December: 18 albums you need to hear this month

Playgroup 'Previously Unreleased' (Yes Wave)

Over recent months producer, designer, filmmaker and all-round renaissance man Trevor Jackson has fired out a series of 12” vinyl singles. They’ve featured unreleased material created during the making of his Playgroup project’s self-titled 2001 debut album. Now a mass of them (22 in all) appear in album form. They range from Trax-style acid house (‘Move My Body’) and straight dubs (‘Shadowplay Dub #2’) to electro cuts (‘Live At The Fun House’) and techno experimentalism (‘Hey Hey’). What they all have in common is a murky potency that’s hypnotic, unpolished and many miles from EDM. It’s not all gold, but there’s enough here to justify excitement among those who like their grooves dubby and dirty as soot. Thomas H Green

8/10