Best Albums

October 2024

- Numbers
  Fergus Jones - Ephemera
  
  Formerly known as Perko, Fergus Jones crafts some of the classiest '90s and early aughts downtempo and ambient you'll hear this fall.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- K7!
  Honey Dijon - DJ-Kicks: Honey Dijon
  
  Honey Dijon's DJ-Kicks is an ecstatic house music history lesson, reaching the peaks and valleys of a mammoth rave set with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Young
  Two Shell - Two Shell
  
  After years of tiring tricks and hijinx, Two Shell's first album is surprisingly, refreshingly and successfully clear.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Mais Um Discos
  Snakeskin - They Kept Our Photographs
  
  A year into the Palestinian crisis, the Lebanese duo reflect on the harrowing images on their screens with an album that reaches deep emotional depths by tempering dream pop's sweet-natured reverie with experimental snarl.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- AD 93
  Moin - You Never End
  
  On their second album, the post-hardcore band bring vocalists into their enigmatic, abstract mould. Here, their draw lies not in decontextualisation but in their ability to reassemble new worlds through connection.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Graded
  Midland - Fragments Of Us
  
  Midland's debut album is more than just a simple collection of downbeat, sometimes esoteric progressive house and IDM tracks: it's a studied reckoning with queer history and identity.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Sneaker Social Club
  Low End Activist - Municipal Dreams
  
  Low End Activist has dedicated much of his career to producing heads-down, semi-biographical bass music inspired by his childhood growing up in the Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford, UK. This time, his excellent patchwork of samples, contorted bass and dark ambient focus centres on a three-day Blackbird Leys riot in 1991.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Relapse Records
  The Bug - Machine
  
  The British producer strips and slows the beat down to see how deep he can go on this compilation of EPs he played out frequently at Pressure, his sound system party series.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Atlantic Records
  Charli xcx - Brat and it's completely different but also still brat
  
  As we say goodbye to brat summer, Charli revamps her hit record with a star-studded thesis statement on fame—with a close-to-heart director's cut.
  
  Listen:
  Apple
- Merge Records
  Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Quiet in a World Full of Noise
  
  Dawn Richards's raw, naked voice sings against the sparse backdrop of Spencer Zahn's piano, telling multi-faceted confessions of generational trauma ultimately grounded in the anticipation of healing.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Dh2
  Kelly Lee Owens - Dreamstate
  
  On her fourth album, Kelly Lee Owens brings listeners away from the topography of her home country, Wales, and into the flashy, hands-in-the-air world of superclubs.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Central Processing Unit
  Maelstrom - The FM Tapes
  
  The FM Tapes, written as a tribute to the Yamaha DX7, is a refined marriage of the conceptual and the functional. The result is some of the best electro Maelstrom has produced in the past decade.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Príncipe
  DJ Lycox - Guetto Star
  
  Known for his romance-infused batida, DJ Lycox turns to R&B and pop to masterfully tread the line between the rambunctious edge of early Príncipe producers and the emotional style of the genre's new school.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- mb studio
  Toma Kami - missed heaven
  
  Toma Kami's debut album balances emotion and detail, full of bright and precise melodies, sweeping pads and rhythms that sway from head-nodding reggaeton to tunnelling breaks.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Music From Memory
  Virtual Dreams II: Ambient Explorations In The House & Techno Age, Japan 1993-1999
  
  Music From Memory's first compilation of ambient music from the mid-to-late '90s gets a brilliant follow-up, with this edition focussing on genre-defining artists in Japan.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

Best EPs

October 2024

- False Aralia
  Zero Key - False 01
  
  Peak Oil cofounder Brian Foote and Izaak Schlossman launch their new label, False Aralia, with an EP of fuzzy dub techno reminiscent of the delicate intricacy of a Topdown Dialectic album.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Kapsela
  Objekt - Chicken Garaage
  
  The promising follow-up to another excellent release that minted Objekt's new label, Kapsela, Chicken Garaage is dark, slung garage that comes with all of the micro details you'd expect from the Berlin-based producer.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Method 808
  yunè pinku - Scarlet Lamb
  
  yunè pinku's latest record brings her laser-filled garage and techno influences to a smoky chillout room.
  
  Listen:
  Apple
- Club Romantico
  Merca Bae - Amuleto
  
  Spanning electro breaks, hoover sound, jungle and reggaeton, Amuleto is representative of the propulsive sounds the Madrid producer has absorbed while touring Latin America and the States.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp
- Kaizen
  Madam X - Homecoming
  
  On her debut EP, Madam X pays tribute to her Greek and UK heritage through collaborations with Andy Martin, DJ JM, Cartridge and Doctor Jeep. The result is four full-throttle tracks that don't skimp on the bass.
  
  Listen:
  Bandcamp

Best Mixes

October 2024

- Upsammy
  Praia - Waking Life '25
  
  This two-hour recording of upsammy at Portugal's Waking Life festival in June is a spellbinding trip from zero to 100. Rhythmic techno and electro at its very best.
- Steffi
  Dekmantel 10
  
  Christmas came early this month when Dekmantel dropped 70-plus recordings from their mammoth tenth edition in August. From the many excellent sets, this one from Steffi is a highlight. Closing out the Selectors stage, she went deep, dramatic and driving, moving through house, techno and electro in quintessentially Steffi style.
- Dj Popup
  Escenia 084
  
  Since the mid-'10s, some of the best house music has consistently been coming out of Denmark, courtesy of the Regelbau crew in Aarhus.
  
  NES label head DJ Popup is continuing this legacy for the 2020s. The Copenhagen-based DJ puts together 70 minutes of deep house for the Mexican mix series Esencia, channeling vintage New York house and the hazy pads of Vancouver, with hints of UK garage.
- Sam Goku
  A Far Blue
  
  Sam Goku lays down an excellent 90 minutes for the latest mix in the Far Blue series. Balancing various textures without sacrificing depth and groove, it's one that's equally suited to home listening and the club.
  
  "I recorded this mix right after I came back from my Asia tour," the Chinese-German artist wrote on SoundCloud. "Maybe it reflects the serenity I [felt] after returning from an inspiring trip-I felt very unrushed while recording it. What I also took home from this trip is a renewed fascination for textures of all kinds, which gave this mix its name. I hope you enjoy."
- DJ Frog
  Sparkling 02
  
  Running parties and releasing music on Doo Records, DJ Frog is a local legend of the Montreal scene. It's not hard to see why: for the latest edition of Pascale Project's new mix series, Sparkling, she delivers a vinyl-only hour of crunchy minimal house and techno, closing out with the timeless "Planet Be (Hashman deejay remix)". One for any fan of Acting Press or PLO Man.
- Soria
  SWOON | 18.10.2024
  
  An hour of sprawling, dubbed-out soundscapes on the latest Swoon podcast, courtesy of Dublin-via-Berlin DJ Soria.
  
  As noted in the description, the mix is inspired "by the main character from 'A Spy in the House of Love' by Anais Nin. Here the protagonist bathes at night in moonlight as one would in the sun, cultivating a power from its rays which pulls in and frightens the other characters around her. A reminder of the strength we have when we allow ourselves access to our own sensuality."
- Andy Martin & Sarcus Soundsystem
  Dub Delights XIII
  
  Guadalajara-based favourite Andy Martin and the Parisian trio Sarcus Soundsystem take the reins of the dependably sick Dub Delights show on Rinse France. The result: two hours of dub-adjacent sounds, from Tikiman to Dubamine.
- Mike Servito & Jeffrey Sifre
  The Bunker Podcast 233
  
  Of the many events across Movement weekend, Return to the Source makes for a consistent highlight. International Transmissions leads the event series encompassing parties like No Way Back and The Bunker, the latter of which hosted Mike Servito and Jeffrey Sfire earlier this year.
  
  "Mike Servito always majestically closes out No Way Back, but what would this combination bring? Sfire brought the heat, and their styles melded in a slightly pitched-down form, music from all eras appeared," No Way Back cofounder BMG wrote of the duo's The Bunker mix on Instagram. "A magical closing set that naturally extended from two hours to five hours of pure heat from two DJs whose whole [lives are] this music and this culture—who could ask for more?"

Best Albums

October 2024

Best EPs

October 2024

False Aralia

Best Mixes

October 2024

Andy Martin & Sarcus Soundsystem