Best Albums

October 2023

- Métron Records
  Gonubie - Signal At Both Ears
  
  The South African artist presents a masterclass in gently rhythmic ambient inspired by Cape Town's Gonubie River.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Illusory Records
  G Jones - Paths
  
  The wildly popular Portland producer moves from behind the shadows of EDM with an album of crafty club music that showcases real compositional skill.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Hyperdub
  Lee Gamble - Models
  
  On his latest high-concept album, Lee Gamble wrangles an unruly choir of digital voices into swooning, uncanny ambient pop.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- InFiné Music
  Deena Abdelwahed - Jbal Rrsas
  
  Working across many MENA musical styles, Deena Abdelwahed's second album is a radical reimagining of club culture, history and geography.
  
  Listen:
  Spotify / Apple Music / Bandcamp
- Awe
  Laurel Halo - Atlas
  
  Laurel Halo creates the quietest and most beautiful record of her career with help from Lucy Railton, Bendik Giske and others.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Phantasy Sound
  Josh Caffé - Poppa Zesque
  
  On his second album, Josh Caffé embraces a hedonistic alter ego, making for some perfectly executed, pleasure-filled house.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Raster
  Dasha Rush - Contemplating
  
  Eight years after Sleepstep, Dasha Rush returns with a meticulous, gently rhythmic and exquisite ambient LP.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Hessle Audio
  Pangaea - Changing Channels
  
  Pangaea tours UK dance music genres, from garage to happy hardcore, with a sense of humour and brilliant, dance floor-destroying precision.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Ghostly International
  Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arkada
  
  A wordless ode to the bittersweet beauty of life's fleeting moments from the American harpist and composer.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- can you feel the sun
  Call Super - Eulo Cramps
  
  Calling on friends and their own past selves, Call Super makes an adventurous yet homespun record full of surprises. It's also easily their best.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify

Best EPs

October 2023

- All Shades Of The Drum Recordings
  DJ IC - My Story
  
  A near-orchestral, heavily introspective masterpiece of Afro house.
  
  Listen:
  Apple Music / Spotify
- TRT LUV NRG
  Octo Octa - Dreams Of A Dancefloor
  
  Octo Octa's latest EP moves from sensual trance through acid-laced, pacy breakbeat, before dipping back down into softly chiming house.
  
  Listen:
  Apple Music / Spotify
- Fantasy Audio Group (F.A.G.)
  LSDXOXO - Delusions Of Grandeur
  
  LSDXOXO loosens his deadpan delivery and delivers gliding rap flows, expanding his sound into something more epic.
  
  Listen:
  Apple Music / Spotify
- Heist Recordings
  Amy Dabbs - Only Breaks Can Love Your Heart
  
  The first Heist record to touch 160 BPM—in impeccable style—with a killer remix from label founders Detroit Swindle to boot.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Self-released
  DJ Babatr & Arca - MK3TreF
  
  Buttery smooth, ultra-catchy raptor house from two of Venezuela's top electronic music exports.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Nervous Horizon
  DJ JM - Abnormal
  
  A techno EP full of strange turns and irregular notes that cuts and sizzles like electrified barbed wire.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Self-released
  OSSX - WHO HAS THE TIME
  
  Three more pitch-perfect club edits from three of the best East Coast club DJs.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Naya Beat Records
  Asha Puthli - Disco Mystic: Select Remixes Volume 1
  
  Sensuous disco-jazz fusion from the '70s gets a four-on-the-floor makeover from Maurice Fulton, Psychemagik and others.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp / Apple Music / Spotify
- Accidental Meetings
  Angel Rocket - 2
  
  A leading light in Accidental Meetings' expanding sonic universe, Angel Rocket return with an EP of racing, restless and beautifully unrefined club music.
  
  Listen:
  Apple Music / Spotify
- Bring Dat Ass
  Toribio - Tongue In Cheeks
  
  A boundary-breaking EP that mixes the Brooklyn producer's most ribald and playful side with a darker twist on the flip.
  
  Listen:
  Apple Music / Spotify

Best Mixes

October 2023

- Amar Ediriwira
  Blue Screen: Edward Said's After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives
  
  This episode of Blue Screen on NTS Radio features a recording of a 1986 talk between Edward Said and Salman Rushdie about Palestinian identity, soundtracked by music from the region.
- Razbark
  Distant Signals 030
  
  Razrbark hops on the increasingly essential Distant Signals series for 90 minutes of chugging, mid-tempo goodness.
- Kanem
  Not Bad For A Girl (Reform Radio)
  
  Groovy, soulful and occasionally jazz-inflected house on this excellent Not Bad For A Girl set on Manchester's Reform Radio.
- Surusinghe
  Dekmantel Podcast 444
  
  This mix is an excellent reminder of why Surusinghe's restless approach to genre, tempo and style is more and more in demand.
- Barac
  Shamandrum Session 001
  
  Barac launches his Shamandrum Session series with a two-hour mix focusing on the squishier, mossier and stranger end of his style.
- blairo
  nothing gold can stay
  
  Glasgow DJ blairo mixes dance music with dream pop from acts like Mazzy Star, My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins.
- Bluecommand
  Tumulto Mixtape 008
  
  On this mix for the Tumulto agency, Bluecommand showcases some of the best artists and tracks coming out of Mexico, spanning dub techno, garage and chunky house.
- Actress
  Outro Lado - Waking Life '23
  
  The enigmatic Actress in party-starting mode.
- Somatic Rituals
  GiGi FM On NTS
  
  The Basel trio craft sets that sound like ethereal realms. Songs melt into each other, pads echo into endless space and melodies patter like raindrops.
- Marco Shuttle
  Live @ The Great Beyond
  
  This recording of Marco Shuttle live at Minnesota festival The Great Beyond captures everything great about the techno artist: hypnotic, funky and unpredictable.

Best Albums

October 2023

Best EPs

October 2023

Best Mixes

October 2023

Amar Ediriwira

Kanem

blairo

Somatic Rituals