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After three stand out eps over the last three years for L.I.E.S. Tzusing delivers his debut lp for the label. Here we get seven tracks of precison crafted electronics, unmistakenly taking the artists signature industrial fueled sound and opening it up to a new dimension far beyond the typical metal beat clang. Emotional, dark and powerful, the album title taken literally means "Invincible East" based on a character (a swordsman) in a Jin Yong novel who must make the ultimate sacrifice to attain knowledge and transform. The narrative goes in hand with the artists observations living and travelling throughout Asia and provides a haunting soundtrack for a bleak future where few dare to subvert the power structures at hand.

Long awaited album from Kettenkarussell! Atmospheric, melancholic electronic listening delight. Six tracks, need we say more?

Ariwo are a Cuban/Iranian four-piece focused on the rich intersection between electronic music, afro-Cuban rhythm and Iranian mysticism. The name ‘Ariwo’ translates as ‘noise’ in the Yoruban Language. In interview, the band confirmed the name choice because it conjures the concept that “there is an idea present” when people engage with their sound. The self-titled debut album is the second release on Manana Records inspired by the Cuban 2016 Manana festival.

After numerous eps through the years, Terekke finally releases his debut album on the L.I.E.S. label. Spanning many genres (dub, dub techno, dream house, ambient, techno) but still with that idiosyncratic Terekke sound, this was well worth the wait. More copies to come in the new year...

The first album in ten years from Dopplereffekt (Rudolf Klorzeiger and To-Nhan) - one of the duo's boldest creations yet, defying expectations while remaining unmistakably Dopplereffekt.

Kelela's debut album spans both the past and future of R&B. Following on from 2015's acclaimed Hallucinogen EP, Take Me Apart stands not only as an intensely personal chronicle but the debut of an exciting and promising r&b artist.

Actress aka Darren Cunningham has a return to form with his 5th album, especially in its first more-techno half. Whilst the second half goes weirder, the whole album is definitely a unique creation of a unique mind.

We are massive fans of the deep-tinged production style of Grant Arsenic. This debut release on his own new label ‘Duke’s Distribution’ sees a double LP of atmospheric grooves that really stands out from the pack. Big one for 2018!

Danny Wolfer returned under his infamous moniker Legowelt for his latest album ‘Legendary Freaks in The Trash of Time’. Well known for his notoriously high output rate, Legendary Freaks captured many of the usual musical motifs that have cemented his status as a truly captivating and unique musician.

Sound-tracking her unerring dedication to living and breathing dance music and club culture around the world, Classic Music Company presented this double 12” which features collaborations with some of the most relevant artists in dance music. Describing the album in her own words: “The album is a personal statement. It was about taking these different worlds and combining them to make something new”.

Back with his fourth album, and more genres and guest stars combine (including Rihanna & U2!), as elements of psychedelic soul and luscious harmonies abound.

Just sneaking into the chart a week before Christmas, Finnish sound scientist Aleksi Perälä's ‘Paradox’ guides us through a ritualistic journey of ten formidable tracks. Glistening scales cascade over peculiar tones. Aleksi Perälä explores the powers of an alternative tuning system in dance-floor structures, tapping into the veiled potential of his sound palette with stunning physical consequences. Saccharine and mysterious, ‘Paradox’ channels elements of Electro, Techno and Italo, ultimately achieving a transcendental form of its own.

French producer Folamour definitely made his mark this year with releases on Defected, Church and Moonrise Hill Material where he released his debut opus.The excellent album is an ode to his love of Japanese culture and mixes up beats and house samples, disco swing and future jazz in ways that work both in the club and your living room.

Floating Points expanded from the solo project of Sam Shepherd to this huge project around a short film,a thrilling sonic exploration of environment under an endless desert sky. The first in a planned series of environmental recordings by Floating Points to be filmed and recorded at different locations around the world; the recording was made last year, as Floating Points travelled to the Mojave to rehearse in between US touring. Immediately struck by the distinct sonic tapestry created by the rock formations and valleys, Sam and the band set up a recording operation and filmed this new work at the base of the natural sculptures they encountered. The music of Reflections - Mojave Desert mirrors the landscape: soaring and vast, dynamic and intimate, centred around two longer works and shorter pieces that create a singular and seamless experience.

UK pioneers/masters Dego (4hero) and Kaidi Tatham go back to back on their first album on Sound Signature! A perfect balance between true-to-the-roots soul / jazz-funk and nu-jazz / broken beat. Swirling rhodes and off-kilter beats to get you swinging.

It was a landmark year for the new stars of the UK Jazz scene. New audiences and listeners were drawn to a synthesis of sounds from across the African disapora. Grime, hip-hop, broken beat, afrobeat, spiritual jazz and more are all blurred into a blistering stretch of fifteen tracks on 'Journey To the Mountain of Forever'. Binker & Moses, supported by an all star cast, provided the most thorough statement of the South London Jazz sound in 2017.

Mount Kimbie released their third studio album this year. It is full of experimentation and fusions of different styles. There is balearia, pop tropes and beautiful electronica-infused rock. Guest spots include vocalists King Krule, Andrea Balency and James Blake.

Andrew Weatherall has had a massive infleunce on pop and club music over the past decades. His genre-bending remixes of Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, New Order etc are noteworthy mentions. In the 90's, with his influence, club music got an injection of rock and roll and vice versa. His latest album, Qualia, is fantastic. Dance music is fused again with rock and what is produced is Weatherall's own individual sound. Expect quirky dance floor bombs and some fine synth workouts!

From KiNK’s early productions with Neville Watson to his smash-hit for Ovum, a cerebral album for Macro, tons of remixes & tracks and his mind-bending live act, Playground seems to take all that into a blender. Simultaneously a sound-summary and the exhibition of an artist in his prime, it also works as a sort of KiNK dictionary.

Let electronics guru James Holden and his newly-expanded band The Animal Spirits transport us to a magical other world with this third album: a bold new set of synth-led folk-trance standards, fusing elements of psychedelia, krautrock, world and spiritual jazz with Holden's usual propulsive melodic vigour into his most ambitious - but also most accessible - work to date.

Immersive music with a distinctive aquatic quality. Inspired by Detroit & Berlin s dance genres, but tempered by more ambience / atmosphere than one would expect from those genres.

Laurel Halo released her third LP this year with a return to Hyperdub. Dust is an album revolving around loose and languid songs; warped, sun-filled, melted and at times, heavy-hearted and obscure. The album features woody instrumentation, heavy sub bass and restless electronics. It strikes a great balance between pop and experimental.

The prolific LA-based avante-garde composer William Basinski produced 'A Shadow In Time' this year using the Voyetra 8 synthesiser. Basinski is famous for his tape loops and impressionist sound. The album contains two tracks, one per side and is a celestial journey through drone and melody. One side, 'For David Robert Jones', is a eulogy to David Bowie. Recommended for home listening and soothing weary minds!

It may have been his third album but fis first on XL and his first to show him as a well-rounded artist in his own right. The Venezuela-born, London-based artist also dazzled at Sonar and other festivals with his live performance!

For only their second release, consistently excellent 12th Isle proudly flung 'Blubber Tottum' into the waxen sonic abyss for your full listening pleasure. The inaugural LP drubbed from the Glaswegian machines of Cru Servers is perhaps best framed as what it would sound like if early life took its first steps out of the primordial gloop, dragged itself ashore, decided to make dance music and discovered they had a knack for it. It dangles precariously in the fault lines between discordantly melodic rhythm tracks, steadily paced chaos and swamp-soaked bass oddities. Laden with eerily familiar samples yet always in a world of its own.