Pendle Coven: Marriage of Convenience (Modern Love) - 12" originally released September 2005

Since they released this, the Mancunian duo of Miles Whittaker and Gary Howell have built up a consistent and impressive body of work. Their debut album dropped in February of this year and from what I've heard it sounds half decent. Underlying euphoria proves to be the foundation for all sorts of outernational dance influences. The melancholy associated with Cologne-derived dub, off-centre emotions that Detroit can deliver and the playful tones of Northern Bleep can all be heard amongst the 3 tracks on offer.

Analog~1: B-Line EP (MCMLXV) - 12" originally released April 2005

Since this was released, both Analog~1 and the label have ceased activity. Which is a shame because its certainly accomplished, likeable and really rather good. All four tracks have an expansive, cinematic retro-ist thing going on; this easily could have come out at the height of the whole 'intelligent techno' period. The title track is a languid, unhurried piece of Detroit rhythmatics - smotheringly warm basslines hum along hover biege-box drumbeats. 'Octave' is reminiscent of Aphex at his most prettiest, but best of all is 'Reduced' where circuit-board ambience holds dominion over slow-burn acid. I'm an arse for not giving this the props at the time of release, nevertheless this is highly recommended.

Dusk & Blackdown: Drenched / Submerged (Keysound) - 12" originally released July 2005

Later on down the line, they'd go on to impress with the sonically interesting 'Margins Music' album. There they fused East London street-level ethnic influences with South London's low end theory. But these two tracks are more concerned with mood and murkiness than identifying any global references. 'Drenched' reverberates with an industrial hum, like the sound of car engine; this engulfs the rather pedestrian collection of atonal melodies and snippets of cliched dub talk. 'Submerged' flips the script, eases off the darkness and adds an effective layer of strings to the mix.