As a self-dubbed “emotional junglist”, Nia Archives’ debut album is everything we hoped for from the Bradford-born producer, following a recent string of inward-looking releases. ‘Silence Is Loud’ brings jungle and drum ‘n’ bass into the fold with the unruly noughties essence of Britpop and silky smooth R&B at once - a true testament to her versatility as a producer and vocalist. Though layered over rapid-fire breaks, her lyrics are often introspective and heart-rending, or at other times provide a look into where she’s at in her burgeoning career.

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Unlike his regular murky dubstep and grime stylings, Low End Activist’s latest record offers little between the skeletal gaps — a bare-bones album filled with mutant breaks and experimental dub. Each minimalist production leaves a little room for ambience with low-frequency, high-tension cuts that swing between jungle, dub, and garage.

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UK dubstep veteran Hamdi returns to his dub roots on ‘Simplicity’, delivering a “deeper sound” than his usual gun finger-slinging productions. This time making his debut on Deep Medi, a label he’s aspired to work with “for a number of years”, Hamdi unveils three dark cuts that have since picked up support from the likes of Ben UFO, Jossy Mitsu, and more.

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Caracas’ DJ Babatr has rightfully earned his stripes as a flagbearer for the miniteca scene of the Venezuelan captital and the raptor house sound, showing the world the frenetic rhythms of his home city. ‘The Journey’ EP directly references the legacy of house music and the new lineage he has helped forge, weaving his discernible Latin percussion through a sample of Da Hool on ‘In The Groove’ and matching raucous vibraslaps to the tempo of the euphoric piano stabs of ‘Move Your Body’ on ‘XPansion Move’. Babatr pays homage to his beloved genre and well-worn classics with equal ardour — demonstrating the multifariousness of raptor house and the clear connection between it and those iconic house anthems, while simultaneously making us question the Western-centricity of our agreed dance music history.

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Sally C’s Big Saldo’s Chunkers has arguably become the go-to for pumping, fist-waving house music, so it won’t be of much of a surprise to anyone that this four-track EP from Dutch DJ/producer BELLA consists of wall-to-wall bounce. Pulling influence from new-age acid and old school high-NRG house, ‘Note To Self’ rarely strays away from its bolshy, buoyant harmony of kicks, tingling symbols and rapturous breaks — but when it does, it’s unafraid to get weird, with BELLA employing hypnotic synths, bubbling bass and twinkling bells.

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For part six of his ‘Nordic Flora Series’, Varg2™ sticks to his trademark of pairing heavenly atmospheres with slam that lingers just on the pleasurable side of being overwhelming. Layered through those prototypical keening basslines and ricocheting breaks, the Swedish producer pulls in markers to trip hop, witch house, hardstyle and more. This broad outlook can be found on the sugary-pop-meets-face-melting-techno of te Bladee and Skrillex featuring ‘Is there a place in heaven for boys like me’, or the soft acoustic guitar strums paired with compressed bass on ‘Under No Good’. While his fans will be under no delusions as to his eclecticism, Varg2™ shows off a discernible versatility on ‘Nordic Flora Series, Pt.6: Outlaw Music’ that manages to ensure every track stands alone, while sounding unmistakably of his design.

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The Mellow Grime wave is an unexpected but refreshing development in a scene many mistakenly called dead, propelled to fame with video edits going viral over TikTok, featuring old Skepta, JME and Wiley freestyles over these new style productions This project is a collaboration between two of the genres founders, Oakland and Wilfred, and rapper Joe James. forming an introspective, hazy, yet undeniably catchy piece of work.

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New Jersey's Omar ؏ is a key driver behind the phenomenon Desi-piano. Refusing to follow established genre conventions, he has made a name for himself with his heavy dancefloor productions utilising samples from old Bollywood films and soundscapes from the Indian subcontinent. ‘SUFIPIANO’ is a work of art, with Omar ؏ expressing his religion through music, underlaying traditional Sufi prayer songs with infectious amapiano rhythms.

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Charisse C’s debut EP is instant vintage. An exploration into amapiano’s younger cousin 3-step, the first track ‘Angisafuni’ sets the tone, with her mystic vocals contrasting with punching log basses to create a transcendental sound. The next three tracks are assisted by London’s DJ Kwamzy and continue in the same wave, in an EP that perfectly captures 3-step’s essence: powerful yet moving dance music.

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Placing you into a dreamscape of emotional whirlwinds and instrumental points of reflection, Vegyn has dived into a new realm of productions. Bringing together a host of features including two tracks with the phenomenal John Glacier and work from experimental producer, songwriter and vocalist Ethan P. Flynn. Taking listeners on a more gentle journey compared to his previous work, Vegyn, real name Joseph Thornalley, steps back from his work for the likes of Frank Ocean and Travis Scott and steps forward into a new melancholy era of sound. ‘Turn Me Outside’ featuring Léa Sen sets one of the slower tones of the album as it gently glides as a soft interlude that could cause a tear to be shed by listeners. From here the tempo doesn't rise much higher, apart from the bouncy house track ‘Makeshift Tourniquet’ and the electronic soundscape that is ‘The Path Less Traveled’. This project as a whole reflects Vegyn’s poetic yet emotional side with a focus on slowing things down but also the power of the spoken word.

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Jumping back into their ‘Love What Survives’ era and after working separately on their last project, Mount Kimbie have produced an album that shines brightly within their wide discography. Now as a four-piece band, they return to their indie-meets-Krautrock sound in an even more elevated way. Written out in the vast land of California’s Yucca Valley, the band captures the heat of the desert as they warm up this project with layers of distorted guitar and whirling synths. While each track has its unique catchy quality, the string that runs throughout the full project is a loud solid kick drum that clearly draws everything together. Vocals throughout the project switch between band members, including backing vocals from Dom Maker to Andrea Balency-Béarn’s euphoric harmonies. The album also marks the return of fan-favourite King Krule with his groaning yet deeply emotive voice.

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On Sainté’s debut mixtape, he reflects on his Leicester roots through the hometown-referencing bars and artwork, while expanding his sound to new territory. With a fat tracklist of 14 individual gems, this project sees Sainté link his production to the essence of dance music, with many tracks employing flourishes like a fruity breakbeat or some trancey synths. Examples include ‘Milwaukee’ where an abrupt synth note carries the track along rather than a typical rap-styled drumbeat. ‘Safe’ is a more obvious dance music-inspired track; produced by Lil Silva - who has gone from UK funky to working with UK rap royalty such as Ghetts - it's no surprise that he crafts a stunning backdrop to Sainté’s verses. The likes of ‘Y2K’ and ‘They’ll See’ are more recognisable rap cuts, with lyrics covering subjects such as love to his ever-growing success.

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Matrixxman’s new album is a revelation. It sees the Berlin-based producer (best known for making driving techno) switch up to experiment with styles like dubstep, drill, garage and R&B. He’s described it as “ a hot mess”, but to us it just sounds like one of the sickest records we’ve heard all year. At 19 tracks it’s lengthy but there’s no filler. ‘She Tweaking’ blends sensual R&B with a dip into menacing sub-bass; ‘88 Keys’ hits with a dark drill beat and self-rapped bars we didn’t know he had in him; ‘Preset Mobb’ is a heads-down heater fuelled by unstable bass; ‘Coked Out’ sounds Coki-inspired and wouldn’t feel out of place in the DMZ don’s discography. We wouldn’t mind this ‘Identity Crisis’ becoming an assured new direction from Matrixxman.

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Syrian artist Omar Souleyman makes some of the most energetic dance music in the world, blending Levantine folk sounds with upbeat electronica. His latest album ‘Erbil’ on Mad Decent delivers on this winning formula, serving up eight tracks that fizz with dynamism, layering traditional and electronic instrumentation over accelerating beats with Souleyman’s distinctive voice at the fore.

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Sega Bodega’s third album ‘Dennis’ “explores the experience of a day in which you can’t be sure you woke up at all.” It navigates this feeling of dreamlike confusion and transcendence with hazy, alluring sound design, crafting resonant textures which simultaneously brim with limitless potential and evoke a sense of detachment. Ideas are formed then snatched away, like an apparent reality that you can’t quite grasp. Other obscure influences being folded into the creation of the tracks adds to to this feeling, such as a 7000-year-old Mesolithic burial site in Denmark which sparked inspiration for experimental pop anthem ‘Deer Teeth’ or the reimagined folk of ‘Set Me Free I’m An Animal’, which began as writing from the perspective of a dog then evolved into the confusion and uncertainty of ending a relationship. ‘Adulter8’ is the highlight, with a muted but rapid-fire melody opening proceedings before expanding with a languied acid bassline and Sega Bodega’s own luxurious vocals.

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Within seconds of pressing play on this new Silva Bumpa EP our tops flew off and our gun fingers raised instinctively. Delivering rowdy UKG and bassline beats aplenty, which are sure to turn dancefloors upside down, the Sheffield native also explores house territory on ‘Passion’ and works with singer Megan Wroe and rapper Capo Lee. ‘Without U’, featuring Wroe, is the EP’s most in-its-feelings moment with a twinkling melody and emotional vocal. Lee appears on ‘Songs of Praise’, which melds his infectious flow around a barrage of screwface tones and cheeky reload samples. Summer is just around the corner and this looks primed to be a fixture of the seasonal soundtrack.

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For a release that’s engrossed in the idea of death, this EP sure makes us feel alive. Building up dense, intriguing soundscapes of ominous bass, asphyxiating percussion, off-kilter tones and monstrously warped vocals, it’s an intense and gripping listening experience. Through this sound design, it delves into deep, existential themes, widening its lens to explore identity, spirituality and socio-economic structures, persevering to find the beauty and hope in ideas of rebirth and rediscovering the will to live. By the time the shimmering resonance of closing cut ‘Noise and Cries’ fades out, expect your emotional core to be altered.

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Fortunately bbymutha reneged on her plan to make her 2020 debut album ‘Muthaland’ her last, returning this month with a new LP that’s driven by reclaiming her musical agency in the contemporary music industry. It goes hard: melding the Southern rap sound she grew up around in Chattanooga with influence from dance music styles such as jungle and garage. Her addictive, distinctive flow and no-fucks-given bars ride above as the album’s invigorating central focus.

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On the cover of Kim Ann Foxman’s new EP ‘We Are Rhythm’, the artist is blended into a surrealist natural backdrop. Her portrait is roughly cut out and pasted into a caterpillar-like outline, above a twisted plant with glowing butterflies behind, all doused in negative hues of purple and blue. There’s a sense of both transformation and assimilation, into something sublime and unplaceable. The music is moving in the same way. The title-track is house music at its most beautiful, with a sparkling and echoey opening diving into a rhythmic pulse with stirring vocals — it sounds aqueous and organic, like becoming one with something bigger than yourself. ‘Dance Don’t Stop’ goes harder, with pounding kicks and bassline, while still surging to powerful climaxes that feel out of this world.

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Released in the month he turned 30, the internet’s favourite rapper explores his innermost feelings and the chaos of his career to date in this surprise 30-track album. It’s both an anxious and liberating listen, as Bladee reckons with his fanatical following, creative confidence and growing pains through trademark autotuned vocals. He’s joined by a strong cast of Drain Gang and Sad Boys affiliates (plus Skrillex) on both beats and bars, with voices melding into histrionic beats. What a journey it’s been.

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Bullion is one of the most fun producers in electronic music. Having broken through with his reimagined Blue Peter theme ‘Blue Pedro’ in 2017, he’s been putting smiles on our faces with his upbeat and at-times playful electronic-pop concoctions. ‘Affection’ is another joyous release, starring plenty of jaunty melodies and gently uplifting vocals, as well as guest features from Panda Bear, Carly Rae Jepsen and Charlotte Adigéry. It’s a dopamine hit of an album which will put a spring in your step and, almost certainly, have you whistling a happy song.

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Leonce knocks it out of the park with his debut album ‘System of Objects’. Inspired by a Baudrillardian vision of the experience of dance music and nightlife in all its connected guises (think: “nightclubs, sound systems, lights, fog, community and dancers”), it’s club music in its purest form, inspired by the viscerality of the dancefloor and the existence of being immersed within the culture. In turn, it’s an album that’s guaranteed to move you in the club, hitting with tough rhythms, captivating modular synthesis, intoxicating sound design and some straight-up, no nonsense anthems.

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This compilation from London label Heald invites producers to send unfinished or shelved tracks from their drives to see the light of day in an unpressured environment (with all proceeds going to charity). It’s a fun and liberating idea, allowing producers to put out music that we might have never heard otherwise. And since you can often find people who are their own worst critics within creative industries, there’s plenty of gold to discover — which the quality of this release attests to. DJ Pitch’s contribution ‘Pisstaker 181223’ is a fun and slightly delirious club cut which skips and wobs its way along a syncopated percussive pulse; Alexis conjures an emotionally rich, swelling atmosphere on ‘closing in’; and Terror Peaks supplies disjointed experimentalism; among other highlights.

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