Opia 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Jimmy Batt's 'Retrospection' album is a live and direct shot of rave nostalgia direct to your veins. Importantly, the tune shave a modern styling that keeps things fresh. Right from the off and opener 'Rainbow Road' it is clear the production here is next level. The crisp, punchy beats, bright pixelated melodies and warm chord smears all have well-defined places in the mix and make the track really pop. There are IDM influences, whirring machine break downs and stomping techno cuts along the way, as well as a fine remix from DMX Krew. Vital.

Review: London-based label Opia turn their attention to Solar Sound System, who have a playful brand of electro to impart that manages to fuse kitsch '80s slap bass and classic sample stabs with immersive, expressive pads on the head-turning highlight "K7". Nemo Vachez does a great job of remixing the track before another original closes out the B-side - the pumped up roller "CD-R". Jimmy Batt pops up on the B side with the cheeky tweaking of "Magic Garden", and then PO rounds things off with the deep techno delights of "On The Radio".

Review: Since launching last year, the Opia label has yet to put a foot wrong, serving up two must-have 12" singles full of quality cuts from rising stars and scene stalwarts. The label's latest compilation style offering is equally as good. TC80 has the honour of kicking things off via the bubbly acid lines, stomping beats and gentle synth melodies of "Exile", before Abstract Tune joyously joins the dots between bleep techno and dreamy deep house on the rich positivity of "1996 Shoots". Audri's "Acid Rain" is a raw and intense jack-track, while Omar's "Techno Victims" a bustling, minor key electro box jam. Rounding things off is Z@p, whose excellent "Different Ways" sits somewhere between early Motor City Techno and 1990s British tech-house.

Review: Two Phase U has been busy recently and has a slew of releases out in the next few weeks, but first up is a split with relative newcomer Nemo Vachez for Opia. Every release on this label sells out in quick time, and for good reason: it deals in music that straddles a divide between house and techno, with elements of dub and breakbeat adding further vitality. Vachez's tech-funk opener sounds like classic Two Lone Swordsmen, while "Love From Jupiter" has infectious, fluttering metal snares and rugged bass. The flip features something you might describe as techno disco on "Time Is Like Sand Through Your Fingers", while "Yolocreo" is a blizzard of drums, toms, hits and restless melody that awakens your every sense.