Most notably signed to Planet Mu, Slugabed is Gregory Feldwick, a unique producer that originally hails from the proud city of Bath. In his bio he describes his music as “lazer battles in the future” although quickly asserts that “everyone says something like that”, illustrating his tendency to avoid convention. Quirky, irregular and more out there than Mork on LSD, Slugabed’s music is peculiarly charming, rather like disabled animals or crazy old men who flirt with their nursing home carers. If you want it in simple terms, it sounds like someone’s dropped a robot’s bollocks in a blender and I very much like it.

His EP Ultra Heat Treated, a 6 track labyrinth of mangled bass and impossibly sweet synths, dropped in February to positive reviews and everything I’ve heard from him before and since has been similarly mind-bending. If they ever remake Weird Science (with Kelly Brook please) Slugabed should bang out the soundtrack, it’d be sick.

Listen to ‘Ultra Heat Treated’ below and experience a vivid flashback to the time you got fucked by the Mysterons…

Buy Slugabed tunes at 7digital.

The genius of Minilogue lies in their ability to formulate organic yet paradoxically regulated minimal, aligning vast swathes of atmosphere, hooky rhythmic sweetness and eccentric nuance to heart-achingly sublime effect. Their music is a beautiful canvas upon which many producers would love to scrawl and last week saw the release of Remixed, Traum Schallplatten’s 3 track EP comprising reinterpretations of some (well…a couple of) Minilogue classics.

Dominik Eulberg and Freska have both applied their talents to aspects of Certain Things, Minilogue’s first release on Traum way back in 2005. Eulberg’s instalment is melodic and haunting, spectrally drifting through an array of textures, melodies and intricate percussion, adding countless layers of depth and a glitchy, crushed charm. Freska’s effort takes a different turn however and buoys its source material to a jauntier and more optimistic plateau. The bassline and wonky vocals drive it like a sand buggy through a crowded town centre and the beat shines through, unashamedly waving itself in your face.

Dividing the two Certain Things tunes is Max Cooper, the man behind dancefloor banger ‘Wasp’. His effort expertly injects the anodyne beauty of ‘Seconds (Colour & Sound)’ with a dose of energy and movement, arousing the original’s hidden anthemic potential to produce the sure highlight. Relaxed yet uplifting, it conjures images of a stuporous night time stagger in a deserted big city district and the rise and fall of the relentless note towards the end lends it an epic quality that really tips it into the “something special” pile. I think it’s an incredibly beautiful track and were I not such a strong, masculine man, I’d probably get a little wet around the eye area right about now…

Short but sweet, this is a brilliant release which will surely placate all the heads patiently awaiting new Minilogue material. I would urge you to spend whatever you’ve earned in the brothel on this and turn it up really loud. As a wise yet possibly morally corrupt huge corporate entity once said: just do it!

Minilogue – Certain Things (Part 1 – Dominik Eulberg Remix)

Minilogue – Seconds (Max Cooper Remix)

Minilogue – Certain Things (Part 1 – Freska Merged Mix)

Buy Minilogue Remixed at 7digital.

Dentists should have this album playing on surround sound while they fuck about with your teeth. Who cares if they eventually get sick of it, I’m having my damn molars ripped out here. There is little to be said about this superb album that hasn’t been said already; even the Telegraph admitted it was bloody brilliant and it’s not often they use naughty words or have a clue what’s going on with people under the age of 52.

The album is made up of tracks right, and those tracks are made up of drums and bass and beeps and twangs and guitars and, most importantly, silence. The genius of Crooks & Lovers, therefore, lies in it’s sparsity and simplicity. At no point during this long player’s relatively un-long exploration of contemporary electronic dance music does a sense of uncertainty or bewilderment ever rear it’s ugly head (Editor’s note: better descriptive words needed here; shame author is retarded). Words are boring so here is the official video to ‘Would Know’. The ‘review’ continues after the drop.

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Rave had its heyday in the ’90s and unfortunately, I was just a little kid who was more interested in making Lego forts than spending all night in warehouses getting fucked off my face and dancing like a rag doll. Of course, I’ve made up for that since but it’ll never replace the fake nostalgia I feel when I listen to old school bangers. In light of this, I thought I’d compile a list of the 10 best rave/techno tunes from that period. They’re all seminal tracks in their own right, from the cathartic depths of Orbital’s ‘Halcyon + On + On’ to the comedic venom of Urban Hype’s ‘Trip to Trumpton’, but together they’d probably make one hell of a set…if the DJ was a bit of a schizophrenic with no particular focus. Still, in no particular order, I present to you ‘10 Rave Tunes That Should Never Die’.

Awesome 3 – Don’t Go

Cloud 9 – You Got Me Burnin’

Jonny L – Hurt You So

Prodigy – Everybody in the Place (Fairground Remix)

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Amazing. From the lush beginnings of ‘Perforated’ to the frenetic finale of ‘The Epic Last Song’, Outside the Box is a pleasure to behold. Somehow richer than his self-titled debut, Skream’s sound has matured to positive effect, offering sweeter melodies, deeper pads and a new dimension of gorgeous vocal presence. Tracks such as ‘How Real’ featuring Freckles and ‘Where You Should Be’ featuring Sam Frank are testament to the evolution of his style and the rhythmic fluidity of the album as a whole. Similarly, his collaboration with dBridge and Instra:mental on ‘Reflections’ and the appearance of 8-bit infused roller ‘Listenin to the Records on My Wall’ displays a versatility which has become increasingly evident in his work with Magnetic Man. This is no surprise as Skream’s involvement in the development and innovation of dubstep is undeniable and I believe that from every angle Outside the Box is another step in the progression of the genre’s unspoken yet over-arching blueprint.

With all this talk of maturity and change you could be forgiven for thinking that raw edge of old was gone, but that is certainly not the case. Nastiness is still a tangible force in Skream’s world and ‘Wibbler’ delivers enough to venom to down a herd of elephants mounted by Ghurkas on crack. There are also plenty of other tunes, such as ‘Fields of Emotion’, ‘The Epic Last Song’ and ‘CPU’, offering up their fair share of booming low-end masochism, so bass is by no means scarce. At the opposite end of the scale, aperitif ‘Perforated’ introduces us to the action with a largely percussion free soundscape and ‘A Song for Lenny’ acts in a similar fashion as a light interlude before ‘The Epic Last Song’ executes the firework finish. These two particular tunes are a fine example of the album’s lavish musicality and Skream’s new attention to atmosphere and majesty.

I literally have nothing bad to say about this album. It is a tour de force and should be lauded as such. I just hope the genre elitists can handle listening to it knowing everyone else loves it too. It’s incredible.

Skream – How Real (feat.Freckles)

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Buy Outside the Box at 7digital.

I like Minilogue, I like Extrawelt and I also think Leopards are pretty fucking cool. Basically, this track has all the components it needs to leapfrog the other crap I rifle through and firmly position itself at the forefront of my existence. I guess the fact that it’s an amazing tune also helps…although not as much as the leopard thing, they sit in trees a lot and sometimes they eat monkeys. Monkeys are basically stupid people with cute faces.

Anyway, spacious and impelling, the distinctive clarity of Extrawelt’s percussion enhances Minilogue’s ambient leanings, giving birth to the reason I think minimal is sick. This song is better than the time I found a bucket and spade in Cornwall and spent the day building sandcastles with my childhood friend Elijah, who definitely exists because I have lots of friends…honestly…loads…

I have no idea how old this is, chances are it’s pretty ancient but it’s still worthy of a post. Listennnn!