Superjock's latest seven-inch salvo serves up two tasty new remixes of funk breaks classics on vibrant green vinyl. Party-rocking Bristol twosome The Allergies take control on Side A, slamming down an on-point revision of Danny White's 1968 soul jam "Natural Soul Brother". Their version places White's familiar vocal (as well as the original version's fine backing vocals) over a stomping beat. It sounds a little like a Northern Soul anthem of old, albeit with a bit more contemporary punch. Either way, it's ace. Over on Side B, producer Professor Shorthair dips into his sample bank before cutting and scratching his way through a dizzying medley of killer tracks by the Meters. It's a bit like DJ Format's legendary James Brown medley ("Stealin' James"), only arguably even better.

Back in 2006, Benjamin Frohlich and Tom Bioly decided to launch their Permanent Vacation label with a compilation named in honour of their new imprint. 12 years on, the series is still going strong, with this fifth volume offering up 12 tasty, previously unheard cuts. As usual, there's plenty of variety on show, from the breezy Balearic bliss of Beesmunt Soundsystem's "Yayang" and the dub disco sleaziness of Sascha Funke's "Kaleidoskop", to the throbbing, head-in-the-clouds electro-disco of Julian Stetter's "Pearl" and the saucer-eyed Italo-disco revivalism of "Angelika" by Perel. And that's just tracks one to four. Elsewhere, highlights include the Balearic techno/house fusion of Personal Message, the cinematic grooves of Maajo and Chinaski's hypnotizing mid-tempo chug and spiraling synthesziers.

With Christmas fast approaching, Throbbing Gristle founder member Chris Carter has decided to offer up the perfect stocking filler for industrial and experimental electronica enthusiasts: a limited coloured 6xLP retrospective focusing on the early part of his solo career. While it omits his 1980 debut "The Space Between", it does include expanded, re-mastered versions of 1985's surprisingly ambient "Mondo B", 1998's trippy, hypnotic and rhythmical "Disobedient Redux" and 1999's brilliant "Small Moon Redux". Even more excitingly, one of the box's LPs is the most experimental, out-there and inspired of all, as it is made up entirely of previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1973 and 77. In truth, this LP is worth the entrance price on its own.

Disco Halal is, apparently, a big fan of "perfect strangers", described in the spiel accompanying this compilation style EP as "those people you will have a short encounter with that may change your life". Some may find the music on the label's Perfect Strangers EP life changing - check, for example, the chugging, early morning disco psychedelia of The Organism's "Reflection", which sounds like it could be capable of inspiring involuntary hallucinations, or the drifting Arabic flutes, delay-laden Middle Eastern vocals and rolling hand percussion of Kincaid's superb "Tyrant". Both are intoxicating in the best possible way. Elsewhere, the woozy nu-disco/deep-house/Arabic Italo-disco fusion of Mount Kismet's exotic closer "Prunes and Dunes" is also hugely enjoyable.

Since it first appeared in 1980, computer music pioneer Laurie Spiegel's debut album, "The Expanding Universe", has become something of a cult classic; an acclaimed, avant-garde masterpiece loved by ambient heads, experimental electronic freaks and neo-classical enthusiasts alike. Listening to this expanded reissue, which also includes 15 other rare or previously unreleased Spiegel tracks recorded around the same time, it's easy to see why. Sitting midway between the synthesizer works of Terry Riley, a computerized take on "Berlin School" ambient and electronica records produced years later, the music is becalmed, inspired, mesmerizing and otherworldly in equal measure. The title track, a near 30-minute epic of slowly shifting ambient electronics, is particularly memorable.

As Regent Street's lights are hung and the colours green and red take on new meaning, it's the poetic stanzas of Scottish songwriters Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert that usher in a shaded take on Christmas cheer. Bah humbug, no not quite, but an October release around Halloween for this album would make some sense too. It follows 2018's somewhat macabre Here Lies The Body album, with Ghost Stories For Christmas however said to have been the result of impromptu writing sessions from the middle of summer. The better parts of this album may be vignettes, save the title track, but your December poetry to savour nonetheless!

Following the tragic loss of Richard Swift earlier this year, his posthumous album The Hex has arrived via American label Secretly Canadian (also home to Jens Lekman, Yoko Ono and Suuns). Swift was once quoted saying, "most of my recording techniques come from looking at photos on the inside of Sly & The Family Stone or Beatles LPs, or from watching 'Sympathy for the Devil'". Take in tracks like "Broken Finger Blues", "Dirty Jim" and "Babylon" and this comes all the more apparent, but it's the uniqueness in Swift's ways that make the music of the late artist remain singular. A truly memorable album from the dearly departed.