Obviously he's so far ahead of the curve that it takes everyone else a decade to catch up, having spent the majority of the noughties simply re-issuing old material. But whilst this CD album compiles a year's worth of vinyl releases, it feels like the most complete long-player since 1996's 'Richard D. James album' (I still regard 'Drukqs' as a half-assed compilation).

As mentioned before, this is a CD-friendly pick of 41 tracks he released on the Analord series of records during 2005. Having listened to (and bought) the entire series, I don't think you're missing anything by not hearing the 31 omitted tracks. Sonically it's simply urgent, accessible, electro-pop; crafted with care and incredible attention to compositional detail. There's none of the mischievousness that afflicted earlier works and the whole thing is a joy from start to finish.

The best examples are the opening head-rush of 'Fenix Funk'; where altered synths and growling vocoders do table-top battle with rapid fire beats and emotive piano chords. And the astonishing 'PWSteal.Ldpinch.D' which is the probably the best house tune to come out in this or any year. Help Rephlex uphold shareholder value and mark this down as one of 2006's landmark releases.

'Orchestra of Bubbles' has some kind of motorik / autobahn aesthetic to it: music to back futurist public information films. With a title like 'Turbo Dreams', it's hard not to form images of velocity and transport.

The more poppier tracks just stay on the right side of abstraction, Alien's vocals being utilised as if it were another instrument. But all too often pieces like 'Retina' feel like digital skits extended to CD-filler. What I'm sure will be a common occurence over 2006 is the emergence of the token dubstep track. And their effort, in the form of 'Metric' isn't bad; only the overtly melodic violins turn Brixton's dread into Euro optimism.

From the ashes of the defunct Mego label comes Editions Mego. This is their first release and on the strength of the violent opener, it sounds like it's business as usual. Australian improvisational duo making agressive noises as if they're trapped in some binary frozen tundra. I mean, what the fuck! Doesn't it like never drop below 30°C over there?

Still at least there seems to be some over-arching sense of piss-take going on. Evident with track titles such as 'Apocalypse Now & Then' and 'Flex & Belch'. Not all ear-bashing though; movements like '$2.50' splice eastern gongs and metal fumblings into a delightfully random play. The highlight is the micro-tonal extravangza that is 'Perilymph': thirteen minutes of pure digital dread.

Whilst most IDM just simply switches my button marked 'off' (there's some long-winded story about being a thirtysomething that's seen the genre start, evolve and mutate into the sorry state of affairs that it currently is, but not here). The voracity of the artists and some labels to continue ploughing on is impressive. None more so than Planet Mu.

On one hand releasing pretty daring (as in it'll sell fuck all) works by the likes of Julian Fane, Guilty Connector and Leafcutter John. Whilst ploughing exciting new territories with the likes of Venetian Snares and the recent Dubstep / Drumfunk lot. And then you have stuff like this.

I think I played this record around 5 times over a fortnight period and I still can't recollect any of it. Not to say that it's bad, he's got a specific sound that takes in ghostly rave, lo-fi breakbeats and grandiose orchestral statements.

The Planet Mu site states that this "is his best album yet.... please buy it cos no-one bought the other 2." I can't see this trend reversing anytime soon.

Sherard Ingram's long defunct Detroit project returns with more eerie machine funk. Having roped in the likes of Carl Craig, Moodymann and Anthony 'Shake' Shakir for this last ablum, this is a strictly solo mission.

Has to be said, that there's an indescribable charm to this rough-as-fuck collection of cut'n paste electro. Wonky 8-bit melodies, fast, skitterish percussion and strange approach to composition are its forte. Comes complete with possibly the best / worst artwork you'll ever see.