D’EON
‘TRANSPARENCY PART III’
(FREE DOWNLOAD)

Bonkers, brilliant stuff from our favourite Montreal keyboard alchemist – and budding florist – d’Eon. Taken from the Electric Voice label’s new compilation (also featuring the likes of HTRK, Innergaze, Horrid Red and Ariel Pink), ‘Transparency Part III’ sounds like a dreamtime meeting of Reichian minimalism, frantic footwork and SND’s Atavism.

JESSIE WARE
‘RUNNIN” (DISCLOSURE REMIX)
(PMR DOWNLOAD)

‘Runnin”, the imminent single from soon-to-be-huge UK house chanteuse Jessie Ware, gets a radical, bouncing makeover from Disclosure – one that proves there’s still some life in synthed-out neo-garage after all. A massive dancefloor tune.

JOHN MAUS
‘NO TITLE (MOLLY)’
(from SMUGGLERS WAY, DOMINO FLEXIDISC)

‘Molly’, lest we forget, caused a bit of a stir this month. Maus, however, thoroughly redeems the word. In its original demo incarnation, the track was a sepulchral piece of burial chamber pop. Given a glossy rework for Record Store Day, the track takes on a new lease of life. Actually, make that leases of life: there’s at least three We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves-grade choruses crammed into the cut. It also proves that Maus doesn’t need to be lo-fi to be charming: scrubbing up did wonders for Ariel Pink’s career, and it might just do the same for Maus.

KING BRITT PRESENTS FHLOSTON PARADIGM
‘CHASING RAINBOWS’
(from KING BRITT PRESENTS FHLOSTON PARADIGM EP, HYPERDUB 12″)

Not to be confused with the Shed Seven dirge of the same name, the opening track from King Britt’s superlative Fhloston Paradigm EP on Hyperdub is two and a half taut minutes of pure sci-fi techno drama. We must have listened to it at least a hundred times this month, and it still sounds as vital and energising as it did to begin with.

MIDLAND
‘TAPE BURN’
(from PLACEMENT EP, AUS 12″)

‘Tape Burn’ is a thick analogue brew, remarkable for its textural plenitude. The droning synths, twinkling harmonics and muted claps recall Pantha Du Prince at his most luscious. The four-to-the-floor thud that underpins the track is delicate and discreet; atmosphere trumps dancefloor functionality. Light dances with shade, drums occasionally stutter and falter – the whole piece is specked with coruscating detail. It’s a very promising transmission from a producer with a deck’s worth of tricks up his sleeve.

NAS
‘THE DON’
(STREAM)

Nas gives notoriously good comeback single. ‘Got Yourself A…’, ‘Made You Look’, and the amazing ‘Hero’ were all big-hitting numbers that compensated for relatively meek LPs – big splashes that give way to damp squibs. ‘The Don’, however, is his boldest opening salvo yet: an astonishing bit of boom-bap blitzkrieg that doesn’t pull a single punch. Nas makes it sound easy without slipping into nonchalance. Who knows if upcoming LP Life Is Good has the chops to match – (his “seriously, is Nas okay?” turn on Nicki Minaj’s ‘Champion’ doesn’t augur well) – but, in light of ‘The Don’, we’re definitely rooting for Mr. Jones.

OCTOBER
‘STRING THEORY’
(SIMPLE 12″)

Bristol’s October has been doing his thing for a while now; Appleblim collaboration ‘NY Fizzzz’ was ne of 2011’s most underrated dancefloor singles. ‘String Theory’, for Will Saul’s Simple label, is maybe his best single yet, pairing gun-metal techno drums with almost comically summery melodies. It’s lovely.

ODD FUTURE
‘OLDIE’ (FEAT. EARL SWEATSHIRT)
(from THE OF TAPE VOL.2, ODD FUTURE CD/DOWNLOAD)

‘Oldie’, of course, is an event song – the moment when, after years of tangled mythology and cryptic references, Earl Sweatshirt finally returned to the Odd Future fold. But, quite aside from the ‘guess-who’s-back’ clamour, it’s also one of the best crew cuts we’ve heard in yonk(er)s. Everyone from Hodgy (breathless) to Mike G (nimble) to Frank Ocean (rapping!) ups their game. Tyler’s epilogue heavily suggests that the first chapter of the OFWGKTA story has come to a close – and what a send-off.

TODD EDWARDS
‘SHALL GO’
(from SHALL GO EP, BODY HIGH DOWNLOAD)

Look, Todd Edwards has the definition of a winning formula going on with those chopped-up breaths and snow-capped keys, and he could legitimately dine out on it for a few more years yet. Which makes this new EP all the more welcome: ‘Shall Go’, its best track, is still undoubtedly Todd, but it’s a harder, sharper Todd, re-tuned for 2012 dancefloors without losing any of that rapturous sheen that defines his classic productions.