Back catalogue: Trance

Review: In celebration of their tenth birthday, Selador marks the occasion in style with a four-track collaborative EP, featuring tracks from 3D, Robert Owens, Olivier Giacomotto, Quivver, Dave Seaman, Hernan Cattaneo, Argia, and Jepe. The opening track, 'Known Love', is a deep, pulasting house tune that feels like an instant classic, perhaps thanks to the soulful, pop-tinged vocals - think LCD soundsystem meets Four Tet. 'Snailblazer', the second track on the EP, takes a much darker turn, with a chugging, EBM-esque feel. Full-bodied and complete with obscured vocals, this is the kind of track to pull out your bag when it's time to really get stuck in. On the B-side, 'Napkin Knowledge' draws on the glistening synths of eurodance, yet still securing the melodies to a grounded bassline and rhythm section. 'Salitre' is the perfect closing track, rising up in a gleaming, ecstatic melody, before delicately returning to ground level. A varied yet firmly cohesive collaborative release - the perfect way for Selador to kick off their 2023 catalogue.

Review: Venetian self-described "avant garde conservative" Simone De Kunovich is back to quickly follow up his last outing in March with a new electro EP on Public Possession. He also ended last year on a high with the final part of his Mondo Nuovo series and seems to be in full creative flow again here. 'Flow My Tears' is an old school throwback with sugary 80s synths sounds and lush cosmic arps, then 'Super Mana Drain' local into a chugging Italo disco vibe that will get hands in the air as it travels to the stars. 'Warp World' is a more heavy thumper but still one defined by its bright and colourful synth work.

Review: Tony De Vit is world-renowned for his hand in pioneering UK hard house and trance, second only to his residency at the mythical Trade nightclub in London - and that's saying nawt about his instrumental fearlessness in breaking down boundaries oppositional to the UK gay scene. 'The Dawn' was first released in 1998 as part of the Trade EP, and here hears a well-timed reissue. The track is glitzy, squeezy and gushing with emotion, and features no end of additional production, culminating in an unmatchably electric feel. Remixed by many artists over the years - such as Paul Janes, Nicholson, and here, Fergie - it's evidently one of many tunes to have cemented De Vit's name to blue plaque status (look it up).

Review: A deliberate exercise in Y2K aesthetics and cyberpunk electrance comes in the creative output of DJ Natural Nate - his latest EP for Hoodwink Recordings, 'Notes To Jiggabot' - which consists of four tracks eulogizing his cybernetic partner-in-crime, Jiggabot (several releases from this pair have come out since mid 2018) and seemingly the object of his fantasmic affections. Whether the likes of new numbers 'Chasing The Rhythm', 'I Will Shine For You' or 'Far Away' originate from some angelic conceptual otherworld or this banal material one, it's hard not to love the signifiers poured into the EP: US freestyle jaunts, pure femme vocals doused in reverb-reverbs and melismatic hums; hyper-compressed, lightsabre-sculpted beats and visual cues reminiscent of childhoods spent lost in postmodern futuristic fantasies, such as those of Deus Ex or Blade Runner.

Review: Habitat Recordings is an art platform from Mind Against which seeks to explore a variety of formats and modes of expression, but here they're focusing on the good old techno 12" with the finely curated pairing of Dyzen, Syderal and Recondite. First up on the A-side is Dyzen and Syderal with their catchy, chunky anthem 'Dialogue'. Then Dyzen goes it alone with a vinyl pressing for his digital single 'Radiant', which takes cosmic disco influences in the direction of big room techno. Finally, Recondite remixes 'Dialogue' and smooths out some of the edges for a straight-trucking version that keeps the original vibe very much intact.