Best Albums

September 2024

- Imbalance Computer Music
  Monolake - Studio
  
  The tenth Monolake album is Robert Henke's best in a decade. Most refreshing is that after a slew of academic-leaning releases, it sounds like he's finally having fun.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Soundway Records
  Dar Disku - Dar Disku
  
  UK-based, Bahraini-born childhood friends Mazen AlMaskati and Vish Matre have long been on a journey to archive and safeguard the music that reminds them of home—with their own twist. On their self-titled debut album, they accomplish this so well that you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a reissue, not something released in 2024.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Latency
  Nídia & Valentina - Estradas
  
  Two percussionists from vastly different sonic worlds meet up, and the results are astounding. Valentina Magaletti brings a warm human element to Nídia's sharp kuduro.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Warp
  Nala Sinephro - Endlessness
  
  On Nala Sinephro's long-awaited second album, she transforms the glossy ambient-jazz that debuted on Space 1.8. This time, she hollows out the rich, meandering curvatures of jazz to land on isolated arpeggios that share more in common with ambient.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Dekmantel
  Various - Dekmantel Ten: A Decade of Dekmantel Festival
  
  One of Europe's most respected festivals celebrates ten years with DJs inseparable from the event, with uneven results.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Hyperdub
  Tim Reaper & Kloke - In Full Effect
  
  Hyperdub's first jungle album in 20 years lands with an expected bang. Two revered new-generation producers team up and unsurprisingly deliver.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Ninja Tune
  Floating Points - Cascade
  
  After years of putting out jazz-electronica fusion, Floating Points returns to straight-forward, technicolour dance floor tracks.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Late Music
  Sarah Davachi - The Head As Formm'd In The Crier's Choir
  
  One of the most ubiquitous Greek myths, Orpheus, is reimagined through Sarah Davachi's foreboding drone work, unlocking an even deeper emotional resonance in her compositions.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Because Music
  LSDXOXO - DOGMA
  
  On his debut album, LSDXOXO, a producer who once banked on the success of his raunchy edits, makes his pop star transformation. Cleverly inverting early to mid-'00s pop motifs, he gives his sexy, unbridled production a clear running narrative.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

Best EPs

September 2024

- Atlantic Records
  FKA twigs - Eusexua
  
  The gorgeous lead single for the avant-pop star's new album mimics the sensation of a rising heartbeat: smooth, throbbing and desperate to breach the ribs and touch muscle to skin.
  
  Listen:
  Apple
- XL Recordings
  gyrofield - These Heavens
  
  Hong Kong producer gyrofield combines peculiar, miniscule parts to give their flawless drum & bass EP a distinct, off-world soundscape.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Still Music
  Jiraffe - Out'A The Box
  
  A reissue of a propulsive, gritty 12-inch from Richie Weeks' Jiraffe alias serves as a mini time capsule of his ever-evolving artistic practice.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- 禁 JIN
  Cosmo - JIN 09
  
  Four tracks of aqueous house and techno that bottle the emotional expansiveness and cruising pace of Cosmo's DJ sets, full of understated acid tinges and sparkling melodies that land with impact despite their airiness.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

Best Mixes

September 2024

- CCL
  ani/live Fifty
  
  Until this year, CCL had never played the mythical UK festival Freerotation—hard to believe, right? Luckily, the esteemed selector's 90-minute debut was recorded, joining Animalia's vaunted mix series.
  
  "Playing one of the first sets and seeing the room, decor and the big bad subs of Room 2, years of fantastical lore and reality melded, I wanted to keep it sexy, wonky, trippy," they wrote. "Imagining a psychic electric swamp and how one would levitate through it... to the sky."
- Rachael
  Jaleo Real 2024
  
  Originally from Zaragoza, Rachael is a favourite across Spain's underground scene. This stomping two-hour, all-vinyl set shows the Madrid-based DJ in excellent form. Recorded live at Jaleo Real, an intimate festival outside the capital, she moves through techno, breakbeat and hard house (including a killer rework of Brandy's "I Wanna Be Down") with pace and ease. One for any Eris Drew or Angel D'lite fan.
- Samurai Breaks
  Critical Sound Summer Sonics London
  
  The prolific UK producer and SUPER SONIC BOOTY BANGERS boss goes all in from the off in this live recording from The Cause, spinning 38 fast and freaky tunes in just over an hour. Proper Saturday night material.
- Aaron J
  Sure Thing Mix 131
  
  With appearances at Draaimolen, Sustain-Release and Paral·lel, Aaron J is one of techno's best-kept secrets. This session from the 2024 edition of Above Below shows exactly why, balancing introspective records with abstract textures and subtle drive.
- Bennet
  Multisexual Mix 19
  
  Berlin-based event series Multisex is an unabashed house music affair. Hannover-based DJ Bennet steps up for the latest edition of its mix series, perfectly capturing the party's steamy atmosphere, moving through everything from elegant dubbed-out cuts to floor-filling progressive material, all on vinyl.
- Ben UFO
  Sustain Release '23
  
  No one does it quite like Ben. In this live set from Sustain-Release 2023, the Hessle Audio mastermind is in peak form, flowing effortlessly through the many shades of speed garage, wiggly tech house and wonky techno. His impeccable ear shines as he weaves together the summer anthems of 2023 and 2024—Theo Kottis’s "Lighthouse," Pangaea’s "Installation" and Peverlist's "Pulse VII"—making them feel both refreshingly new and warmly familiar.
- Ciel & Priori
  BFC Summer in the City 2024 @ Der Hintergarten
  
  This June, Ciel and Priori went back-to-back at the Breakfast Club in Amsterdam. The result: a near-three-hour recording that's equal parts deep, bumping and squelchy, moving through trance, tech house and bass-heavy techno with ease.
- Miscmeg
  The Lot Radio
  
  Melbourne mainstay Miscmeg steps up to New York's premier radio station, delivering an hour of romping minimal and blissful, bleepy tech house.

Best Albums

September 2024

Best EPs

September 2024

Best Mixes

September 2024

Ciel & Priori