The original enfant terrible of the bass music world is back with a new album, marking his second long player for 4AD with a sprawling opus of more than 30 skits and skirmishes daubed in his trademark colourful sonic scrawl. There is plenty here that reminds you of the early days of the producer's emergence when dubstep was a younger beast, from the spacious "Horrid" to the measured arpeggios of "Pray For Me", but you'll also find more intricate musings such as the dynamic and dramatic "Memories". Hype abounds on the creepy Funky of "VI-XI", while "Overdose" launches enthusiastically into a jungle tear out. At any given turn, you'll find yourself surprised, lurched from a serene mood into a manic one, only to be tempered again. There's a staggering range of ideas and styles to comprehend here, but would you want it any other way from one of electronic music's most outspoken upstarts?

Stimming returns to his hometown Dynamic after a ludicrous string of EPs in the last few tears, this time in the form of an LP. The guy is simply a deep house don, and his tracks share an uncanny similarity with many of the great US producers who so boldly identified the genre over twenty years ago. "The Origin" starts things off with a puritan house flex but the LP gradually moves on to more unstable and unexpected territories such as on the piano solo that is "Cherry Bud"; the neo-Detroitian vibes of "Die Machtigen"; or even the UK bass laden swirl of "When I'm Drunk" - a piece that is sure to cause some serious damage on the floor.

Prolific Monkeytown resident Siriusmo makes a welcome return to Modeselektor's patch after the widespread success of his 2011 LP Mosaik. The same love for full-bodied electro synths abounds, played out with that playful energy and a knack for combining a sense of humour with serious studio skills. Just look at the Daft Punk baiting disco funk of "Congratulator" for proof of how Siriusmo can easily straddle the sublime and the silly, or get twisted up to the delirious ghetto swagger of "Cornerboy". Whenever you need a breath of fresh air and a little fun in your ears, you can always turn to Siriusmo to blow away those tedious notions of serious mood pieces and drop some dirty ass beats.

Having had success with some killer electro-boogie influenced singles, Australian producer Inkswel now rolls out this eight-track mini-LP. There's no old tracks featured here and its makes sense as the 80s boogie influences have largely given way to a darker, more warped and frankly more interesting take on things. Tracks like "Australiaborialis", "Circle Jerks" and "Stardusted" are just messed up, slo-mo loops with off-kilter hip-hop grooves. Totally weird and totally brilliant!

Sit back and ready yourself for an EP that's not so much electronica as sonic storytelling. Amidst a backdrop of howling empty space, cold atmospherics and stark sound effects, each track from this ambitious collection maintains a level of theatrics not often heard in the electronic music world. Simply given file numbers, each moment of sharp percussion and clinically clean production blends into a complete description of otherworldly menace, intrigue and panic. Deep pools of bass weigh down the creaking sway of a fragmented top end, adding boundless space to the more cinematic pieces such as "Alien Transmission File #3" and "#4". A darkly enthralling body of work which rewards imagination with terrifying musical imagery.

When it comes to Gold Panda releases, you never quite know what you're going to get. On one hand, it might be skittish, wonky and unusual; on the other, it may be a rush-inducing blast of electronic positivity. By and large, this second album delivers lashings of the latter, with his trademark shimmering electronics, darting synths and pleasing melodies riding waves of floor-friendly rhythms. There's a pleasing percussive intensity about the sun-bright goodness of "Junk City II" and "Brazil", while jack-era Chi-town drums underpin the picturesque rural imagery of "An English House". It's these kinds of unusual but brilliant combinations that make Half of Where You Live a particularly potent set.

RVNG Intl have already served up one of this year's most memorable long players in Max D's House of Woo, and they secure another potential candidate for those end of year lists with the superb Joy One Mile from Stellar Om Source. The French producer has demonstrated an increasing interest in techno that's no doubt informed by her current base in The Netherlands which was explored explicitly on last year's No Label 12" for Rush Hour. It's expanded much further on this eight track set which was apparently laid down live in one take without overdubs, improvised limitations or consequence. Gauldi subsequently handed these recordings to Gunnar Wendel, aka Kassem Mosse, who mixed down and arranged the album in its entirety with little prior guidance. The resultant album focuses in on a loose amalgamation of proper electro and detuned techno, with "Par Amour" an immediate highlight.

Revisiting the wilder of his many aliases, Stefan Schwander goes further into experimental territory as Harmonious Thelonious, making his first appearance on Belgian outpost of fringe techno Meakusma. The scope and depth of this EP is bewildering, not least on "The Grasshopper Was The Witness". A dizzying combination of tribal rhythmic structures pounds out underneath complex chimes and stark synth lines that all intertwine in a rich tapestry of otherworldly beat science with an organic heart beating away at its core. Likewise "The Malag" thrills with its rough and tumble groove and wall-of-sound bass stab, ever building in exotic intensity. Elmore Judd and Rown Park do a great service to "The Grasshopper...", simply expanding on the African themes the original laid out and taking the track on safari.

Julian Sartorius - known for his inherently individualistic take on electronic music - returns for his continuous Beat Diary collection on Switzerland's Everest Records - running strong since before the turn of the millenium and consistently providing us with heart-stopping noise for the next century! His May 2011 edition includes thirty-one short but effective improvisations from the man's mind to ours, and although it would be a considerably arduous task to sum it all up for you, given the diversity at hand, we warmly recommend this whole LP. The sequence runs in order of dates from the first to the thirty-first of May, no doubt representing Sartorious' apocalyptic musical feelings throughout that period, and we're faced with a true spectacle of modern, urban beats. Everything just seems to be so automatic with this guy, producing tracks of the highest euphoric character - post-punk, noise, drone, musique concrete - this is excellent stuff...

Since first appearing on Mala's Deep Medi in 2011, Old Apparatus have shown themselves to be one of the most interesting outfits operating at the fringes of dubstep, instrumental hip hop and ethereal electronic sounds. Last year saw the launch of their Sullen Tone imprint, which has since become the primary home of their recorded output, with four EPs showcasing the group's uniquely democratic approach, with one being attributed to the group and three to individual members, but all bearing the Old Apparatus name. Compendium sees the outfit collect highlights from those releases in one handy release, and acts as the ideal gateway for those yet to be entranced by their unique sound.