Another mix of new and old favourites this month. Top of the pile is the re-recording and reanimation of Marc Almond and JG Thirlwell’s cover of Suicide‘s ‘Ghost Rider’ in a new edition with three remixes by JG. A live favourite (seek out their performance from the 80s on YouTube), this ups the ante and also comes with a great video by Vicki Bennett aka People Like Us. “America, America is killing its youth” – well indeed, one of my records of the year for sure. Dimensional Holographic Sound is back with a new album which doesn’t happen often and ‘Concept Record’ is packed with samples as you’d expect from Ben Stokes who is always worth a listen. Nate Krafft wasn’t a name I was familiar with but I did the cover art for this release sometime last year for Musique Pour La Danse, it went off to manufacture and I forgot about it. I didn’t actually realise it was even out until I stumbled across it on Bandcamp earlier this month, a double disc reissue of two hard to find techno/electro discs in one package.

Ferries were new to me too, a ‘secret’ band who’ve done a couple of albums so far of which ‘Eye Wander’ is the second. If you dig dubby, mellow, psychedelic krautrock then this might be for you, out now on World of Echo. Pentagrams of Discordia are a recent discovery too and their new album is full of their take on the darker occult side of electronica that Boards of Canada do so well. The LP with bonus 7″ sold out on the day of launch but don’t let that put you off. I can’t keep up with The Allergies, they put singles out so often around an album I lose track, I think there are now two physical singles so an album must be imminent. ‘Dig It Up’ is an excellent fast party rap track featuring Andy Cooper and Dutch MC, Blabbermouf with a fantastic animated video.

Andrew Poppy‘s ‘The Beating of Wings’ album, originally on ZTT, is 40 years old! Where did the time go? Probably my first exposure to modern classical composition / minimalism as a 16 year old and still sounds great today. Ramjac (aka Ramjac Corporation) has an equally long history in the rave scene and this new compilation of unreleased material from ’88-92 on Mental Groove Records. It comes complete with period adjacent artwork by Grant Fulton who did The Shamen‘s Synergy flyers of which Ramjac was a part way back in time. Lastly I thought I’d feature KiF Productions‘ ‘Passiflora’ again as it slipped out quietly last month on cassette via Music To Watch Seeds Grow By and I’d missed it. I saw Will from the group last week at Doug Shipton‘s Pour Decisions night at the Tate Modern and he played an excellent set of chilled tracks.

Right, back to work, lots to do… until next month!

Well, the big news is obviously the forthcoming Boards of Canada album, their first in 13 years, the ‘Inferno’ will be on us in less than a month! (cue a million fire-based descriptors in the reviews and any interview headlines). If you caught the ‘Tape 05’ video teaser you’ll know it’s going to be good. Angine De Poitrine are still rocking my world and album No.2 doesn’t disappoint, their rise is seemingly unstoppable although Boards did turn a few heads away from their microtonal loop riffs this month. Another new favourite is Studio Kosmische with their ‘Electronic Meditation for Inner Space Travel’ album which mixes ambience with saxophones and shouldn’t work but does exactly what it says on the tin. I’m slowly checking out the rest of the Dreamlord Recordings catalogue and there are some gems there. Nihiloxica are back with a stomping remix EP, heavy on the beats, and I slid a little Tom Scott reconstructed edit out last month that chops it into oblivion.

In the wake of Angine de Poitrine, several people started posting ‘if you like this then you’ll love this’-type pieces across the web and at least one of them measured up at least in part for me. Meule are really closer to what King Gizzard were doing five years ago than Angine but a microtonal guitar and two drummers is always going to sound interesting. I wasn’t sure about the lyrics first time round but it’s growing on me. Turbulent Space is a new project by Brian ‘Humanoid/FSOL/Yage’ Dougans, that runs the gamut between trip hop, acid jazz and, dare I say it? big beat in places. Cate Brooks has got the 303 out and seems to be conjuering up an album of business funk electronica from the three tracks previewed. Finally, Luke Vibert unearths another stash of unreleased mid-90s Plug cuts across a triple vinyl set for De:tuned. I had the pleasure of assembling the artwork with good friend and stencil artist supreme, Pablo Fiasco – look him up, he’s doing something very unique.

A bit later to this site this month but lots of great music around right now or just on the horizon and the list is boosted to 12 this month. From the top, The Def Boys are Awkward & MC Roughneck Jihad, the beats and scratches are lo-fi the tracks short and sweet. Angine De Poitrine’s second album dropped last Friday and I am excited! Their internet infamy seems to grow by the day and they’ve just announced more UK dates, I hope they don’t burn out. A new album on Astral Industries is always welcome and even more so by Multicast Dynamics, no previews as yet but past glories bode well.

Hawksmoor’s latest is a trip in every sense of the word, his experiments with a form of DMT informed the album and he underwent ‘a complete reset’ in his own words. Look up current interviews with him, there’s a great backstory to go with this one. Clocolan’s latest is darkly beautiful as ever and Dor Wand’s ‘Alchemy of Being’ dovetails nicely with the intent of Hawksmoor’s in that it’s a meditational drift.

On completely the opposite end of the spectrum, Lone’s new LP, ‘Hyperphantasia’ is rave-tastic, turned up to 11, multi-coloured, vocal-tinged, happy hardcore filtered through a sparkling prism. Chilled out it is not, contender for album of the year it is. Graham Dunning’s new tape is out soon so I have to give him the big up for his inspirational mechanical techno creations plus he’s just completed his PhD so I can call him ‘Dr. Dunning’ now. We have a rare outing together this July in Brighton at the Rose Hill Tavern alongside Furrowed and Duplokit. 310 are back with a new album, the first since member Joseph Dierker passed away, completing material he worked on and their music is always worth your time.

The ‘Part Time Archivists / Part Time Forgers’ compilation comes out of Thessaloniki, Greece on a new label, Necessary Unfold, and showcases contemporary techno and acid from the scene over there. Cavs from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard releases his second solo album in late April and, as you’d imagine, it’s drum-heavy but previews include bass, guitar and synths so I’m interested to hear the full thing. Seefeel return to Warp for the first new material since 2024 and the sole preview track sounds very promising.

This month has been all about Angine de Poitrine, discovering their music (and unique look) was a bit of a revelation and I immediately hoovered up everything on Bandcamp. There’s a new album coming in April and UK live dates in May. The main problem after hearing their music is that there’s not much of it and not a lot else like it so I’ve found myself going back to earlier King Gizzard albums to get a fix of similar sounds rather than listen to them on a loop. Not to diminish other releases this month but there’s been a nice selection of breaks and acid forthcoming; last month’s Radiamax release finally made it to Bandcamp a few days after BC Friday and good friends Fundamental Frequencies released two long lost UK Breakcore 12″s, my favourite being 2XDEF‘s ‘First & Last’. Two legends of the rave scene teamed up for a 12″ on De:tuned that I had the honour of designing – 808 State vs Humanoid‘s ‘In Place of Language’ is a 4 track release that spans all areas of electronica with standout track ‘Raid’ coming off like the son of ‘Cubik’. Jem Stone is at it again with the 3 track Boneshaker EP, my favourite being the moody ‘Wish Bone’.

There’s another release I can’t add to the playlist for some reason (Buy Music Club does this sometimes when there’s no streamable digital audio as part of the package) and that’s a cassette version of my Kraftwerk Kover Kollektion mix from 2004. First made for Solid Steel and showcasing cover versions, tributes and tracks that heavily sample the German four-piece, it became the first of eight (so far, there will be more) volumes of the weird, wonderful world of music inspired by the band. For this I’ve gone back to the original audio and made a logical split in the middle – not just a fade out – and reworked the original cover art I’d designed to fit the cassette format. Along the way I’ve updated and corrected several track listing errors now that we have the beauty of Discogs at our disposal to check these things. You can pre-order the very limited tape from Delic Records here

That was a long month and a little bit quiet on the music front for me but I’ve managed to find nine things that touched a nerve musically in the grey, wet January of 2026.
First up is David Harrow‘s rendition of Terry Riley‘s ‘In C’ which, although it has been around for some years now (the edition on Bandcamp is from 2020), has just got a vinyl release on Transmat of all labels! No wonder as it’s a fantastic electronic interpretation that flitters all over the place and is ranked high in my list of favourite versions. Heliochrome is the second release from new label Silkzoo and channels 90’s electronica in fine style whilst Ruth Anderson‘s name popped up in two different places over the Xmas period, leading me to Bandcamp to purchase. Firstly she was mentioned in Matthew Blackwell‘s excellent Plunderphonics book which just snuck onto my end of year list at the 11th hour, then a track from her turned up on Jon Nelson‘s Some Assembly Required show, a repository of everything cut up and sample-based. Check her work out, tape collages and drones from the 1970s. A wonderful 45 by Penza Penza turned up on Misha Panfilov‘s label mid December and the event release of Jan was undoubtedly the long-awaited James Adrian Brown album on Castles In Space. I like its grit and nothing outstays its welcome, I think James benefits from coming to electronic music via a live band scenario, a very original record.

I have to highlight my friend Forsaj‘s new release with Lu_x2 under the name Radiamax on Never B Alone Records, it’s a 3-tracker of the best retro breakbeat acid I’ve heard in a long time, imagine Meat Beat Manifesto mixed with LFO and a good dose of 303 action. I really hope this is getting a vinyl release but at the moment it’s digital only. John Davis aka Datasette released the second volume of his ‘Offal’ compilations recently and this one is a huge 200 tracks(!) covering a smorgasbord of experiments, remixes, mashups, versions and lost oddities going back to the 90s in some cases, you have to dig but there’s gold in there. Graham Dunning and I have finally put the recordings of our first collaborations onto a cassette tape on my Infinite Illectrik label. Entitled ‘E-x-t-e-n-d-e-d Turntablism’ (also the name of a short burst of shows coming later this year) it features highlights from the Fogfest 2023 set plus unheard rehearsal jams and is the first in several volumes we’re preparing for release. Lastly, Tristan Perich & James McVinnie released their ‘Infinity Gradient’ opus last year, consisting of hundred speakers wired to the Royal Festival Hall organ, relaying an unfurling minimalist piece in seven movements, it’s got to be heard with no distractions.

Happy New Year everyone, the search for new music never stops so here’s some bits I’ve been collecting over the last month of 2025 to see you into the next month and beyond. DrumTalk is the alias of my old acquaintance Nathanial Pearn formerly Natural Self and I recently made an effort to catch up with his output from the past few years – ‘The Science of Love’ being a favourite. Healing Force Project recently put out a new 4-tracker ‘D-IW: Prologue’ which bubbles with acid – maybe a prologue to something bigger? RVZN is a new alias of Markey Funk, exhuming old, unfinished drum n bass productions and releasing them anew into the world. Memorials have a new 2-track single out, always worth hearing what they’re up to. JG Thirlwell brings his 40 year+ Foetus project over the finish line with ‘Halt’, 12 years in the making, I can’t wait to hear it but am waiting for the physical objects to arrive as it will be a special listen as I’ve loved his work since I was a teen and he has been such a huge inspiration in my life since.

Fracture & Neptune are back! The dynamic duo who helped freshen DnB back in the 00s have a new single out on Astrophonica and The Gentle People‘s debut album gets an expanded reissue, worth buying for Aphex Twin‘s remix of their ‘Journey’ single alone, one of his best. Barry Adamson is also back, this time with the ‘Scala!!!’ documentary score he did a few years back, preview tracks sound like everything you’d want from this project. ES is an artist and label out of the Netherlands on Ruiger Records which is worth keeping an eye on, favourite track is ‘Food For Funk’ ironically and you’ll know why when you hear it. Misha Panfilov is so hard to keep up with, some artists seem to breath music and his ‘From Blue To Grey in May’ (not pictured above but featured below) is a kind of Terry Riley meets The Irresistible Force collection of ambient minimalism with his usual analogue edge.

One more month and then we’re done for the year and it’ll be time for best of’s and round ups. But what’s been tickling my fancy this month? Space Drum Meditation have a new 4 track single up for pre-order with a release at the end of Jan. Cate Francesca Brooks releases more gorgeous ambience under the banner of ‘The Blanket Tapes’ and Jem Stone is back with a remix of ‘Neon Tuxedo Hotel’ from his ‘The Legend of Kaptain Carnival’ album. ‘Depoimentos Do Futuro’ (Testimonials From the Future) us a new compilation of Portugese Hauntology from the Russian Library label and finally Janine A’Bear‘s album is out on Castles In Space, I think I did the cover art well over a year ago. Paranoid London have a new 2-tracker out and Jimi Cauty under his TowerBlock 1 alias mines the KLF‘s sonic legacy for elements of ‘Music For Funerals and Bricklaying Ceremonies’, the soundtrack to the recent Birkenhead People’s Pyramid festivities in Liverpool. Move 78 release the second album of 2025 and it’s another contender for album of the year, they really can do no wrong at the moment, with this and the ‘Game Four’ long player I think they’ve found their voice as a group. Field Lines Cartographer found his a long time ago and here’s another slice of quality in the shape of ‘Aperion Anxiety’. Honorable mention for Hieroglyphic Being who’s released five EPs of varying quality this month alone.

Another month of great music greets us as we power into Autumn – Jo Johnson‘s ‘Alterations Vol.1’ is another contender for the album of the year list, made up of tracks and remanants that she released as they were finished over the course of the year, collected now into an album with the follow up already begun – check her Bandcamp page for more. I recently discovered the band SML on International Anthem which is why this list includes two of their releases and the ever-prolific Future Sound of London also feature twice with an expanded version of ‘A Controlled Vista’ and a new release, ‘Unrealities’ which sees the release of longform pieces made for the Touched Music online listening parties.

Analog Mutants‘ brilliantly-named ‘Brothers of Invention’ is some contemporary hip hop that throws back to the 00’s in style and Ac1D Vicious is manic drum ‘n’ bass on the Beat Machine label’s Swinging Flavors series of dance 45s. Although we have to wait until January for the album, Barry Adamson graces us with one track from his ‘Scala!!!’ film soundtrack and, because it’s Halloween, it’s time for the latest Delights release, this time from Voxatone, returning for a second outing with some fuzz drums that compliment Adamson’s spy jazz perfectly. Last but not least, James Adrian Brown releases the first single from his forthcoming debut album proper – ‘Generator’ – with a host of remixes from the likes of Warrington Runcorn and Field Lines Cartographer.

A bit late this month as stuff is still busy but winding down on the promo front and I’m starting new projects finally. Loads of new music again to sooth the soul; 2 Headed Deer continue their Library Music Series with the third release: The Occult – very good it is too, reminiscent of early Ghost Box in places. Tezeta were a new name to me when I bumped into Sean from Klang Tone Records in Soho the other week. He furnished me with their new album on his label and it’s a killer, the perfect midpoint between jazz and afrobeat and not a bad track on there. Project Gemini have a new album out with Wendy Martinez but this little 45 I’d missed from earlier this year arrived in the post with it and it hits the spot for me. Sherman Heath is a new name on a new label, Coarse Fish Records, whose debut TGVM EP contains a whole host of tracks and is well worth checking out.

Marshall Jefferson on Utter? Yep. If you dig 24 minute meditational house designed to do Tai Chi to then this is your release of the year, even better is the digital version with bonus 18 min Vertical and Horizontal mixes by Joakim and an acapella. Nebraska has been digging in the DATs again and come up with four unreleased gems, my favourite being the Dudley Moore-sampling ‘Cinema’. Kista‘s new album veers between old school cut and paste hip hop homages to tripped out mushroom folk with hard breakbeats and Move 78 announce their second album of 2025, which I’ve heard in full and is another contender for LP of the year – no kidding. Finally it’s a classic reissue from Polygon Window aka Richard D James, I don’t need to say much about this other than, if you don’t know it then you need it in your life.