In the meantime, my attempts to be more social have resulted in some local DJ action. Well....local to me anyway. I'll be manning the BlackBook over the course of three days at the "Never Say When: 30 years of Broken Flag" weekender at The Dome in Tufnell Park. Co-organised by the lovely Pete from Archway's Second Layer Records and Harbringer Sound.

Erring towards the noisier end of the rock spectrum. I can't confess to knowing all the bands on the bill. But personally am looking forward to live sets from Consumer Electronics (one half of the defunct Whitehouse), Ramleh, Skullflower and Tommi Keranen - who records with the legendary Lasse Marhaug under the delightful name of Testicle Hazard.

To offset all that harshness, I'll be pushing the low end with more bassy / ethnic / danceable music. Do come and say hi and even throw some suggestions my way.

For more information go to http://www.secondlayer.co.uk/live-info.asp

Alva Noto: Univrs LP (Raster Noton) Always look forward to a new piece of work by the humourless German electronic artist Alva Noto (aka Berliner Carsten Nicolai) with an equal mix of joy and terror. The label's razor sharp sound palette can sound exciting and invigorating when compared to other musics, but boy does it grate after about ten minutes. Luckily this new album has been perceived to be his 'breakout' hit, which means its nowhere near as annoying as previous albums. In fact, it's actually quite danceable in places. Just don't expect to hear it at your local discotheque.

At the other end we have Shackleton, who's carved out a pretty distinct and skewed trajectory from the start with his Skull Disco imprint. As well numerous releases and collaborations for others - most memorably a debut album disguised as a Fabric mix CD. As you can tell I'm a fan of the latter rather than the former. Pinch sticks to the script whereas Shackleton doesn't have one.

And whilst I frankly can't be bothered to work out who did what on this collaborative album for the legendary west London label. All you need to know is that its abstract, pretty dark and what I expect bass music to sound like in 2012. Repeat plays yield greater detail.

I've always liked Tejada's bright summery take on 4/4 and this debut for the influential German label doesn't escape my praise. Nothing unexpected here; warm melodies, deft rhythm programming and a finely judged sense of space. 'The Living Night' being a near perfect example and possibly the greatest house track ever as a result. But it was the deeper electronic tracks that piqued my interest, the wonderful but all-too-short 'Subdivided' and the Orbital-evoking rave-like mantra of 'Unstable Condition' stood out for their sense of displacement.

The top ten albums that I bought on vinyl in 2011:
1. Martyn: Ghost People (Brainfeeder)
2. Hecker: Sun Pandemonium Re-issue (Pan)
3. Sandwell District: Feed Forward (Sandwell District)
4. SBTRKT: SBTRKT (Young Turks)
5. R/S: USA (Pan)
6. Junior Boys: It's All True (Domino)
7. Biosphere: N-Plants (Biophon)
8. Omar-S: It can be done, but only I can do it (FXHE)
9. Surgeon: Breaking The Frame (Dynamic Tension)
10. Sunn O))) meets Nurse With Wound: The Iron Soul of Nothing (Editions Mego)

The top ten 12"s that I bought on vinyl in 2011:
1. Floating Points: Shadows EP (Eglo)
2. Octave One: Revisited Series 2 (430West)
3. Appointment: To Raw 4 You (Appointment)
4. Sbtrkt / Objekt: Sbjekt#01 (Young Turks)
5. Massive Attack vs Burial: Four Walls / Paradise Circus (Inertia)
6. Various Artists: The Bedroom Club (No Pain In Pop)
7. O/V/R: Post Traumatic Son Remixes (Blueprint)
8. Le Petit Garcon: Traena (Breaking Olympic)
9. Various Artists: Vibe 2 (Future Times)
10. Reson: Aftermath (Sex Tags Mania)

The top ten releases that I illegally downloaded in 2011 (sorry):
1. ASAP Rocky: LiveLoveA$AP Mixtape (Self Released)
2. Eleh: Floating Frequencies / Intuitive Synthesis CD (Important)
3. EQD: Equalized #111 CD (Equalized)
4. Lego Feet: Lego Feet Re-issue CD (Skam)
5. John Tejada: Parabolas CD (Kompakt)
6. Vladislav Delay: Vantaa CD (Raster Noton)
7. Vril: 5 -7 12" (Geigling)
8. Scuba: Jungle Rinse Out 1993 - 2001 Mix (Studio!K7)
9. Lil B: Rain In England CD (Weird Forest)
10. Popul Vuh: Revisited & Remixed 1970 - 1999 Compilation (SPV)

The top ten record stores that I visited sometime in 2011:
1. Second Layer Records, Highgate, London
2. Sounds Of The Universe, Soho, London
3. Phonica Records, Soho, London
4. Black Market Records, Soho, London
5. Alan's Records, East Finchley, London
6. Hardwax, Berlin, Germany
7. Honest Jons, Portobello Market, London
8. Sister Ray, Soho, London
9. Dub Vendor, Clapham Junction, London
10. Remix, Rome, Italy

So was disappointed to find the album underwhelming, a bit of a chore to get through. Despite some decent moments - the step'n shuffle of 'Seventy Four', the dub undertow of 'Little Things' - it all felt a bit too controlled and restrictive. Over polished and lacking in danger and sex. But his new album for Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label, 'Ghost People' is much quirkier and better, so I recommend that instead.

STL: Nocturnal Mixdowns 2 x 12" (Something) Was a rushed visit to Honest Jon's Records in Ladbroke Grove. Had one of those brief bromances with the guy behind the counter when we realised we had respective stiffies for all things bass. So in his effort to woo me, he made me buy this. Initially I hated it, to the point that I was considering a trek back to West London and asking for my money back, no matter how stupid I looked. But after a while I let it slide and this just got dumped along with all the other anonymous looking twelves marked 'faceless techno'.

That was way back in January 2009 and I've only just now managed to get over my indifference to STL's efforts and appreciate his unique take on drum-machine abuse. The seven tracks all shift and propel as the titles and blacker-than-black palette suggest, but its the muffled acid pulse meets scratchy dub of 'The Taphead' that steals it. I've since atoned for my sins and have now downloaded everything this man has done.

Powell: The Ongoing Significance Of Steel & Flesh 12" (Diagonal) Continuing techno's rather annoying pillaging of industrial music for track titles (I blame the Sandwell District lot) comes this. It's not bad, but nothing to blog about….the title track is like dark tribal shit that doesn't do much, '09' sounds like a really poor mans Pan Sonic. Even the presence of Karl Connor on remix duties does little to elevate this. Only the parting 'Robotics' perks things up before buggering off. Must try harder….natty packaging though.

I did have some retarded-as-fuck plan to start another blog which would focus on non-music stuff. However, Ive decided I'm killing that off and merging everything into one. The first (and only) post that I managed to submit is reprinted below. For no-one else's sake other than my own, I will push on the blogging front during 2012...time spent with Louis (the cat) permitting.

I played games when I were a lad; a product of the 8-bit / 16-bit home computer revolution. ZX Spectrum > Oric-1 (anyone?) > Commodore 64 > Commodore Amiga A500. But since the power pack on the Amiga blew up, I've never really felt the need to go back and wreck my hands playing Kick Off 2. Besides I had an Apple Macintosh by then and they never made games for them. Unless you considered Aldus Pagemaker possessing arcade-like qualities.

However, recently I got given a brand new Sony Playstation 3 - a sweetener from a client that I was working with at the time - but no games. So having very little knowledge and even less money on such things I didn't really have much of an idea. I knew I didn't really like first person perspective shooting games. I find them too violent and fast for my slow brain, as embarrassingly demonstrated at a post work Doom session many years ago. And everything else on offer seemed expensive and lacklustre. I also applied the same concept for movie sequels as I did to video games - ie. they're gonna be shite.

A few months prior to getting the PS3, my friend Anil had reminded me of a game I really genuinely enjoyed playing at a friends house a few years ago. It was Katamari Damacy on the Playstation 2. A bizarre Japanese arcade puzzler with the most amazing soundtrack. Bandai Namco, the original publishers, had decided to release an iPhone version, so that became my first (and only) game-based download on the iPhone. And yes, I've resisted Angry Birds. So when I realised that a PS3 version of the Katamari franchise was out, the decision was simple.

In terms of the experience - the shift from controlling 16-bit sprites on a CRT TV to playing in 1080p HD on a plasma hasn't been a radical one, only because the way interaction with games I think has remained the same by and large. I'd say that those older games were actually more interesting because of the fact that your imagination filled in the gaps due to the primitive graphics. Nowadays, there's no room for any of that, as every pixel seems to be laboriously slaved over. I doubt the Katamari disc will ever leave the PS3, but on the other hand I am intrigued by the likes of Portal 2 and I might even indulge in a racing game (so long as its as good as Buggy Boy on the Commodore 64).

Whilst I've always been attracted towards a borderline futurist attitude with music, in that I'm always more thrilled and excited by the new and strange over anything rehashed. The same cannot be said for computer games, where I'm totally aware that there is a sensation of pure nostalgia being triggered whenever the PS3 is booted up. I hope I never feel the same way about music.

See this event at Warp Records, Last.FM, Time Out and you can get tickets cheaper direct from the venue.

My friends Per and Aggie (aka Frost) are putting on a concert of Norwegian Electronic Music tonight at the Grosvenor, near Angel Tube. Entitled 'From Norway with Love', anyone seeking more sublime interpretations of computer music really should attend. They also made a decent flyer too. Look.

They promised to dress up like Vikings, project images of fjords and play loads of death metal. Which as we know is what all Norwegians like! ;)

Luckily for me, I seem to have chosen a fertile time for the genre. And Sandwell District currently represent the quality threshold. Both a label and a collective consisting of Karl O'Connor (aka Regis) and David Sumner (aka Function), they've been at it on the format of choice, the 12", since 2002. But it wasn't until the release of the full length album 'Feed Forward' that things took a different turn. A genuinely dark, epic, drugged-up canvas of futurist, pointillist techno. Washes of dub, dark ambient, industrial, beige drum machines and film-inspired sound permeate the album. But it takes those genre references and creates a narrative thats breathless in scope. And since its release over the Christmas period last year, numerous repeats have yielded numerous pleasures.

Controversially they must have pressed up like 25 copies or something because it sold out way before the release date and the only options immediately available were via overpriced dealers on eBay or Discogs. Luckily I managed to get mine from an online French distributor, and I still ended up paying €50. No chance of getting a copy now though at a reasonable price. All of which seems a real shame as this is one of the best techno long players I've heard in recent years - this coming from someone who's endured his fair share of terrible dance albums - and it deserves to be heard by a wider audience. Not just the preserve of the converted.

Until its repressed, get it by any means necessary and in the meantime I shall leave you with their astonishing remix of Octave One's 'I Believe'….

Kristina Records started up in June of this year by three guys who previously worked at Soho's Reckless Records. And judging from the spiel spewing forth from an interview, their website and Facebook, their intentions seem entirely honourable.

Sticking to vinyl and presenting it via an appealing log cabin / sauna aesthetic, this obviously is a labour of love for the owners. And whilst I am suspect that the immediate doorstep audience don't actually buy vinyl, Im sure it'll be a hit with the ever-so-slightly wizened demographic.