Back in stock: Experimental/Electronic

Review: Three years after delivering a stunning debut album that cemented their position as this century's finest fusionists of Middle Eastern music and analogue electronic music, Acid Arab return with a sophomore set that's every bit as impressive. The basic ingredients remain the same - think Arabic vocals, instrumentation and percussion mixed with heavy drum machine rhythms, raw electronics and mind-altering TB-303 motifs - though the resultant tracks arguably draw on a wider range of electronic music influences. So as well as nods towards acid house and techno, the album also contains throbbing, dancefloor-centric workouts informed by EBM, Italo-disco, new wave, synth-pop and industrial. It's a subtle switch-up, but one wholly in keeping with the French quartet's distinctive vision.

Review: During the 1970s, composer and multi-instrumentalist Alessandro Alessandroni and Giovanni Tommaso were two of the most prolific contributors to SR Records, an Italian library music label whose releases are now sought after by collectors worldwide. Their 1972 joint album "Open Air Parade" has long been one of the imprint's most hard-to-find sets, with copies regularly changing hands online for four figure sums. As this reissue proves, it remains an entertaining and hugely enjoyable set that giddily flits between psychedelic rock, quirky soundtrack style compositions, cheeky jazz-funk and the kind of whistle-laden kitsch cuts that you could imagine providing backing music to a saucy Italian sex comedy.

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.