VARIOUS Vinyl & CDs

Review: Steven Julien has been in his own musical world since he first started putting out beats. He blends everything from hip-hop and house to funk and soul in his always emotionally raw, frayed edge sounds. Because of that breath in his sound, the Londoner is the perfect candidate for a DJ-kicks mix and so it proves as he journeys from the sofa to the club and back again with tunes of his own next to jams from across the ages and the genres. Ryuichi Sakamoto, Brothermartino, My Girlfriend and more all feature in a well-mixed, well-programmed set that contrasts bright keys with dirty basslines, and boogie funk with more sleek machine rhythms.

Review: Swiss DJ Princess P presents a new selector's compilation and journey, spanning over a decade's worth of rare lo-fi, post-rocky and indietronic builds, all awash with the blanket buzzes of tape and saturation. Sporting liner notes from Optimo's JD Twitch, this is a wonderfully rare case of a properly yet individually released mix album. The music spans West Coast US dance music, industrial, and kitsch pop effusions from 1980 to the present, sporting a wide array of "file under" tags including rave, retro, space rock, cosmic, introspective, minimal, acid, ambient, and transcendental (to name only a few essential keywords). The full gamut of dreaminess is laid down here, peaking at the Natalie Beridze lo-fi breaks cut 'Forever Has No Shadow'.

Review: Global Underground has always been right up there with some of the most esteemed mix series brands in all of dance music. It is long-running and has many seminal entries from top names soundtracking various hotspots around the world. This new one widens the remit and is a more broad collection of beats for the after-hours setting. It's the tenth volume in the series and is another well-curated one with a blend of deep, late-night, twisted and freaky sounds from names like ARTBAT, Dino Lenny, Ede & Seth Troxler, Cagedbaby & Dorothys Fortress and many more, all on nice blue wax.

Review: Global Underground is a bastion of compilation cool and it has been for decades. The series has seen plenty of top tier DJ stars take charge and soundtrack cities all over the world from Budapest to Los Angeles via Miami. It has also saved up a fine line in late night after-hours soundtracks over the years and that sub-series, Global Underground: Afterhours , now hits volume number ten with anther tasteful collection of tunes on CD. The vibes are deep and introspective as you would expect, with appearances from such seasoned greats as John Tejada, DJ Hell and Seth Troxler, and needless to say, is always high on quality.

Review: Brixia Sonora is a musical tribute to the Brescian scene, featuring 12 tracks by various artists who explore different genres and styles. The album is part of the 2023 annus mirabilis of Brescia-Bergamo, designated Capitals of Culture in Italy. The album showcases the creativity and energy of the local musicians, who blend rhythm, melody, empathy and telluric motions into a vibrant sonic collage. Brixia Sonora is a Rebirth Records project that celebrates the diversity and identity of a city and its atmosphere.

Review: Ray Colino's steady hand on the tiller at Kalahari Oyster Cult has led to it becoming one of the finest, most distinctive labels operating in the wider techno-sphere. Notching up its 40th release in only five years, the collective energy of the cult doubles down on its spiritually-charged trance leanings with this righteous 18 track sermon featuring an impressive cast from close family members to headline acts. Whether it's the acid bubblebath of Volodymyr Gnatenko or Maara & Priori throwing down some deadly hand drum tech for the peak time, your sets are about to get a serious re-up of wiggy wonders. At a time when the early techno-trance sound has become so en vogue, Kalahari's clarity of vision and commitment to the vibe marks it out as a true scene leader.

Review: It's all change on the 14th edition of Compost's long-running Future Sounds of Jazz series, with the baton being passed to two new curators: Permanent Vacation bosses Benjamin Frolich and Tom Bioly. It was perhaps a wise move, because the duo - compiling a disc each - have taken a much more liberal approach to "jazz" as a concept. The result is a hugely entertaining two-disc trawl that variously takes in immaculate deep house (Isolee, Marcellus Pittman), inspired electronica (The Abstract Eye), acid-flecked jazz-funk/house fusion (Tee Mango), hypnotic techno and spacey tech-house (Matt O'Brien, Aubrey, Herzel), synth-Balearica (Jex Opolis, I:Cube remixing Jose Padilla), ambient (Move D, Luke Abbot) and, of course, proper contemporary jazz (Yusuf Kamaal, Roman Flugel).