Record Reviews

MAUVIER

Polygonia & Rødhåd

More recently, Rødhåd launched WSNWG, which continues their vision while embracing the collaborative input of others. On the label's latest release, MAUVIER, Rødhåd brings in Polygonia, one of my favorite artists of recent memory, who has earned early notoriety for their dexterous work behind the boards and their distinctive, bubbling techno sound.

Shelter Our Time

GiGi FM

In so much of today’s rave music, there is a dark core that haunts every corner, ready to take us into the deepest reaches of the night. And as thrilling as that is, it is equally refreshing to come across music that embraces the sunshine. GiGi FM does that and more on her new EP, Shelter Our Time.

Rave Echoes

Shed

Shed wastes no time setting the tone on Rave Echoes, their new LP for iconic dance label Dekmantel. Equal parts warehouse communion and ecstatic dream state, the album transforms techno's functional architecture into something resembling a modern ritual.

Fool’s Errand

Air Max ‘97

The Nike Air Max 97 is an iconic piece of footwear: a wavy upper, full-length air cushioning, and maybe the first to take sneakers from the gym to the runway. Air Max '97 channels the same sleek aerodynamics on their new EP, Fool’s Errand, crafting tracks that feel streamlined, physical, and constantly in motion.

North Star

Synkro & Tom Jarmey

For the new release on the UK bass label Of Paradise, Synkro & Tom Jarmey connect for a drum’n’bass-laden beauty that shimmers like dew on tropical leaves. Yet despite the sun-soaked beats, the deeper into the misty forest these tracks go, the more apparent it becomes that unseen dangers are lurking in the shadows.

Tierra De Nuhuales

Andy Martin

On Andy Martin’s new EP Tierra de Nahuales, they plumb the mystical depths of the dancefloor through the lens of Mesoamerican folklore. The title, literally meaning “land of the shape-shifters,” leans into the mythology that humans are linked at birth to an animal residing within — a concept befitting a release on Melbourne label Animalia.

Lighthouse

Sub Basics

On Sub Basic’s third release this year, they land on Pepe’s label Proper Balance with Lighthouse, bringing a notably deep meditation that, while a controlled dub workout, also captures the natural movement of an aqueous environment—constantly shifting and teeming with life, with a pulsating beat acting as a beacon within the haze.

Dopamine Riot

Blu:sh

Following a lush, dub-forward release for Kalahari Oyster Cult earlier this year, Blu:sh shifts into higher gear for this outing on Step Ball Chain, delivering a tightly wound set of house jackers built for peak-time release.

(re)weave

Tristan Arp

Electronic music’s dalliance with dub’s reverb-soaked psychedelia has long blurred the line between club space and natural expanse. Tristan Arp, following up an exploratory long player for Wisdom Teeth, leans fully into that terrain on his new EP, (re)weave, cultivating a dense sonic ecosystem where rhythm and texture move like living things.

Seismo

upsammy & Valentina Magaletti

The natural world is a tumultuous space. On a macro scale, change can feel plodding, even mundane—but at the micro level, everything is in constant upheaval. On Seismo, upsammy and Valentina Magaletti tap into that volatility, reshaping the nature of sound through a series of cataclysmic events—accelerating the collapse of traditional forms to reveal something new beneath.

Violence

Eraserhead

Eraserhead provides a reckoning on Violence, their new album for Love Love Records. The world as we know it is gone; the landscape is menacing and unwelcoming. Grief and hopelessness prevail.

Iterations

Ruby My Dear

Analogical Force continues to position itself as a torchbearer for IDM bridging the mid-’90s pioneers with the genre’s restless present. Ruby My Dear’s second release on the label in as many years follows that same arc of reverence and reinvention.

Blumenfantasie

Xylitol

For her second out on Planet Mu, Xylitol returns to familiar terrain on Blumenfantasie without sounding redundant, refining both her core formula and her sense of cohesion.

Lattice

VaNadium

On the latest release from Dallas-based Science Cult, Spanish maestro Vanadium delivers a sincere and eloquent slice of neo-classical braindance on Lattice.

Fluo V - 5 Year Anniversary

Various Artists

Fluo V celebrates the five-year anniversary of Kindergarten Records, showcasing the genre-bending club bangers that have helped position the label at the forefront of New York’s underground dance scene.

Cilcit

Exm & Roel Funcken

For its latest release, Cilcit, Touched Music reunites with returning contributors exm and Roel Funcken, who curate an album that plays like an unraveling spool of circuitry—coiled tight, then slowly let loose. This is electronic music in constant mutation, its components rewiring themselves in real time.

Descend To Ascend

Second Storey

Second Storey returns for his second outing on Rotterdam’s electro stronghold Frustrated Funk with Descend to Ascend, an aptly named EP that traces a journey into murky depths before resurfacing.

Wriggle

Gooooose

With his first release since 2023, local hero Gooooose makes a triumphant return on SVBKVLT, once again pushing electronic music forward with Wriggle.

Terrā

Aerae

Coming hot off a solid release on Berlin’s D’n’B mainstay Samurai Music, Aerae descends deeper into her own hallucinogenic world on Terrā.

PLAGUE MUSIC

KAVARI

A pulse. A vibration. A hiss. The world being rebuilt through bass and distortion. PLAGUE MUSIC.

Tempa Allstars vol. 9

V/a

A decade later, with the resurgence of its own classic sound, it’s as if Tempa has been resurrected. Rising again in 2025, the label has already firmly reestablished its place at the top of the mountain in early 2026 with the ninth entry in its classic Tempa Allstars compilation series.

acid foundation

Katatonic silentio

Acid supplies the raw materials that enhance the flavor of nearly all electronic genres. Katatonic Silentio’s new extended player, Acid Foundation, follows this recipe masterfully, turning on the burners and cooking up some good old-fashioned IDM.

Echoes of Ancient life

Troy

On his latest release for David Sumner’s Infrastructure New York label, Troy makes a convincing case for tunneling straight to the dance floor, bypassing the freezing temperatures outside entirely.

mindgames 10

kloke & tim reaper

At it again after another year of exceptional individual output, Kloke and Tim Reaper combine forces once more to close out 2025 with a batch of mind-melters on Samurai Music’s jungle-focused sublabel, Mindgames.

‘neoclash’

DJ Hell

DJ Hell, an originator of the electroclash scene in the early ‘90’s and former resident of legendary clubs Tresor and Berghain, digs his heels into the hyper-localized and entrenched sound of Berlin techno on his new album Neoclash, released through his own International DeeJay Gigolo Records label.