Goodbye summer, hello autumn. The weather outside is getting cooler and the days are getting shorter, but November is fortunately chock full of hot new albums, compilations and DJ mixes. There’s almost too many to sift through, but fear not as we’ve already done the hard work for you. Here’s our curated list of this month’s must-buy releases.
London Elektricity – Are We There Yet? (Hospital)
On the follow-up to 2011’s Yikes! lauded drum ‘n’ bass DJ/producer/Hospital Records co-founder Tony Colman eschews collaborations with high-profile bigwigs in favor of realizing his new collection of songs with a coterie of up-and-coming talent including Emer Dineen, Pete Simpson, Hugh Hardie and Lianne Carroll. Colman’s eighth artist album to date is filled with gorgeous, euphoric melodies on songs that are fueled by his oh-so-crisp trademark breakbeats.
Release date: November 6
Essential track: “Phase Us” feat. Emer Dineen
Lydmor & Bon Homme – Seven Dreams of Fire (hfn music)
The debut album from Jenny Rossander and Tomas Hoffding, better known as Lydmor & Bon Homme, isn’t the kind of thing that hits you over the head. Instead, it quietly creeps up on you with its mix of synth-pop structures, house beats, and disco influences. The tunes are subtle, sensual, and moody, creating a dark but danceable feel that’s as effective for kicking back and focusing on the sonic details as it is for getting a groove on.
Release date: November 6
Essential track: “Things We Do for Love”
Robot Koch – Hypermoment (Monkeytown)
Robot Koch creates a warm, enveloping sound on this album, which comes to us courtesy of Modeselektor’s own Monkeytown label. Lush, ambient washes of synth and splashes of piano blend easily with vocals and “field recordings” made during writing to New York, Berlin, and Joshua Tree. Guest artists include Dehlia de France, Stephen Henderson, Malte Beckenbach and Julien Marchal, among others.
Release date: November 6
Essential track: “Circles” feat. Curtain Blue and Dehlia de France
Cubenx – Elegiac (InFiné)
Mexico’s Cesar Urbin, more commonly known by his artistic alias Cubenx, brings a myriad of styles to his second album, to create something distinctly different from what he’s done before. Not only does he touch on everything from electro to ambient to jungle over the course of the record, he also brings us on an international journey through the vocal contributions of guest singers who hail from Lebanon, France, Berlin, and beyond.
Release date: November 11
Essential track: “Glistening Lemon Pearls”
V/A – Madtech 2015 (Madtech)
House hero Kerri Chandler’s Madtech imprint has only been around for a few years, but as an offshoot of Chandler’s Madhouse label it has commanded attention from the start. This compilation represents the strides Madtech has made in the last year, and not only does it include 2015 highlights from the likes of Bontan, Alexis Raphael and Artifact, it also features exclusive cuts by Apollo 84, Di Chiara Brothers, Nightshift and more.
Release date: November 12
Essential track: Apollo 84 – “Snookies”
Roni Size Reprazent – Live At Colston Hall (Mansion Sounds)
Cast your mind back to 2009. Roni Size and Reprazent played a historic set for the reopening of Colston Hall in the drum ‘n’ bass legend’s hometown of Bristol. If you’ve been kicking yourself ever since for missing it, fear not. Now you’ll have an opportunity to experience that show both aurally and visually when it’s released as a CD/DVD set. There are live versions of not only RSR’s material, but tunes from his solo releases as well, plus four new unreleased tracks.
Release date: November 13
Essential track: “Brown Paper Bag”
V/A – Pop Ambient 2016 (Kompakt)
Autumn means three things: leaves fall from the trees, the mercury drops and Kompakt releases a new Pop Ambient release. The latest edition of the long-running series (which began in 2001) takes a leaf out of the series’ past releases, featuring a balance of established and up-and-coming artists. Of note, 2016 includes bespoke productions from the likes of Kompakt co-founder Wolfgang Voigt, The Orb, Dave DK, Anton Kubikov and Jens-Uwe Beyer. Squirrel Pop Ambient 2016 away and enjoy it all winter long.
Release date: November 13
Essential track: Sicker Man & Gregor Schwellenbach – “Turns”
V/A – 10 Years of Leftroom (Leftroom)
When it comes to the U.K. house and techno scene, the Leftroom label has spent the last decade doing more than its share to push the music forward to new vistas. And now, as a celebration of 10 years fighting the good fight, Leftroom is releasing a special collection that features new exclusive tracks, remixes, and more from the label’s roster. Everyone from label head Matt Tolfrey to Audiojack, Kate Simko and Jasper James joins in.
Release date: November 13
Essential track: Kate Simko feat. Jem Cooke – “Go On Then” (Matt Tolfrey & Kate Simko 2015 mix)
Deadbeat – Walls and Dimensions (BLKRTZ)
Canadian producer Scott Monteith’s tenth album arrives after personal and professional woes rocked his world in 2014. Showing strength of character, Monteith picked himself up and carried on with a deep, dubby techno album that speaks to his pain, exasperation and hope. It also marks a professional first: he contributed his own vocals to standout track “I Get Low.” Along the way he gets by with a little help with his friends courtesy of top-notch Collaborations with Fink, Dehlia De France Maarten Vos and Elif Bicer.
Release date: November 20
Essential track: “Lights For Lele”
V/A – FABRICLIVE 84: Dub Phizix (Fabric)
You never know who will wind up at the helm of the next FABRICLIVE release, but you can always be certain that it’ll be someone who knows their way around a mix. That’s definitely true in this case, as Manchester’s Dub Phizix takes the steering wheel. By the time he’s done, he’ll have dropped no less than 22 unreleased tracks on you, including some of his own new productions, and collaborations with the likes of DRS, Skeptical, Xtrah and others. “Fabric has become like a second home,” he declares. We believe it.
Release date: November 20
Essential track: Dub Phizix & DRS – “Break the Chains”
Various Artists – Soul Clap presents: Dancing on the Charles, Vol. 3 (Soul Clap)
You can take Soul Clap out of Boston but you can’t take Boston out of Soul Clap. Years of hard work as DJ/producers/label owners allowed Soul Clap’s Eli Goldstein and Charles Levine to make it to the global stage. However, they haven’t forgotten their roots in Beantown. With Dancing on the Charles, Vol. 3 they shine the light once again on a litany of local house talent, including John Barera & Jack Novin, D-Lux and more. Eli best captured their mindset eloquently when we interviewed him last year: “We owe everything to growing up in Boston: Our mentors, our musical knowledge, our DJ style.”
Release date: November 20
Essential track: Roldy Cezaire – “You & I”
Johannes Heil – The Black Light (Exile)
Shine a black light and you will see an entirely new spectrum of light. Prolific techno troubadour/Exile co-founder/Cocoon regular Johannes Heil uses this principle as the ethos for his latest album, a glowing package of ten riveting “scenes” which he presents in numerical order without song titles. The light he sheds is vibrant and cinematic. This is an album for techno devotees wishing to uncover the previously unseen.
Release date: November 23
Essential track: “Scene Three”
Garry Todd – Nora Lilian (BPitch Control)
British-born producer Garry Todd has found his inspiration in Australia, where he has hosted some heavy-duty house happenings and pursued his muse for the last several years. And now that pursuit leads to an album named after his grandmother, which blends Todd’s techno and house influences with Balearic flavors and more. “The biggest part of the album was created in Rose Bay near Sydney,” says Todd. “I was living near the water and jumping into the sea every morning. After that, I went to the studio, luring a few rhythms out of the TR-909 or playing around on my Roland Juno-60 synthesizer.” What a way to work.
Release date: November 27
Essential track: “Anniversary Track”
Herva – Kila (Planet Mu)
With his star on the rise emerging Italian producer Hervè Atsè Corti presents a pastiche of jittery house, dubby techno and IDM on Kila (the Swahili word for “everything”). His genre agnostic mindset finds him using deep pads, raucous breakbeats, grooves of varying tempos and a wealth of loops of samples to achieve his musical goals — all without paying any mind to musical boundaries. This is a case study of a producer flat-out ignoring the rules.
Release date: November 27
Essential track: “Fog”
Dawn Mok – Eternal Love (Dial)
Berlin music collective Dawn Mok’s “Like Thoughts Or Moments We’ll Fall” was a standout cut on Dial Records’ 15th anniversary compilation, All, released in May. Whether intentional or not, in many ways it was a statement from the imprint about its future. The cameo set the stage for producer/founder Felix Mura and his crew to craft an album overflowing a deep, soulful album that’s as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking.
Release date: November 27
Essential track: “You Ended up Being All I Know”
Additional writing by Jim Allen