Current listening (among quite a lot of other things)

Piana - Ephemeral (Happy LP, 2005)

Pretty much impossible, really, to write about this without using the word "sublime"...and "sublime" is merely "nice" for postmodernists, so we should avoid that if we can. It's a quite impossibly gorgeous record, though: at first listen, a saccharine mulch of coo and froth; on closer inspection, a concise collection of songs so thoroughly perfect that you have to keep checking that they still exist.

Available from Boomkat, of course.

Murcof - Remembranza (Leaf LP, 2005)

Oh, I dunno. A disappointment? But it's a fine and accomplished record, unquestionably: if this had been his debut, then it would've been raved about every bit as much as his debut was raved about. A triumph, then? Well, no: it's just a little too conservative for that, a little too obvious. So, "Remembranza" is another album of precise glitches and delicately poised classical samples, and it's perfectly fine. It really is perfectly fine. It's just not special, that's all.

Samples and stuff on Boomkat.

Skream - Midnight Request Line (Tempa 12", 2005)

Skream is a bloody genius. Of all the presents that the dubstep scene has delivered onto my virtual doorstep this year, his August mix is the greatest, an absolutely towering collection of tunes that combines thunderous bass with exquisite melody and thereby thrusts a still-adolescent style of music into adulthood without sacrificing any of its vital innocence. You should stop reading this rubbish and download it now. Then, buy a copy of "Midnight Request Line", his completely magnificent, world-conquering dubstep-grime hybrid. Or ignore me, and never know such glories.

Boomkat.

Toasty Boy - Angel (Hotflush 12", 2005)

An oldie, by common standards. But Distance is still playing it on his Rinse FM show and he's right to: it's about the most perfect distillation of modern break-driven dance music that you'll ever hear. A great looping whale of a bassline, topped with just the right shuffle of beats...and it makes my heart sing every time I hear it. Which is quite often.

Boomkat.