I’ve got to admit it’s been a wee while since I last heard a debut release as good as this one.

Luke Abbott’s “Holkham Drones” is a sublime listening experience. From the opening track “2nd 5th Heavy” to closing number “Dumb” it combines ambient with droney IDM, soundtrack with techno beats. Released last week on the Border Community label (which also counts Ricardo Tobar & Nathan Fake among its fold) it’s a brilliant debut release. If you’re liking the sounds you can pick it up here.

Luke Abbott – Brazil

Luke Abbott – Holkham Drones

With a stomach full of bbq’d food and a head full of World Cup fever, we headed along to the Radio Magnetic studios to record the fifth in our experiment series. The first of the summer shows proved a handful with a whole host of technical disasters. Undeterred, we eventually triumphed, getting the better of the technology and bring you 80 minutes of musical mayhem – ranging from techno and house to dubstep to electronica and IDM.

Listen or download below and head on over to the episode page on Radio Magnetic to show some love!

Phuturelabs – Experiment 5 on Radio Magnetic

You can also subscribe to our mixes podcast on iTunes.

Tracklisting:

Oriol – Joy FM (Planet Mu)
Actress – Always Human (Honest Jon’s)
Benga – Little Bits (Digital Soundboy)
Space Dimension Controller – Spanner Chord (Acroplane)
Kid Adrift & Scharkz – Static (Island)
FunkinEven – She’s Acid (Honest Jon’s)
Detroit Grand Pubahs – Numb, Deaf and Dumb (Dj Pierre rmx) (Detelefunken)
MMM – Let’s Get It On (MMM)
The Qemists – Hurt Less (Hot City rmx) (Ninja Tune)
Altered Natives – The Bitch (3024)
Boy 8 Bit – Ghost House (Mad Decent)
J Martinez – Footstep (unsigned)
Magnetic Man – I Need Air (Columbia)
Charles Trees – Mahjongg (Musique Large)
Dj Fresh – Acid Rain (Breakbeat Kaos)
Tiger n Woods – Gin Nation (White)
Calibre – Discreet Dub (Deep Medi)
Ratatat – Drugs (XL)
Le Castle Vania – Nobody Gets Out Alive (Noisia rmx) (LCV)
T Williams – Afric (Local Action)
Lutzenkirchen – Phuture Disco Vibes (Great Stuff)
Boogaloo Zoo – Testify (Soulphiction rework) (Lovemonk)
Kassem Mosse – We Speak 2 Those (NonPlus)
Burnt Island Casuals – Truth & Temptation (Under the Shade)

Ital Tek’s brilliant 2008 debut album “Cyclical” was one of the year’s finest and combined dark IDM with dancefloor friendly dubstep perfectly, it’s follow up – “Midnight Colour’ landed a couple of weeks ago and it’s in the same vein but with a slightly lower tempo and even more atmosphere. From the Moroder style bass on “Moon Bow” through to the beautiful ambience of “Satellite”, it’s a brilliantly varied package showcasing a producer at the top of his game.

I’ve picked out a couple of my personal favourites below and to check out the rest and pick yourself up a copy – head on over to Planet Mu’s webshop.

Ital Tek – Subgiant

Ital Tek – Black and White

Earlier this week we covered the new FSOL album “Environments 3″ and it got me thinking about my favourite tracks of theirs. So for today’s classic I’ve picked probably my favourite track from their mammoth back catalogue. “Cascade” was the first single from their amazing “Lifeforms” album and it just totally blew me away with it’s equal shades of light and dark, it’s epic atmosphere and the brilliant break and bassline that underpins the whole thing.

Amazing stuff

The Future Sound of London – Cascade (Part 1)

FSOL are without doubt, legends in the realm of electronic music and in my opinion, the finest producers to ever put hand to keyboard. In the past few years they’ve been releasing quite a lot of material from their archives (the 5CD “From The Archives” collection is a must have) sprinkled with the odd piece of new material (Environments 2 was allegedly about 50% new material) and this week saw the full release in the 3rd of the “Environments” series. Who knows if the material is old or new, and frankly, it doesn’t really matter. The album is packed with genius FSOL moments from start to finish, blending otherwordly atmospherics and soundscapes with their unique ear for a beautiful melody.

I’ve picked a couple of my favourites below but the album lends itself (as with most FSOL material) to a full start to finish listen.

Pick this up from FSOLDigital and have a wander around while you’re there – there’s a whole host of goodies available. Also available on CD from Play.com.

The Future Sound of London – Summer’s Dream

The Future Sound of London – Surface Water

The Labs crew are on a road trip this weekend to the Rockness Festival on the banks of Loch Ness, home of the famous monster! So we thought we would give you a taste of two classics from the line up this year.

First up we have the musical genius Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin. So many good tunes from the Warp artist over the years but we have gone for Windowlicker as we may well be doing that on the way home on Monday.

Aphex Twin – Windowlicker

Next we have one of the greatest dance acts of all time, Leftfield. Again we have opted for an early classic from seminal album Leftism and while only Neil Barnes and not Paul Daley is playing at the festival, we’re sure its going to be amazing.

Leftfield – Song Of Life

With the summer breeze in our sails, we headed along to the Radio Magnetic studios to record the next installment of our Experiment series. The tunage is a fine selection of techno, house, dubstep and electronica with a side dish of ambience and IDM. There’s also a couple of tasters for this weekend’s RockNess festival and Cliff takes up the 105BPM challenge. Pass the Pimms.

Listen or download below and head on over to the episode page on Radio Magnetic to show some love!

Phuturelabs – Experiment 4 on Radio Magnetic

Tracklisting:

1. James Holden – Triangle Folds (!K7)
2. Seiji – Elevator (Seiji)
3. I:Cube – Grandes Orgues (Versatile)
4. Jimmy Edgar – Hot Raw Sex (!K7)
5. The 8Bitch – G41 (Rustie rmx) (Jockey Slit)
6. Lorn – Cherry Moon (Brainfeeder)
7. Carte Blanche – Jigga Bite (Ed Banger)
8. Mount Kimbie – Field (Hotflush)
9. The Future Sound of London – Summer’s Dream (FSOLDigital)
10. Phenoplastic – Bikes and Brooks (Phenoplastic)
11. Carl Craig – At Les (Christian Smith’s Tronic Treatment rmx) (Tronic)
12. Visti & Meyland – Stars (Radion & Mamarella Mix) (BearFunk)
13. Boyz Noise – Kontact Me (Rynecologist Turbine Mix) (Boyz Noise)
14. Brodinski – Arnold Classics (Grizzly)
15. Slam – City Destroyer (Harvey McKay rmx) (Paragraph)
16. Nelue – Chick Me Up (Lovemonk)
17. Ital Tek – Spectrum Falls (Planet Mu)
18. Lil Silver – Golds to Get (Night Slugs)
19. Klute – Strange Dinner (Commercial Suicide)
20. Guido – Orchestral Lab (Punch Drunk)
21. Ronin – That Golden Rule (Nerve Breaks)
22. The Revenge – Leave Your Mind (Mule Musiq)
23. Leftfield – Not Forgetten (Hard Hands)

Back in March, Kieran ran a feature on Phenoplastic’s debut album and he did a wee interview with him, the album in question “Presented In Colour” was a brilliant package of top quality IDM and electronica, wearing it’s influences on it’s sleeve but shaking free of them throughout and walking it’s own path.

May 2010 sees Phenoplastic’s new album “Liquid Condition” released and it’s more of the same, opening with unsettling pads and floaty synth work complimented by some lovely bass playing. Ranging from eerie, almost completely ambient pieces to more beat driven tracks, the whole album definitely does have a Boards of Canada feel to it and while Phenoplastic will no doubt grow tired of the comparison, it’s certainly a compliment.

I’ve picked my favourite track below for you to listen to and download – but you can download the whole kit and caboodle over at Phenoplastic’s Bandcamp page.

Phenoplastic – Surface Light

Australian producer Ibunshi has been impressing me for a long time with his brilliant, intricate and moody brand of IDM/electronica and deep drum n bass.

He’s kindly given us this slice of lush ambience to give away and if you’re a fan of the likes of FSOL and Boards of Canada then this is for you – eerie, atmospheric and haunting throughout.

Ibunshi – Statis Fields

Head on over to Ibunshi’s Soundcloud for more goodies!

We get many, many demo’s at the labs to listen to and a few weeks ago one came along that really turned our heads. Ghost Bike is an unsigned artist based is Israel who is looking to release his latest work in May. Currently without a label we thought we would try and give him a hand finding some support.

Vlad Shusterman, the man behind the project has worked in the music business under several guises and in several genres. This really shows through in the album. Haunting, vacuous soundscapes with some wonderful guitar work combine with deep stuttering bass lines and innovative sampling. This is a producer that understands sound and composition to create real atmosphere.

The are two free tunes to listen to and download below and we will keep you posted on a possible album release. Genre wise it tips its hat to Trip Hop, Dubstep and IDM with some Post Rock drone thrown in. You can get a larger sample of the album on the great Bandcamp site here. Enjoy.

Ghost Bike – Memory Drain

Ghost Bike – Strays