Hesaitix ‘Noctian Airgap’ (PAN)
It’s been seven years since James Whipple released his last album on PAN as M.E.S.H., containing some of the best music of the last decade. His style of blending a diverse aural spectrum was hugely influential when club music titled towards the future. Now we’re there, he’s back on PAN for a new LP under the alias Hesaitix that reflects the impact of his prior work, sounding like the pinnacle of a contemporary experimental landscape he helped mould. It’s expansive, impactful, affecting music that’s a late buzzer beater among the year’s best.
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V/A ‘V/A Vol. 3’ (Herrensauna)
Beloved Berlin queer collective Herrensauna release a third instalement in their label arm’s compilation series. Opening with a blend of boisterous club sonics and choral vocals from Cora, it stays on an experimental tip with eerie ambient-acid from Sepehr, off-kilter proggy techno from Roza Terenzi, rowdy jungle stylings from Fetus, energising breaks and vocal chops from T5UMUT5UMU, and much more well worth wrapping your ears around.
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Aphex Twin ‘Music From the Merch Desk (2016 - 2023)’ (Warp Records)
A surprise Aphex Twin drop is the best early Christmas present we could have asked for, with this 38-track compilation asserting the electronic music genius remains at the top of the game. Always succeeding in rewiring our brains with his radical melange of sounds and innovative approach to hardware experimentation bringing endless replay value, this gratifyingly lengthy offering will keep us fed well into 2025 and beyond.
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Blawan 'BouQ’ (XL Recordings)
We’re not sure about all of you, but we really couldn’t get into the festive spirit until we received four-tracks of terrifying bass courtesy of dance music’s very own Babadook, Blawan. Bubbling, bounding drums meet crunching, jagged basslines across the surface of ‘NPCs Making Hot Dinner’, before we’re pulled under on ‘Done Eclipse’ as an electrifying-yet-sinister melody and hypnotic vocal sample attempt to break free from the track’s tightly-packed, scuttling percussion. Alternatively, ‘Fires’ allows its silky, foreboding atmosphere to take centre stage via clenched keys and twinkling bleeps; ‘BouQ’ goes even further, perhaps as close to trance as the Yorkshire-born artist would ever dare to stray with a close-to-euphoric synth sandwiched between piercing breaks.
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Batu & Nick León ‘Yiu’ (A Long Strange Dream)
For a fresh drop on Batu’s newest label, A Long Strange Dream, the UK techno faithful comes together with Miami bass and experimental purveyor Nick León on a joint four-tracker, ‘Yiu’. In keeping with the spirit of his second imprint, which aims to showcase music not limited to “peak-time dancefloors”, ‘Yiu’ delivers a collection of off-kilter techno and bass adaptions, packed with glitchy synths and club deconstructions.
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Yumbs, Zwayetoven ‘Soul Buddies’ (Warner Music Africa)
Yumbs and Zwayetoven’s ‘Soul Buddies’ is a project that comprises a year of hard work and collaboration. Combining a spectrum of mellow amapiano with some more experimental and atmospheric tones, the album has a huge range. The project includes a variety of artists such as Major League Djz, Ami Faku, DBN Gogo, Zee Nxumalo and more. Yumbs shares about the project: “Treat it with love, care, and respect as it’s more than just a project—it’s a tribute to the incredible brothers we’ve lost along the way.”
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Radioactive Man ‘Jam Out The Kicks’ (Asking For Trouble)
UK electro titan Radioactive Man returns with a new full-length studio album, ‘Jam Out The Kicks’. It’s wide-ranging – perhaps his most diverse record yet – featuring plenty of his definitive formula of headsy off-beats and basslines, while infused with sounds from further afield. There’s the tribal funk influences on ‘See Above’ to the early ’80s new wave via ‘Sinkhole’, featuring voacals from C.A.R’s Chloé Raunet.
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