808 State: Prebuild (Rephlex) - CD
Really no need to go through 808 State's contribution to dance music (plenty of resources out there). 'Prebuild' is a collection of old and unreleased tracks from their very early years. A strange mix of demo tapes, live sessions and radio shows.

I guess the first thing that hits you is the immediate lo-fi feel to the album. From the scratchy cassette recordings of Gerald Simpson's acid aggression (the hardest tracks here) to the harsh hi-end repetition of tracks like 'Sex Mechanic'. It's a relentless, piercing palette to consume that no amount of iTunes EQ'ing will fix.

I'd be lying if I said everything on here has stood the test of time. Sometimes the introduction of the acid bassline merely covers up the compositional cracks elsewhere in the track. It only seems to work on the more poppier acid house moments like 'Automatic'.

A smart, intriguing sonic document of Manchester's electronic underground.

Lasse Marhaug: The shape of rock to come (Smalltown Supersound) - CD
Having bled to death the sonic barrage that is 'Metal Music Machine'. I thought it to be good form to staple some words to Lasse Marhaug's earlier solitary excursion. Whereas the Jazkamer album had its roots entrenched in dark metal, this employs electronics and as a by product, explores more abstract compositional avenues.

'Sleeper' is the one for me: a twenty minute narrative documenting the motion of some outerworld malevolent force: the birth of a wormhole. 'Magmadiver' (how ace is that for a title) takes a macro look at insect-level noise; swarm pattern data run through realtime algorithms. This is a beautiful record.

Kevin Saunderson: Faces & Phases (Planet E) - 2 x CD
Utterly sublime collection of music from one of the originators of Detroit Techno. It was very easy to get over-analytical about this particular strand of dance music. Loaded with so many meanings that were visible; social, racial, political, geographical. As well those that were invisible. It was a fascinating genre to take apart at the time. Especially for someone like me, an Asian teenager living in the Midlands surrounded by people who were into baggy.

Unashamedly a nostalgic trip, most of what is here still stands up today. A restrictive sonic palette (analogue synthesisers, drum machines) meant that it had to be compositionally creative. And from Neil's Rushton's gushing sleeve notes, it explains how Kevin jumped from style to style with apparent ease. From rave-burning creepers ('Uptempo') to abstract drum workouts ('Funky, funk, funk') to New Order style pop ('Triangle of Love').

Stewart Walker: Grounded in Existence (Persona) - CD
Makes a change from the usual tedious abstract graphics I guess. Techno veteran Stewart Walker's latest has him looking like some tanned surfer dude on the cover. Musically boiling down to is eleven excursions into ambient, string-led, languid house. Neither containing the edgy melodic strokes of the Kompakt brigade or the deep bleep minimalism of Sleeparchive / M_nus.

It's accomplished stuff nonetheless and at least it moves away rhythmically from rigid 4/4. Incorporating elements of hip-hop and therefore has a real live instrumentation feel to it. No standout tracks, but seems to work as one complete narrative. Subtle, understated, impressive.