Segment 01 Zillion Mental Anarchie (Greece)

I know absolutely nothing about Segment, other than it’s Raphael Stehn and Jens Buschhaus, so it’s just as well that this stands out on its own as a fresh, innovative and unique album. Whooky’s Wha is just sublime, with the melodic sensibility of a fresh Orbital and funky guitar stabs over a teasing, half-shuffled set of beats that slowly evolve into a plastic 4-4 onslaught. The vibe throughout is stylish, dubby and laid-back in a way that keeps you grooving nicely through it’s cute eleven and a half minute romp. The Gelfling (Uru Mix) kicks off with some nice, deep-set acid runs over a sturdy kick, with progressive elements and gathering psychedelic chunks in a way that’s a joy to hear. Things get busier with the 144bpm Funk.tion, with classic-techno riffs put through the blender over a bustling rhythm section. Distorted vox lines and rising acid keep things going, and it rides on out on the crest of a delicate and balanced trance wave. Individual Ants takes it a step more sinister, a futuristic stroll through a post-nuke underground civilisation, and Shut Up is a perfect-basslined and unfoldingly mesmerising bit of deep progressive with some killer melodies eased in for good measure. We Sold Our Souls has a gritty low-end over which delightful, eased-back progressive melodies weave in and out making for a nice balance between the sinister and the light. Vintage house flavours mix with Rebirth-happy 303’s in Hollow House and the vacuum-dub of Human Bit’s brings the album to an easy, refined close. Truly staggering stuff, genuinely different and breathing light and variety into the progressive-psychedelic melting pot.

They're flat, they smell good, and they've got grooves in them

Cosmosis / Mumbo Jumbo Find Your Own Divinity / Weird, Sick & Twisted (Cosmosis Remix) Transient (UK)

With the news this week that Cosmosis’ new album is set for release on Transient at the end of September, things are suddenly looking good again. Bilbo Bagginz has produced some high-watermark stuff with Cosmology and Synergy, and fans of this die-hard sound will be pleased to know he’s dropped some of the tecchier sounds we saw on Intergalactic. Find Your Own Divinity is a deeply psychedelic number, with a pounding kick, digital-saw synths, time-stretched percussion and a tim leary sample. If that wasn’t enough, acidised vox raises he temperature to a peak where a classic Cosmosis melody, flanged to perfection, comes in and though it threatens to o through the roof, its conclusion is mellow and DJ-friendly. Weird, Sick & Twisted meanwhile is an instant classic. Homer Simpson over a tight and effective set of drums, an offset bassline you could melt butter with and more smiles than a Thai brothel on coupon day. The sample gets twisted, wrenched, filtered and teased while a chuggy metallic topend runs things out to a suitably manic conclusion. Love it.