April: 18 albums you need to hear this month

Hauschka 'What If' (City Slang)

Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka) has been at the forefront of what you might call ‘alt-classical’ for more than a decade now. His pieces always glimmer with a love of electronica and club music, and he’s reached increasingly larger audiences, culminating with an Oscar nomination for his score for Lion. He remains as experimental as ever, though, and on new album ‘What If’ he’s still clearly very much in love with the possibilities of sound. Gently fizzing electronica meets grand structures and intimate explorations of instruments, and the results are both strange and deeply, instantly enjoyable. With the bar already set very high, he may just have produced his best record yet. Joe Muggs

9/10

Maher Daniel 'Feelings From The Other Side' (The Other Side)

Maher Daniel has done a lot and seen a lot, having performed on the decks at some of the most prestigious clubs on the planet, including a residency at Montreal’s legendary Stereo. As well as all that, he’s released on labels like All Day I Dream, Souvenir, 8bit, Circus and many more. On his own label, The Other Side, we’re presented with his debut album, which showcases his versatility and dexterity as a producer. From groovy dancefloor bubblers like ‘Modular Hallucination’ to wistful downtempo cuts such as ‘Destination In Retrograde’, he covers several bases with panache. This is the work of an artist who knows what’s up, and does the job with confidence. Marcus Barnes

8/10

Geotic 'Abysma' (Ghostly)

Will Wiesenfeld, best known for his multi-layered experimentalism as Baths, changes tack with his Geotic alias to produce an album of sonic simplicity that still reaches impressive depths. The combination of restrained vocals and bleeping pads usher in a sense of warmth on ‘Actually Smiling’ and there are washes of strings and flurries of hi-hats on ‘Sunspell’, as Wiesenfeld creates an LP that’s calming and kaleidoscopic in colour. Keys echo beneath the pulses of ‘Nav’, while his falsetto reaches into your psyche on ‘Laura Corporal’. An album that’s underpinned by atmospherics that flicker between stalling and soaring, ‘Abysma’ is blissfully evocative from start to finish. Leah Connolly

7/10

Various 'Soma 25' (Soma Recordings)

Soma calls on both heavy hitters and newer, forward-thinking talents for its 25th anniversary compilation, resulting in a collection that reflects the Scottish imprint’s uncompromising ethos. Robert Hood’s charging ‘The Bond We Formed’ sets the pace, its heaviness matched by Jonas Kopp’s dark edit of Slam’s ‘Stepback’. Jeff Mills’ ‘A Tale From The Parallel Universe’ fuses bleeping synths with atmospheric touches, while Blawan’s ‘Clipper’ starts minimally before introducing sharp, piercing synths. Adam Beyer’s ‘Just Things’ matches Drumcode’s pounding aesthetic before Kobosil gets even spookier, overlaying Slam’s ‘Visions’ with eerie howls and hisses. Ben Jolley

8/10

Nathan Fake 'Providence' (Ninja Tune)

Nathan Fake’s 2005 debut ‘Drowning In A Sea Of Love’ was a gorgeous intermingling of electronic and rustic flavours. He maintained the quality output for James Holden’s Border Community label but then dried up, struck silent by writers’ block. His return is inspired by a Korg Prophecy, an old piece of analogue kit which was the starting point for an odyssey of strange machine experiments ranging from the epic, almost Wagnerian atmospherics of‘HoursDaysMonthsSeasons’ to the discordant machine breakdown of ‘Radio Spiritworld’. ‘Providence’ is a jittery robot trip-out, but it’s full of juicy strangeness that will find favour with both fans of both techno and oddball electronica. Thomas H Green

7/10