Eight Weeks

Review: Marking the beginning of the Cleaning Tapes label, Helical Scans brings together an impressive array of characters from the known to the partly known to the barely known at all, sometimes associated with the fringes of house and techno but more enamoured with noise and texture. There are some beautiful, delicate moments here such as from Huerco S and Bantam Lions, whilst in other places the sonic matter is a little more rough. Sagat brings the most discernible beat on "sigh", yet still the atmospherics and adventurous nature of the track take precedent. It's a good thing too, as you're left with a compilation of diverse and consistently interesting electronica from a host of names you can get to know better, which is what 'various artist' releases should be all about.

Review: Killekill associated imprint Krake have got something pretty special for their debut release - a diverse and fulfilling compilation of some of the most interesting electronic artists of the moment, ranging from techno to IDM and beyond. This is one for you to check out piece by piece but we thought we'd pick out a few tasty ones to get your juices flowing: Pole makes a rare appearance with the beautiful, dubbed-out half-steps of "Wipfel Dub", Cassegrain's "Serpent" is a fast-winding, semi-techno banger complete with one of the nastiest basslines since Surgeon's "Krautrock"; meanwhile Perc comes in with his pulsating techno camaraderie and Lakker's "Darcdub" is just militantly insane. All in all, a fantastic, wide-ranging compilation of new material from some of the darkest minds out there - check the other, lesser known faces too. We're certainly looking forward to the next chapter of Krake...