“Twenty-four years in the making…” is quite a way to intro any album — let alone a dance music album. While styles like rock and rap have fabled releases that are teased across generations from ‘Chinese Democracy’ to ‘Detox’, the stay-current culture of clubland is far less patient. Not many releases in that world can say they’ve been worked on for longer than the average lifespan of the kids crowding the booth at your local nightclub. So any that can demand your attention — especially if they’re by Danny Daze. The icon of Miami dance music has stayed at the forefront of relevance across his decades-spanning career, with an inclination for innovation that has kept him one step ahead. All the many influences and experiments he’s immersed himself in are channeled into ‘::BLUE::’, which is remarkably his debut album, following a scrapped effort back in 2013 that ultimately didn’t meet his standards. 10 years later he’s finally ready and boy oh boy, the time and effort is apparent on this masterpiece. Spanning 19 tracks and designed to play out uninterrupted, do yourself a favour and comply. You’ll find yourself taken on a ride through a hallucinatory 90 minutes of hybrid sonics that’s entirely in its own lane.

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Some albums - in fact very few - you can tell are going to be special within the opening seconds. So immediate and evocative, they almost become a moment of flashbulb memory - “Where were you when you first heard ___?”. ‘Suntub’ is one of those. As the serotonin-soaked synths judder in during opener ‘Pan over the hill’ your ears prick up, lock in, and a sensation of wonder sets in. It continues across the 15-track LP, whch is often dreamy with its soft rock and ambient pop focus, but captivating still in its edgier moments of guitar scuzz and stylistic twists.

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Ciel’s debut album is a breath-taking release, that feels like one of the most vivid representations of an artist we’ve heard this year. The release notes explain the context it was made in, with reference to artistic anxiety and the pain of Sinophobia, and the resolve necessary to form this debut album she never thought she’d find the confidence to make. The emotion, life experiences and dedication poured into it feel palpable, and the way she blends Chinese traditional instruments with the dance music styles she’s often found tearing up a club with is both brilliant and reflective of a singular sonic identity, that’s specific to the point of being unique.

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In our October cover feature, Actress said fans often ask him to never stop making music, and that their pleas have no effect — because he will never stop regardless of what anyone says, it’s something he needs to do. That sense of creativity flowing out of every pore courses through his latest album ‘LXXXVIII’. It’s brimming with ideas without ever feeling crowded, as if the music is a swelling and contracting organism, a living representation of his artistry.

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‘In Parallel’ is a fitting title for a Salamanda release because their music tends to make you feel like you’ve been transported to another world. The duo have been prolific since their debut EP in 2019, and now offer up their fourth album in as many years — but any notion that they’re churning them out is quickly quashed by the distinctive stylistic shifts present on this LP. They go beyond tripped-out ambient to alternative pop territory, with tracks deploying autotuned vocals and careful arrangements, showing more precision than the sweeping soundscapes that came before. At the same time, that overall feel of warmth and the inviting immersion typical of Salamanda releases remains a welcome constant.

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Earful of Wax has made a call to arms to all corners of the UK underground, embellished by a smattering of international sounds, and boy has he delivered. The first half of ‘EARFULOFWAVS2’ delivers Eich’s signature groove-infused bass; Callum Asa and 140’s latest combination which threads the lines between UK rap, grime and dubstep; Miami-based, Mexican-born Mauricio, The Invisible’s latin-inspired techno; a rolling grime instrumental from Brazilian producer Ital Beat; and NIKS’ wild house hit ‘Mimi’s Woo’. The next two are a house-tinged 4/4 UKG number from Truant’s Saturday Night Desire alias, and UK funky tool from OMAAR. Jamiu’s ‘Waves’ is next and is a love letter to all things 160 with the best bits of drum ‘n’ bass, footwork and jungle. Finally, we have a 140 slammer from none other than Birmingham dubstep don Delta and, saving the best for last, an atmospheric, slithering UK techno-tinged effort from Jay Carder. The latest instalment of ‘EARFULOFWAVS’ sees the label double down on its durability and diversity of sound. Long may it continue.

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Clara!’s AD 93 debut is a reggaeton-inspired, six-part EP that presents the Spanish vocalist as “not only the object” of her sexual desires, but “as the subject.” The singer’s sensual utterances are fused into a backdrop of slick and lush production from PAN’s SKY H1, French producer Low Jack and Hessle heavyweight Pearson Sound. Clara! enlisted producers without a traditional reggaeton background in order to “mix their own, unique universes with it.” Highlights include the moving ‘Lluvia De Sal’, a collaboration between SKY H1 and Low Jack with El Manantial joining the Brussels-based artist on vocal duties, and the ominous ‘Gotas’, with Pearson Sound once again flexing his masterful arrangement of space, tone and timbre.

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The second edition of Deetron presents Soulmate on the Zenker Brothers’ beloved Münich-based record label is bursting at the seams with gorgeous, groovy techno. The Bern-based veteran DJ and producer provides us with four timeless tools that are primed for the dancefloor. Just over a year after Deetron’s stunning Ilian Tape debut, ‘Tribe One’, if you needed any more proof that the two are a hit combo then this is it. Rattling tribal percussion, thumping kick drums and throbbing chordal stabs aplenty… DJs, this is an EP that should always stay in your record bag.

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Amapiano trailblazers MFR Souls link up with the creator of the revolutionary log drum, MDU aka TRP, on ‘The Game Changers’, a 10-track collaboration with a host of features joining the trio. Sax solos cut through purring, rolling log drums throughout the record, often meeting the silky vocals of the likes of Malaika M, Khanya Greens, and Mashudu, crafting a jazz-amapiano fusion for the ages.

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Inspired by the folklore behind a Welsh coastal rock formation, The Great Orme, Tom VR’s latest EP ‘Heart Can Still Somersault’ explores hazy club textures and unusual synthwork made to feel “vast, anthemic, and unnerving, but euphoric and purposefully overwhelming”. The resulting four-track release goes deep into the London producer’s cinematic world, building up to a bold finale with ‘Chaotic Folds’, a peak-time cut ready-made for the club.

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Following a myriad of releases over the past year, Bored Lord’s latest full-length record ‘Name It’ landed via Eris Drew and Octo Octa’s T4T LUV NRG imprint, tying together the producer’s recent sounds of experimentation, from Florida breaks to jungle, broken beat to drum ‘n’ bass. Speaking to Mixmag in October, she dubbed this record an “emotionally heavy” release which is less referential than her other works, and features a good number of standout tracks including the opening cut ‘Luv’, and the ever-contagious vocal anthem ‘There’s More’. ‘Name It’ explores the complexities of love and romanticism and doesn’t shy away from genre-hopping across its eight tracks.

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Japan’s 99LETTERS heads onto Phantom Limb this month with his next release, ‘Zigoku / 地獄’, hurling together eerie sound design with disorientating techno. Using traditional Japanese instrumentation, 99LETTERS creates a dizzying sonic world exploring the “morbidity” of life in the theme of “human death”, at times minimalist in its approach to industrial dance music.

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After a triumphant debut album, the Mercury Prize-nominated ‘I Love You Jennifer B’, Jockstrap have levelled it up for their follow-up effort. One half of the duo, Taylor Skye, has reworked the album to be angled more towards the dancefloor of a nightclub than a roaring festival. While a track like ‘I Touch’ feels like it could suit the original album, ‘Red Eye’ is quite frankly terrifying. Overall, some of the essence and riffs are still present, but the track titles have changed, and there’s a definite sense of distance from its predecessor.

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Duskus’ keen eye for detail is clearly demonstrated in his latest EP. Carefully crafted to spotlight moments of chaos and order, the London-based producer gives his tracks room to breathe which works hand-in-hand with the ebbs and flows of his perfectly ordered tracklist.

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Ayesha’s debut album is gripping from start to finish. Abstract textures and thick layers of bass make each song just as chaotic as the next, with the robustness of industrial techno and hallucinatory power of psytrance maximising the unbridled dynamism. Nothing will prepare you for this raucous yet gamechanging album.

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With a conjoined ability to combine the stormy and serene, it’s no surprise that the first full-length collaboration between Preston’s Rainy Miller and Manchester-Berlin duo Space Afrika puts dystopian beauty at the forefront. While ‘A Grisaille Wedding’ primarily focuses on trip hop, ambient noise and drill, the record flexes and bends around sonic influences from the trios disparate backgrounds: there’s elements of psychedelia, there’s keening rave sirens, even some bugged-out club; combining naturally and neatly in some instances (see ‘Shelter’) while feeling like a face-off, an exercise in discovering their own contrasts in others (see the Iceboy Violet and RenzNiro featuring ‘Sweet’). Contributions from FAUZIA, Mica Levy, Coby Sey, and more, further this narrative pluralism — each offering up intricate references from their own backgrounds. An uncomfortable-yet-ethereal melting pot.

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There’s a cloudless appeal in DJ Manny’s approach to the syncopated chaos of 160 BPM footwork, with his minimalistic approach giving his productions an almost soul-affirming quality, something that has never been more apparent than in his new 12-tracker on Planet Mu. It comes alive in the analogue warmth of ‘I Can Luv U’, the stripped-back synths of title-track ‘Hypnotized’, and the silky bleeps of ‘Deep In My Mind’. Though make no mistake, there is still room for some heart-exploding-out-of-your-chest freneticism — ‘Turn Me Up’ comes out of the gate like a racehorse on adderall, all minds will be bent by the DJ Rashad featuring ‘Ooh Baby’, while the precocious rave nods within ‘WTF Goin On’ and ‘Lost In The Jungle’ can’t help but transport you to a hazy dancefloor. Turbo-charged tranquillity at its finest.

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Created “not for vocalists” but to as “music that flexes for different energies,” it’s no surprise that DJ Shadow’s seventh studio album maintains a distinctly new-age cinematic quality throughout — utilising his tech-heavy set up to completely immerse you within a series of differing moods, rather than head scratching references. That’s not to say this sampling pioneer doesn’t employ a number of clever nods; there’s ‘You Played Me’ which samples Jan Jerome’s ‘Got Me Goin’, ‘Fleeting Youth’ which weaves in the delicate piano of Eugene Bowen’s ‘Amethyst’ and some rowdy rock flavour by way of Dust’s ‘Loose Goose’ on ‘Free For All’. However the record feels less like a scrapbook, and more an out-of-body experience — we dare you not to picture yourself on a cruise ride through a neon-lit future metropolis with lead single ‘Ozone Scraper’ or uncovering a Blade Runner-esque mystery during ‘The Prophecy’.

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