Back catalogue: Breakbeat

Review: French minimal, tech and house master Janaret is back with more spaced out brilliance, this time on Shall Not Fade, one of the UK's most consistently excellent - and eclectic - labels. 'Joy & Happiness' kicks off with crispy tech beats and swirly sci-fi synths while gurgling bass works away down low. 'Silent' is a steamy brew for more peak time moments but never loses its class, and the vibes keep coming with 'Fallin' then slipping into a super cool and breezy late night deep house groove. 'Advanced' closes down with an electro-leaning rhythm that is light up by snappy snares and synth modulations.

Review: Nuremberg's Jayl Funk is a true torch-bearer for the art of funked up breaks to start a party anywhere and everywhere. He's back on Danish label Breakbeat Paradise with another sure-shot 7" of feel-good vocal grooves that should appeal to a huge spectrum of cats ready to get down, not least the A-side joint 'Shake & Boogie' with its infectiously sunny demeanour. 'Not Today' is a more disco-styled affair with snappy Philly string stabs and a slippery groove you could just sink your teeth into. Just watch out for that epic piano breakdown, it might just raise the roof off the joint.

Review: Jeigo dropped a thrilling debut album Cerulean back at the end of 2022, worked in a tune with Elkka for her DJ-Kicks mix and also dropped a mix for Bicep not long ago. Now he follows all that up with a firing four-track EP on Tread Records that again collides different club sounds, great samples and hooky melodies. 'Hatchet's Cave' is hands-in-the-air house euphoria with blistering drums and warped pads, then 'Move X' is a gritty tech bouncer and 'Compulsions' is a bubbly one with crisp hits. Nervous Horizons label boss Anunaku remixes the title track into a bass-heavy banger too.

Review: This is space music, but not as we know it. The Chapelle XIV Music universe is a world unto its own, with leftfield designs, haunting celestial atmospheres, and a dark sense of futuristic dystopia. The third part of the first volume of their compilation series is another broad and brilliant one that takes in some cosmic outlying jungle from Frenchmen Janet as well as Elli Form's minimal melodic madness and juke beats on 'Mirror' next to the reflective synths and elastic bass of RRoxymore's 'Dirty Spoon' and NSDOS's refractive world of melodic dreams, 'BACT-OS'.

Review: Deep In Dis make a defiant comeback with their latest V/A, across which five new jaunty minimal house cuts are heard. Beginning with an expositional slow-burn - Pily's 'Bailo En Circuito', which samples Alma Matris' vocals - we then move into the juddering trance of 'Buahh Trance' by Marcos Coya and then the first mix of 'Badalona's House' by Prince De Takicardie, the latter of which is far rougher and classic in sound. Jnjs' 'X Money' brings up the B with a UK garage turn, a mood which continues with Eren Arif's 'High Volume'.

Review: Bitterfeld continues to blaze its own electro trail with a seventh outing that again its top draw. This one is a various artistic collection under the title For A Bitter Tomorrow: Band 2 and opens up with Salomo's 'Bodytalk', a crisp and ice cold electro rhythm before Interviews bathe you in gloriously deft sci-fi melodies on 'Let Go' and Qwerty's 'Kisela Neman' then brings some madness with crashing hits and molten acid lines. Jonbjorn's 'Chica' closes with similarly high impact electro sounds and raw textures.

Review: Marking over 16 years as an artist, Robert James unveils his debut album Battle of The Planets. A milestone in any musician's career, the LP illustrates the breadth of Rob's tastes and influences, exploring the rugged terrain of planet electronica. Ranging from breaks and electro to house and techno, Battle of The Planets was made during lockdown, a period of creativity and isolation for many artists around the world. Across 10 skillfully produced cuts Rob takes us on an intrepid adventure into the cosmos, where mysterious atmospheres and uplifting melodies sit side by side with captivating dance floor rhythms. Many shades of his personality come through on this album, all tied together by his unique sonic identity; informed by his years spent on the dance floor, behind the decks and in the studio. On Battle of The Planets Robert James presents a distillation of his extensive knowledge and experience into one succinct, highly engaging body of work.