I also checked out two new releases that come from an Irish producer on an English label followed by an American artist on an Irish label. The Parallel appears on the new-ish English label Komisch, and delivers a superb 4-tracker of Detroit infused techno. While much of today's deep techno has gone for a gritty sound, The Parallel is not afraid to display his love for the likes of Rhythm Is Rhythm and Juan Atkins, with a crisper edge to his production than the likes of what we see from Marcel Dettman and the other big players in Europe. It doesn't mean that this isn't heavy music either. For much of it a dark shadow hangs over its programming and if you are craving techno, like Jason Fine, with a little bit more going on compared with much of what is around, one could do a lot worse.

On an electro tip we have, hailing from Texas, Submersible Machines making his debut release on Dublin's Lunar Disko Records with a self-titled 5 track Ep. With a name like Submersible Machines and track titles like "When Wales Fall", the hat-tipping to electro's underwater obsessive’s, Drexciya is almost inevitable and it turns out to be so. It would also be unfair and unwise to dismiss this off hand as nothing more than a Drexciya knock off. Electro of this style and quality is a rare breed these days, and the Texan slots into a place somewhere between Gosub, E.R.P. and the aforementioned Drexciya. Off setting electro bass and hand claps with lilting musical excursions, "Upwelling' and "Braving Bethnic" are two of the stand out moments and the release closes with the brilliant "Cold Seep" which delivers a Chicago house backing track into the electro mix, giving the release that little something different.

Stepping back in time for a few moments there is also some interesting re-issue action going on at the moment. David Vunk of Moustache records has teamed up with one of Italo's most famous collectors, Fleming Dalum, who's dug through his vaults to sort out a full 12inch repress of the uber-rare Magical Electronic by Body Electric, which was previously only available on 7 inch. While it's not a particularly bad song by any means, it is not one that I'd rate as a lost classic, as for one the vocals can be a bit trying on it, and while the bright, catchy synth lines are fun, a couple of other sounds clutter the track and one gets the feeling this was pushed more for it's rareness than anything else.

The Minimal Wave label from New York has been busy over the last few months doing some digging too, coming up with early 80's electronic works and repressing them on 180gm vinyl with some impressive packaging (which has also resulted in them being not very cheap). The highlight of these endeavours is the Dutch artist Das Ding's album "H.S.T.A". Here we have proto-electro merging with a clanging industrial edge underpinning the dark, cold synths, giving us a very 80s European sound (which is hardly a surprise, all things told), but boy does it rock. While it may lack the sheen of more modern dance music, the likes of "Take Me Away", "H.S.T.A" and "Triffid Farm" could slot themselves into an electro set today with some ease.

I.D Limited is one of the premier labels for re-issuing Italo gems, whose latest is a 3 tracker from Sensitive aka Sergio Bonnzani. Opening with "Driving", this is prime Italo, arpeggio'd bass-lines, big drums, bigger keys and lyrics about eh something or other (the deciphering of Italo lyrics can be tough going at the best of times, even if in English). It gets the props on this release due to this version being unreleased but it is matched by the 3rd cut "Don't Stop", which keeps up with the melodrama of Driving. They might not convert anyone to Italo but those who get it, should find pleasure in this release.

I've not been too nice to Carl Craig in this column, but when someone has such an awe-inspiring back catalogue it's hard not to expect the best from him, which in recent times I don't believe he has delivered. But regardless of a recent dip in quality you see someone like Craig attached to a release you will always feel compelled to give it a go. He is given a producer credit on the debut solo effort from Zombie, Zombie's Etienne Jaumet. A long(ish) player titled Night Music. It references back to the sounds of the burgeoning European electronic scene from where the aforementioned Das Ding appeared while also stretching further afield into more abstract, psychedelic machinations. Yet for the most part it is driven along with solid 4/4 kick drums, helping lock in the listener.

It kicks off in quite spectacular fashion with the sprawling techno of "For Falling Asleep" (which clocks in at a massive 20 minutes) with mutant saxophone fused with pulsating synths, and unsettling vocals not dissimilar to those in M Pittman's release. Such is the intensity and unrelenting nature of the piece (the beat never drops once it appears, until it finally relents before the end) I can't really see how anyone could fall asleep in a comfortable manner with it on. The flip-side contains four shorter works kicking off with the soothing (relatively speaking) "Mental Vortex" and "Entropy" before picking up in the intensity stakes with the acid and violin collage of "Through The Strata" before closing on the ambient "At The Crack of Dawn". Craig certainly hasn't lost his interest in the more leftfield side of electronic music even though it's hard to know what input he had in this. Either way Jaumet's work is an interesting and at times brilliant experiment.

To close off just a quick note that the Anthony Shakir's Frictional retrospective entitled "Frictionalism 1994 - 2009" on Rush Hour that I mentioned over the last couple of articles finally dropped near the end of last year. It's a superb collection jam packed with amazing cuts from one of Detroit's lesser known heroes. For previous fans or newcomers there is much to enjoy here as Shakir displays his unique take on techno and house music.