Short little short I made whilst enjoying a frankly astonishing day out on Record Store Day. Soho turned into a block party and needless to say, it was most effervescent. Thanks to all at Soul Jazz for the hype.

More unquestionable genius from Drexciya. Didn't realise that Clone could eek out a third collection of material from this welcome re-assessment of the influential Detroit artist. But they've managed to fill it with numerous "oh, this track" moments, some of which I've never heard before. So the first surprise is the surprisingly previously unreleased 'Unknown Journey IV'. It's elasticated bassline and striking horn lead sounds like it should have seen an earlier light of day. This is swiftly followed by the sombre electro classic 'Bubble Chamber'; room-filling rimshot echo and ass-slapping snares that's guaranteed to leave red marks.

'Sea Snake' just oozes sheer joy with its child-like simplicity in terms of melody and rhythm. 'Aqua Worm Hole' is possibly their most uplifting and optimistic track ever. And another unreleased track makes an impact….'Flying Fish' is angular 80's pop clunkiness par excellence. Amusingly my favourite Drexciya track of all time ('Black Sea') has yet to make an appearance, maybe in the next volume? Anyway, whatever, just purchase this.

In the wash of 12"s that land ashore week in week out, I've no idea why I was drawn to works of Aera (aka Berliner Ralf Schmidt). Maybe initially it was the distinctive 'A' logo of the label - resembling an upturned anarchy symbol. But then it was the propulsive clarity of his particular and peculiar brand of techno that retained this humble narrator as a loyal listener. So was naturally eager when his debut album dropped.

The opening few tracks throw you off the scent as they take a meandering almost casual vibe that encompasses audio tourism and slowed-up breaks until it abruptly (but not disjointedly) shifts gears with the superb album-highlight 'Leaving the Fiction'. From then on its ever inventive re-assembly of house and techno can't be faulted. 'Iguazu Express' and 'Tunguska' are the highlights. The former sounds like smooth house via Latin America, whilst the latter mutates from 4/4 into collapsable jazz.

Minor gripes aside (short running time, few more club-fuelled tracks wouldn't have gone amiss) this pretty boss stuff. Sonically adventurous palette gets distilled into an effortlessly functional dance narrative.

Uptempo, adrenaline-inducing electro from the more militant end of the electro spectrum. DJ Stingray dons his balaclava and his sawn-off shotgun to terrify us with paranoid skits, horrific machine abuse and an undeniably bleak outlook on life (incidentally, the title of the album stands for "Fuck The New World Order"). Tracks like 'Denial Of Service' are bursting with drum-machine scuff and street-level grit. But amusingly it's the tracks that have no intention of scaring the shit out of you that work best. 'Reverse Engineering' is moody sombre electro that you've no doubt heard a million times before, but never as good. Whilst the last track 'Remote Viewing' is an arpeggio night-drive in extremis.

Angle of entry is crucial for this. Those who've already subscribed will no doubt revel in whatever the Rochdale duo of Sean Booth and Rob Brown (aka Autechre) have come up with. Whereas others will scratch their heads and wonder why on earth people would want to put themselves through such awkward entertainment. So either camp should quite rightly ignore what I have to say. It's the 'undecided / adventurous' that would probably find value in whatever will be said in reviews.

Their reputation and longevity means that they still command a large audience, which is pretty impressive considering that no-one really listens to (this particular strand of) electronic music these days. And despite terms like "massively influential" being thrown about when it comes to describing them. All I hear in terms of influence is a bunch of lame copyists who depressingly come nowhere near to the benchmark that they've established over course of 11 albums in 22 years.

Having personally fully engaged with the likes of power electronics, noise and computer music in recent years, I always saw them acting as a bridge between all those 'outsider' genres and the teen-friendly mouse-driven antics of IDM, electronica, electronic music. And despite the lofty academic connotations associated with their music, I considered their work as a extreme example of how a street-level genre like hip-hop might sound in the hands of those with the right tools.

'FLeure' seems to be an intriguing if albeit awkward intro. But it's the sudden settling of rhythm and playful melody midway through 'irlite (get 0)' that brings both shock and relief. The album's furtive moves to nudge this record closer to a skewed dance floor continues with 'jatevee C' via a lopsided groove. 'T ess xi' fizzles with avant synth pads that glide over an ever-so-disjointed electro beat before disintegrating majestically in a wash of morose drone.

'vekoS' sounds comfortably like classic Autechre circa 'Tri Repeatae'; where they repeat that trick of crafting machine funk from the sounds of rusting metal - robotic, ecstatic, inverted dance. They always knew how to soundtrack the end credits and luckily we get not one, but two majestic pieces. 'bladelores' takes out disc 1 on an impressive high; an emotive, epic, pixellated crescendo that just seems to get better with repeat listens. Their entire oeuvre compressed into 12 minutes of binary enlightenment.

'1 1 is' mercifully gives us a few seconds of silence to recover before an artefact-ridden 8-bit breakbeat comes into focus. Wafer thin notes are violently sheared off the lead riff exposing increasing amounts of decay and fuzz. Memories of their full frontal assault that was their 'Oversteps' tour come flooding back as soon as 'Spi 9' engages. Fighting to take the crown for the angriest track they've ever made. It's maybe not quite the headfuck of 'Bine' or 'Gantz Graf' in terms of ferocity, but comes pretty close.

'Cloudline' could have sounded like a session straight from the album 'Amber', when they were at their most ambient. But takes serene orchestral sweeps and smudges them until they've dissolved into the canvas. And I might be going slightly insane, but I swear I could hear a funk b-line in there somewhere. It wrong-foots us into calmer avenues before the penultimate 'recks on' swaggers in. Sounding like ghetto-blaster era push-button hip-hop, this is the most danceable track I've heard from them in ages….reminded me of their wonderful DJ Food remix from yesteryear.

The elegiac march of 'Yjy Ux' is their swansong and it's deceptively involved - much more so than all thats gone on before. But this time beats are given a rest as melody is dissected and spliced. Piercing tones, rapid-fire arpeggios and stop / start basslines all fight it out for supremacy. Each eventually depleted of energy and just leaving traces of their activity suspended in stasis.

The spectre of hip-hop is ever more evident on this, what I think is their most definitive and accessible statement yet. In the venn diagram of Autechre and Gescom - their more beat driven alias - this highly personal and quite beautiful album represents the intersect.

Back after a well deserved vacation, just wanted to thank all those people who mailed me via social media. I will respond back eventually but am glad there's still an audience out there for my worthless scribbles even after all this time. Already planning some more mixes with my co-conspirator @pher as well trying to kickstart some new projects for the new year. Work / Life seems to consume my time with ever increasing intensity but I'm determined to keep this blog going.

But coming up next….a half-decent review of the quite brilliant new album by Autechre. Possibly the most satisfying thing they've done since 'Quaristice Versions'.

@pher did the first 45 minutes and he eases you gently whilst I just twat it with the nastiest tracks I had to hand. We hope you 'enjoy' our interpretation of the genre marked Noise. And take this op-paw-tunity to wish you all a nice holiday break.

Tracklisting available at the dedicated FailCast page. Soundcloud embed below.

And 'Jaiolong' is easily the most fun you'll have with dance music all year. Its greedy palette and ever-shifting nature means this does feel like a compilation. Which is probably accurate as several tracks have previously appeared elsewhere. But everything here considers itself a 'hit', so that means no outage / downtime / fillers.

From the soul + funk + synth jam of 'Yes I know' (which reminds me of Brinkmann material….no bad thing) to the mangled-afrobeatism of 'Ne Noya'. Melodically generous with an impeccable sense of rhythm. He's playing a winning game.

However, first thoughts on Anstam's second album had me scrambling to find the receipt and checking if the vinyl was still in decent nick so I could return it. Just seemed all over the fucking place with initial tracks sounding like bad 808 State. You know, that terrible period where 'rock' and 'dance' were forced upon each other.

But gave it time and its quirky palette soon won me over. 'The Herald And The Lamb' seemed to get the most listens according to my last.fm profile. Give me another few weeks and I might warm to it even more.

I originally said of the mix…."Abstract, electronic music has always been good at getting concepts across in a very direct manner. From field recordings of South American railway journeys to percussive workouts that represent the human body. I've taken the idea of 'Mobility' and used it to describe both motion and portability. They veer between the cyclical and constant and Ive tried to find the space in between."

What was I on?!?!?!?!

The highlight is without doubt the synth-pop lament of the strangely-titled 'Chrysalis Records', where Maya Popetski's morose vocals glide in-between the wonky lead and spacious beats. Another highlight is the propulsive bleep-fest of 'Liberation Front'. Another highlight is the sprawling metro-house of 'Recital [A Version]', vista-chewing theatrics make way for micro-rave melodies, all supplemented by a swaggering rhythm. Yes!

Anyway, that's all incidental guff that'll cloud what I have to say about this frankly jaw-dropping album. Which manages to say more in its 50-minute duration than most artists muster in a career. And whilst that sounds like a well worn music-journalist cliche, it's nonetheless true. Like the Morphosis stuff, there's a hint of older external influences seeping into the music. I can hear elements of Krautrock, early progressive house as well as emotionally-overloaded Detroit Techno.

Antena: Camino Del Sol 2xLP (Numero) Utterly random pick whilst visiting the basement of Soho's Sounds of the Universe. Always been a sucker for easy-listening with a distinctly Gallic flavour, but persistently overwhelmed by choice and clearly had no idea of what to buy. So when I heard the echo-chamber-dreaminess of 'Bye Bye Papaye' I was intrigued. Further inspection of the beautiful cover photo, minimalist reverse typography and the unadulterated love that's so obviously been heaped on this re-issue and I was sold.

For those aware of this Parisian trio's massively influential back catalogue, this is their debut mini-album with additional tracks pulled from two singles and a few outtakes. Not that I could tell, it all sounded like a seamless whole to me. As one insider observer put it: "Antena were the sound of margaritas and a deck of cards, charades and bellini, and impromptu bathing-suit-optional pool parties"

To assist in these sunlit-deficient times, we've come up with another podcast. This one is entitled "Transcendental Europe Express". When I say 'we' I mean myself and @pher, my co-conspirator from NY and the aim of this mammoth 2hr+ mix is to show our never ending affection for the genre marked 'Ambient'. From new-age waffle to spoken word meditation, haunted ballrooms to plangent counterpoint and everything in between.

Tracklisting available at the dedicated FailCast page. Soundcloud embed below. Comments to my cat.

Kevin Drumm: Sheer Hellish Miasma (Remastered) LP (Editions Mego)

For an album whose primary aim is to dispense pain in its purest sonic form, it actually contains a lot of joy. First up is that album title, it does exactly what it says on the tin. It looks lovely written down and it sounds great phonetically. Try it.

Then there's the cover art: the artists' initials rendered in gold Cloister Bold font. set against the blackest ever black. Suggests noise via minimalism via Merzbow via considered graphic design.

Then there's the track titles. 'Hitting the pavement' and 'Inferno' are the ones that stand out. The former describing an action that happens out of accident or intent. The latter accurately describing the harsh environment conjured up by a vortex of extreme frequencies.

Finally, its the best noise album ever. So if you're one of those types that have never ventured into the realms of noise then just buy this and forget everything else.