Names like Underground Resistance, Moodymann, Ectomorph and Claude Young should be all you need to hear to assure you you’re in safe hands, and the results are stunning, as they twist the disco, funk and psychedelia into fresh and crisp patterns.

Other tracks have a steady kick and soulful samples, but these are made glitchy and trippy in the style of classic Akufen (see ‘Come Close to Me’ and ‘New Love’), or have wonky synth tones that blurt out of the mix (‘Je T’Aime’, ‘L.U.V.’). And the downtempo tunes that surround them also swerve off their expected tracks and into psychedelic and deliciously weird territory. This is precisely the sort of confounding of expectations we love to hear, and bodes well for a long, interesting career.

The xx have undergone a gentle makeover, but what lies at their heart remains the same. Songs for lovers. Songs for the rejected. Songs for all of us.

It does nothing new--its tone barely changes over the single 54-minute piece--yet it makes you feel really, really good. Always perverse, Eno achieves the most when he does the least.

It’s a record of subtle strength, with all-encompassing warmth and chilled introspection.

Charming, incredibly soulful and emotionally charged, this record introduces us to a whole new, golden side of Donald Glover--and should elevate him to a new level of stardom.

It’s what one might call a ‘proper’ LP, with its theme providing the foundation for some fantastic techno.

Bleckmann rope-a-dopes like a voice boxer between the wobbly punches of ambient jazz and chilly chamber tones. [No. 139, p.53]

Album number three is her finest, and most topical, yet.

Nothing finds beauty in exploring dreams of a human-free world. Kode9's strength has always been to show that serious scholarship and avant-garde instinct don't need to separate from dancefloor culture and here, he's made one of his clearest statements of that yet.

It’s a labour of love, with edits laid over each other in places like sheets of fine filo pastry. There are officially 19 tracks, but it takes 42 records for Scuba to build them from.

Strings also form the structure of ‘Fuel The Fire’, one of the album’s standouts. And then there’s the ominous ‘Paradise’, which places light and darkness side by side in a tremendous exercise of juxtaposition. That same balance is present through the album and, combined with Illum’s knack for making everything sound so exquisite, makes it a superb little record.

Even if you’re not spiritually inclined, the music is still proper techno: chuggy in some places and mystical in others, but always total class.

Steffi provides a delectable mix that’s a testament to her curating skills.

Distractions is modern club music that acknowledges its history while still moving it forward, courtesy of one of the best in the game.

[The first track, "Celebrate" is] a stunning start--and thankfully, the songs that follow are just as strong.

With everything lathered in exquisite, 90s-sounding euphoria, the duo prove to be irresistible, once again.

If ‘Safe’ was Visionist’s “personal portrait of anxiety”, then ‘Value’ is his awakening.

The spirits of Vangelis, Wendy Carlos and John Carpenter permeate throughout, and it feels like no exaggeration to suggest that Lopatin could soon join them in the pantheon of great electronic soundtrack composers.

Lonely Planet is an exquisitely lush and naturalistic affair with humid jungle atmospheres, bird calls, yawning chords and fluttering melodies all encouraging you to lay back in the sun and let go.

This is the record Zomby’s always promised to make, and it’s everything we could have hoped for.

Process is a moving, musical autobiography of futuristic, soulful electronica and brittle r’n’b.

It all adds up to their most rounded, consistently engaging record yet.

The music is more emotive, the confidence sharper, the production bolder. ... All That Must Be is going to be lodged into key craniums for the rest of 2018.

As expected, the new offering from Oizo is a revelation--no-one quite does it like him. Now, with the help of his friends, he’s created another nigh-on masterpiece.

AlunaGeorge could well be challenging old touring partners Disclosure for pop crossover supremacy this summer.

As a producer, Barratt is the equal of anyone working today, but what’s most amazing is that even after 30-plus years, he still seems to be as connected with the magic of dancefloor moments as he ever was.

Having always been a master at transcending genres, he makes sure his new album includes something for every musical taste.