VARIOUS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: In 2009, longtime collaborators Frankie Knuckles and Eric Kupper made their production partnership official via the Director's Cut project. This epic retrospective gathers together the best tracks and remixes the duo completed prior to Knuckles' death in 2014. Disc one offers up original productions, including ear-catching re-makes of some of Knuckles' most famous early works (we're particularly fond of the versions of "The Whistle Song", "Your Love" and "I'll Take U There"). On the second disc you'll find the best of their remix work, with standouts including a sublime take on Candi Staton's "Hallelujah Anyway" and a storming, previously unreleased version of Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine". As a bonus, the third disc mixes the best of the lot together in one suitably gorgeous, non-stop journey.

Review: All-round powerhouse Ransom Note - label, promoter and publication - are veterans on the scene, having promoted nearly every facet of the dance music scene since the early 2010s. This new compilation hears the Ransom Note core outfit team up with Richard Sen, an equally battle-scarred DJ and producer active since the late 80s. The project is Sen's tribute to the UK rave scene of the early 1990s, featuring rare and obscure tracks by artists not normally cited among nostalgists: Centuras, Bandulu, Strontium 90, Orr-Some, Biff'um Baff'um Boys, Epoch 90, Mind Over Rhythm, Dream Frequency, As One and UVX. Techno, house, breakbeat, acid and hardcore collide to synthesise a sonic zeitgeist, which occupied a brief but spectacular four-year period in dance music's early golden decade.