Back catalogue: All genres

Review: X Press 2 are dons of the UK house scene. They have turned out everything from sleazy underground house anthems to Ivor Novello Award winning dance-pop crossovers with David Byrne. Unlike many of their generation, they are still full of fresh ideas too - rather than churning out the same old sounds or copying whatever is du jour, they have really nailed a smoky, strobe-lit and club-ready house sound with new album Thee. It is full of their signature chunky grooves, seemingly simple but effective hooks and rock-solid baselines that will get any floor in a right old state.

Review: Last year, former Sons of Sam rapper Raphael Xavier AKA The Xav offered up his first ever solo single, the Amazing Maze produced A.G collaboration 'Come On'. That cut - a genuine boom-bap treat featuring some tight scratches from DJ Danetic - naturally features on Black Duke, the Philadelphia MC's long awaited debut album. It's a hugely entertaining set all told, with Xavier's distinctively fluid flows (and those of guests including Ed O.G and Omar) riding deliciously jazzy, warm and sample-rich "golden era" style beats produced by a cast-list that includes Lord Finesse, Large Professor and Nottz. If you're in the mood for some classic-sounding hip-hop, it's an album that should be right up your street.

Review: The third full-length from one of the UK's "big four" thrash metal acts, Xentrix, was quite the controversial project upon its initial release in 1992. Leaning into a more progressive metal influence saw the band abandon some of their metallic potency in search of more texture and artistry. They've since gone on to refer to the work as the biggest mistake of their career, while it also led to the departure of vocalist/guitarist, Chris Astley, until his 2006 return after the band reformed. Like most albums steeped in artistic self-deprecation and early fan backlash, 'Kin', has gone on to find its audience, with expectation and anticipation now removed from the conversation, the group's attempt to strive for material beyond their integral make up is as refreshing as it is forward thinking for an early nineties thrash record.

Review: A whole series of XTC classics are being reissued right now and the latest is Mummer. It has been freshly cut at Loud Mastering and pressed up onto an eye waveringly good 200g vinyl. It was the sixth record from the British rock outfit and was released in 1983. It was the last record to feature the drumming of Terry Chambers and though it didn't have much album chart success it did spawn singles 'Great Fire', 'Wonderland' and 'Love on a Farmboy's Wages', which managed to hit No. 50 on the UK singles chart.

Review: English band XTC served up White Music, their debut album, in 1978 having already impressed three months earlier with their debut EP. The album had modest chart success, making number 38 i the charts, and spaced the infamous single 'Statue of Liberty' which the BBC promptly banned on account of the line 'In my fantasy I sail beneath your skirt. It sure seems tame by modern standards but it helped gain the band more notoriety for their hyperactive post-punk sounds. While one reviewer at the time said the album was "aimed at bored Yes fans" it was a fine and hard to define debut that set the band in good stead.

Review: XTC's cult 1984 album 'The Big Express' was essentially just that - a 'big expression' of brash indie noise, tempered by the shadow of the industrial old Wiltshire town in which the band grew up, Swindon. In true post-punk fashion, the band combined the electronic Linndrum with guitar, bass and vocals. But the 'Express', in their words, wasn't just self-expression; electronic rock, to XTC, also reflected the quite literal concept of the 'railway express', reflecting Swindon's reputation as one of the core towns behind the UK's railway system. A remarkable album, and a slice of history at that.

Review: Talk about being ahead of their time. Not only did XTC get the jump on everyone else (inadvertently) by predicting the letters XTC would change the course of Western European youth culture from the mid-1980s onwards, they also offered a very early stylistic premonition of the sounds that would, temporarily, usurp rave and associated genres as the pre-eminent adolescence, teen hood, and early adulthood music.
Formed in 1972, XTC are one of those examples of why we shouldn't really listen to what the hype men and women are saying. Struggling to break ground during their formative years - arguably their most fertile creatively - nevertheless the cult followers could see what was there. Most of the rest of us waited for another decade or so, at least, before realising this combination of elaborate pop, punk and art rock was actually prepping us for post punk, power pop and Britpop. Go 2 makes that very clear indeed.