunchy breakbeat dreaminess of Ben Hauke, the squelchy Chicago deep house of 'Emergency Tech' by Boo Williams, the micro-house of BMW and the acid-fired shimmer of Anna Wall - but it's the loved-up brilliance of the classic-sounding house cuts from the likes of Terrence Parker, Adriyano, Ruff Stuff, Amir Alexander and Niles Cooper that linger longest in the memory.y.

Review: First released 22 years ago at the turn of the millennium, Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil has been described as one of Coil's most "mind-altering creations"; given the fiercely experimental and often otherworldly nature of their catalogue, that's some going. The album, which has now been fully remastered, was one of the first things Coil recorded following their relocation to Weston-super-Mare, and sonically it's as bleak, windswept, and barren as the town itself seems out of season. It's full of droning tones, modular blips, metallic melodies, slowly shifting ambient textures and musical motifs that lap in and out like waves. Furthermore, the album's standout moment, the near 14-minute 'I Am The Green Child', is like some mutant, experimental sea shanty crossed with a hypnotic ambient-industrial raga.

Review: Second time around for Com Truise's acclaimed debut album Galactic Melt, which has now reached its tenth birthday. Now presented on rather fetching black and orange "swirl" vinyl housed in a similarly deluxe sleeve (there's spot-varnish aplenty), the remastered album has never looked and sounded so good. It always sounded great, of course, with the American producer effectively defining his now trademark sound - all eight-bit synthesizer sounds, sun-bright melodies, dusty drum machines, arcade-ready electronic motifs and feelgood aural references to 1980s musical culture. Highlights include 'VHS Sex', 'Aircal', 'Hyperlips', 'Glawio' and pulsating closing cut 'Futureworld'.

Review: We always feel that a one-sided 12" is a real sign that an artist are label are hugely happy with what they are seeing up. And Adam Goldstone has every right to feel that way frankly as his 'Edge of the Night' is a classic deep house sermon that will bring plenty of emotions to the fore when it is dropped, either in the dead of night or just as the sun is coming up one morning, much like a tune such as Ron & Chez's 'Morning Factory'. The smoky vocals are well-treated, the smeared pads bring the soul and the drums and cuddly and warm. Perfect.

Review: After 16 years as a DJ and label owner, Kasra only released his debut EP in 2018. Now he's dropping albums dripping in high grade collabs. Gardna, Riko Dan, Yaano, Slay, VISLA, Killa P, T Man and Enei all play a role in this gully-fest as the Critical bossman rolls out a session of timeless styles. Highlights include the A.W.O.L style dark stepper 'Platinum', the Digital Soundboy flavoured 'Shatter' and the mesmerising smash of 2023 - 'BB.OO'. Dreamy. .

Review: RECOMMENDED
If 2020, and the coronavirus pandemic, did anything good for music it was forcing a long overdue reevaluation of the role technology plays. Video games had a bumper year, and it didn't take long for the historic relationship between computer entertainment and contemporary musical compositions to start finding favour with content-starved editorial teams.

They say there's no turning back, ever, and as such the smart money is on albums like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice not just becoming more commonplace, but taken more seriously going forward. Soundtrack to Activision's critically acclaimed video game of the same name, in which players take on the role of a shinobi in feudal Japan, as you'd expect it's a deeply atmospheric collection that invokes misty mountaintops, shadows dancing off bamboo and patient heroics. An OST equal to any major movie.

Review: DJ, curator and producer Dave Lee (fka. Joey Negro) continues to celebrate his 30-odd year long career in music with his second curatorital comp release. The 'Produced With Love' series charts all of Lee's original productions in soulful house and disco, and this second edition includes choices songs by the likes of Destiny II, Leroy Burgess and Andreya Triana. Always collaborative and with effortless attention to funking detail, Lee brings it once again.

Review: Jeff Parker - best known as the longtime guitarist for the Chicago-based quintet Tortoise, and for being part of The New Breed - is one of the many jazz innovators in the International Anthem ranks, and as a result the Chicago based label has become one of the most innovative and essential out there in recent times. His own last album was in part responsible for that and now comes a follow up full player that is made up exclusively of his own solo guitar works. The composer and multi-instrumentalist draws on his love of Coltrane here as well as experimenting lots and pursuing ideas that took him outside of his comfort zone.

Review:  Mental Groove offshoot Music Pour La Danse knows a thing or two about tieless techno. And they don't come much more vital than the self titled 1994 debut album from Jonah Sharp (aka Spacetime Continuum) and David Moufang (aka Move D). It never quite got the props it deserved back then and has been an underrated gem ever since but this reissue should put paid to that. It is a holy meeting of lush ambient design, cavernous dub spaces, hints of glistening IDM melody and deeper than deep techno drums that leave you feeling cleansed inside and out.

Review: Much as it may surprise some, this isn't a new and wryly political band putting the climate crisis front and centre. Instead, Relatively Clean Rivers are a relatively poorly remembered band in the annals of mid-20th Century tunes, although digging a little deeper makes you realise just how much mythology and mystery surrounds this, the one album they gave to the world.

Headed up by Phil Pearlman, of The Beat of The Earth and The Electronic Hole fame, RCR takes you on a peyote-laced trip into the Californian desert to explore more experimental, dream-like ends of 1960s folk rock 'n' roll. Vivid enough to ensure you can pretty much smell the hemp, it's crucial to note this isn't just another one of those stoned hippie albums. The quality of what's on this (originally privately released) record is so good it went on to inspire the likes of Wilco.

Review: Neapolitan Soul's fourth EP brims with soulful house stylings that are effortlessly timeless. Also inspired by deep and afro influences, 'The Heart Knows' comes as four different and equally brilliant versions. The original is soulful house with nice deep drive and a great vocal filled with passion and meaning. After the more stripped back instrumental is a typically chunky, percussive, meditative Trinidadian Deep Naples Bush mix that works the keys, then Neapolitan Soul & Luciano Gioia link up for a final deep mix that is superbly smooth, with warming bass and lush hits all making for a silky groove.

Review: A perennial classic from one of the most important groups in Black British dance music, 'Keep On Movin' originally came out in 1989 and helped cement the London-based soundsystem as a major player in the mainstream as well as the underground. Now as their Funki Dreds label looks back over some of their biggest moments, they move from a remix package of 'Back To Life' to this tidy collection of 'Keep On Movin' versions. The A side features mixes from London-based Booker T (the house producer, not the funk legend) and the flip finds Salsa and Zepherin Saint offering up their own takes - fresh rub downs with all the important bits of the original in place.

Review: Thee Sacred Souls will have your head in a spin and your heart bulging with their new 7" for Spain's Penrose. The group consists of Alex Garcia, Josh Lane and Sal Samano and they have been releasing music since only 2020, all of it on this label, all of it excellent. Their fourth 45rpm is another timeless one that has all the old school aesthetics and frayed edges we love with some new school vocal gold. 'Trade Of Hearts' is a dreamy and woozy number that encourages day dreaming and then lush falsettos on 'Let Me Feel Your Charm' picks up the pace with a more dynamic groove for tender dance floors.

Review: The 80s Japanese pop culture is back with the re-release of Toyama 'Penny' Hitomi's two popular albums. Among them, the 1983 album Next Door is a perfect blend of American and Japanese city pop, making it a must-listen for music lovers. The black vinyl pressing of this limited edition album is of high-quality Japanese import, bringing back the nostalgia of a classic era. This is the first time it has been released on wax since 1983, making it a rare and valuable addition to any music collection.

Review: Mika Vainio's "Olento" is one of the key albums from his fine discography and now, finally, it is available on vinyl for the first time. The sophomore album first landed in 1996 and laid down a new blueprint for minimal techno that has rarely been bettered since. The album is also a fine summation of the Finnish artist's sublime and singular style - icy ambient tundra that are vast in scale but minute in detail, warped synth oscillations that sound at once futuristic but also somehow like field recordings from a lonely part of the arctic circle, and brain melting sine waves that lock you in a trance. Essential.

Review: Coldwave excursionist Shari Vari aka Void Vision finally comes through with her highly awaited Sub Rosa LP on the gorgeously on-point Mannequin imprint. The taster EP "Sour" out earlier this year was a taster of what's to come from Vari in terms of diversity and quality. Sub Rosa contains a little of everything when it comes to the electronic dance edge, where "Everythin Is Fine", for example, takes a techno beat and slaps down some vocals all over its makeup, while "Hidden Hand" is a true Drexciyan electro number. Then there's more abstract moments such as "Slow Down", "Vulgar Displays" with its rolling stabs of percussion and "Queen Of Hearts" with that humungous swell of low-end and quirky, heady melodies. Yum.