Best Albums

April 2022

- !K7
  Cinthie - DJ-Kicks
  
  A mix of house music, old and new, that reaffirms the genre's most enduring qualities: soul, unity and hope for a better future.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- Leisure System
  Dopplereffekt - Neurotelepathy
  
  The duo's electro gets colder, spacier and spookier than ever on this career-best album of ice-cold beats.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Soundcloud
- Ghostly International
  Whatever The Weather - Whatever The Weather
  
  Loraine James adopts a new alias to explore full musical freedom on her Ghostly debut, featuring everything from emo-inspired vocal tracks to flighty jungle.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- Pacific Rhythm
  Space Ghost - Private Paradise
  
  Inspired by a stay in beautiful Sea Ranch, California, the Oakland producer's latest album is full of daydreaming house and gorgeous New Age ambient.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- Precious Metals
  x/o - Chaos Butterfly
  
  Nu-metal, sci-fi and anime inform x/o's songs of metamorphosis and self-examination, where crunchy breakbeats contrast gossamer-light vocals.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- MIRROR ZONE
  Production Unit Xero - Nexus Points
  
  A journey deep into the heart of trance music from a Portland DIY synth star, courtesy of Spekki Webu's new Mirror Zone sub-label.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Soundcloud
- Telephone Explosion Records
  Tony Price - Mark IV
  
  What do you do when you find a trunk full of old cassettes in a borrowed car? Make one of the year's most charming and eccentric house records out of them.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Minimal Detroit Audio
  Jordan GCZ - My Brain's Brain
  
  The Juju & Jordash member's long-awaited debut album is a sprawling and career-defining trip through Detroit techno, jazz and ambient.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music
- Modern Love
  Debit - The Long Count
  
  Unearthly ambient music made from processed samples of ancient Mayan instruments.
  
  Listen:
  Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- 30D Records
  Terrence Dixon - Other Dimensions
  
  Half techno, half ambient, Other Dimensions is one of the Detroit producer's most unforgiving but absorbing records, reaching darker depths than ever before.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud

Best Singles

April 2022

- Kulør
  Courtesy - Night Journeys
  
  The "fast techno" DJ slows down on her first-ever EP, where she uses her acquired knowledge of tension and release to make captivating ambient music.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- Tresor
  The AM - Black Majik
  
  A reverent love letter to Detroit techno and electro injected with so much personality that it never feels like pastiche.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- Shall Not Fade
  KaySoul - What Is Blackness?
  
  The Johannesbug artist ponders house music's relationship with its origins on an EP that probes the genre's past, present and future.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- NAFF
  Priori - Your Own Power Remixes
  
  An uncommonly strong remix EP that features striking turns from Donato Dozzy, Aurora Halal, Bambounou and DJ Python, who all put gentle but remarkable touches on Priori's trance-infused techno.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- Dekmantel UFO
  Aquarian - Mutations I: Death, Taxes & Hanger
  
  A wild ride through drum & bass, IDM and experimental club music from one of Berlin's most creative producers.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- Hyperdub
  Heavee - Audio Assault
  
  Footwork as colorful and playful as the video games that describe it, and an EP that puts Hyperdub back on the map as one of the most important outposts for the genre.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Radiant Love
  Maara - Goddess Within
  
  In her own words, the Montreal producer tries to capture "that lezzie energy, that horse energy" with big BPMs and bigger melodies on her latest trance-inspired EP.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music
- Floorgasm
  LSDXOXO - Dedicated 2 Disrespect: The Remixes
  
  With larger-than-life reworks from VTSS, TYGAPAW, D.Dan and more—plus a new LSDXOXO original—this is simply one of the biggest techno records of the year.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud
- Planet Mu
  Jana Rush - Dark Humor
  
  Following on from last year's anguished Painful Enlightenment, Jana Rush amps up both the playfulness and dread of her one-of-a-kind take on footwork.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Allergy Season
  Physical Therapy - Teardrops On My Garage
  
  Sample-heavy UK garage that highlights what Physical Therapy calls his own twee tendencies, full of big emotions and tender heartbreak.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify / Soundcloud

Best Mixes

April 2022

- Naty Seres
  SPND20 Mixtape
  
  Naty Seres is one of the more recently appointed Berghain residents, and she brings a different vibe to that storied dance floor, as this mix for Spandau20 illustrates—full of breaks, dubby basslines and other UK-inspired touches.
- Ethel
  Mood Waves Podcast 003
  
  Fitzroy and Club der Visionäre regular Ethel appears on DJ Tjizza and Shaque's Mood Waves series with a mix that sways and tumbles through electro, breakbeat, techno and house.
- Frank & Tony
  Louise Chen NTS Show
  
  The reunited Frank & Tony—Francis Harris and Anthony Collins—were the guests on Louise Chen's NTS Radio show this month, offering up over an hour of unreleased originals. You know what to expect: some of the most sumptuous, atmospheric and beautiful deep house around.
- DJ SWISHA
  Juanita's 420 Mix
  
  A 420-themed mix from Juanita's NYC—if you know, you know—full of bangers with a slightly stoned, laid-back quality, even at house or jungle tempo. In the words of SWISHA, "the only prompt I gave myself was 'what do I want to listen to on 420?'"
- Different Shades
  Animix 74
  
  Melbourne's Different Shades hops on Animalia's Animix series with a remarkable hour of cross-genre mixing across high tempos, from halftime drum & bass to electro, jungle and trance.
- Robotron
  Trushmix 192
  
  Robotron has blessed Trushmix with a two-hour set of all-originals, ranging from electro to techno to house, ahead of the release of his debut album on SJ Tequilla's Shot Of T label.
- KYRUH & Stephen Disario
  WORK Residency Program
  
  Stephen Disario is the latest resident at Los Angeles's WORK parties, and this mix makes a great introduction to his sound, which is heavy and deep, full of arresting details and careful mixing.
- Ben UFO & Four Tet
  Rinse FM
  
  A Rinse FM team-up from Ben UFO and Four Tet leads to casual brilliance—two hours of quirked-up bangers and world-class DJing.
- DJ Netburner
  Mantissa Mix 240
  
  Naarm (Melbourne)'s DJ Netburner has put together a rollicking mix for Mantissa—an hour-plus collection of trippy, often catchy tech house with lots of incredible basslines.
- Apt Pupil (Midland)
  November Blues (2007)
  
  "I was going through some of the first sets I recorded in 2006-2008 after a friend sent them to me," Midland posted on SoundCloud. "This was the sound I was playing in Leeds at parties like Sub Dub / Momentum / Metropolis / Central Beatz and every week on Frequency FM :) I thought it would be nice to share one."

Best Albums

April 2022

Best Singles

April 2022

Best Mixes

April 2022

Robotron

KYRUH & Stephen Disario

Ben UFO & Four Tet

DJ Netburner