2006? Already? Stop everything I want to get off, here things are going too fast!

!K7 – URSULA RUCKER presents Ma’at Mama which is her third album following the debut in 2001 with “Supa Sista” and the follow up in 2003 entitled ‘Silver And Lead’. Once again this artist proves her strong poetic impact with some intense and inspired lyrics plus even more maturity when it comes to writing. The entire concept of the album takes inspiration from an antique Egyptian principle based around Ma’at, better known by us as the truth, Ma Ma’at is also the name of the Goddess whose powers were those of controlling the truth and equilibrium from which comes the title of the album itself where Rucker explores the significance of being a mother and woman in general.

MUTE – The album entitled ‘Supernature’ definitely consecrated GOLDFRAPP amongst the pop icons of the last few years even if to do so they had to find an idea formula for their sound which is somewhere between glam and electronic for the public. The new single Ride A White Horse continues the tried and tested formula with some enjoyable synth and disco explorations. The original version itself is already strong for the floors so here then Serge Santiago has only created a kind of edit, also at work we see Francois K and Eric Kupper plus finishing everything off is the remix by Ewan Pearson. If possible grab also the very limited and only promotional 12” that contains the remix that DFA have done for Slide In. Staying in the Mute household there is also Slipping Away which is the newest single to have been taken from the album ‘Hotel’ by MOBY on which I would like to mention the lovely downtempo version that has been done by Zloot as well as the technoid one by Mathew Jonson plus the two more house ones by MHC and Axwell. Also as a bonus we see Tiga at work on ‘Where You End’, try the dub of this one.

BUZZIN’ FLY – Deep house for the electronic generations, this is how Terry Farley described the sound of Clear Sky which is a production by the KAYOT duo from Russia and Mr. Farley has chosen just the right words to introduce this track. Coming out of Elektrostal which is a city roughly 60 km east of Moscow Kayot are just another example of how the eastern block countries are an unexplored mine of talent. Zabiela, Damian Lazarus, Nic Fanciulli and many others are already playing this. The remixes have been looked after by Manoo and Francois A.

DOMINO – Disco-metal, noise-hop, punk-funk… the sound of the TEST ICICLES trio has been described in these ways as well as many other ways also (Bloc Party on drugs is yet another, even early Beastie Boys), well the truth is that they enclose all of the above mentioned styles into a concentration of energy that has made them famous above all for their live performances. From the album ‘For Screening Purpose Only’ here is the new single entitled What’s Your Damage with two brilliant remixes by Braxe And Falke and Digitalism. A punk-rock attitude for the floor, just as we like it!

ASTRALWERKS/VIRGIN – From Louisville in Kentucky come VHS OR BETA who have been noticed in Europe also thanks to the single ‘Night On Fire’ as well as the self titled album. From the very same album here now is the extract You Got Me whilst the band are hard at work on the second album. You Got Me has been remixed by Baby Daddy from the Scissor Sisters (a friend of the band) in an electronic version and also by The Juan Maclean in a more dance version.

TSUBA – A newborn label debuts onto the market with Pinball by WILLIAMS, the very same one who we saw some months ago on Get Physical with ‘Piccadilly Circus’ and who was also on Glasgow Underground a few years ago. This new Pinball touches and re-elaborates the two genres of the precedent pieces of work and the result is a deep house electronic funk hybrid.

JUKI – PEARN & BRIDGES, or better still Jon Pearn from Full Intention and Nick Bridges who is the resident DJ at the Ministry, are back in the studio for their second release on Juki. The first single saw them supported by such names as Deep Dish, Sander Kleinenberg and Nic Fanciulli and these two new tracks also entitled Give It All You Got and Slam Dunk will have no problems whatsoever in working well at peak time.

BRIQUE ROUGE – After a few problems that came about due to their distributor closing down the Parisian Brique Rouge is back and ready with various things for us. It is the case of the Not A Remix EP by THUGFUCKER who we came across already on Music For Freaks and Moodmusic with their dirty house. In this case there are also remixes by Mazi and the boss himself David Duriez. Look out also from the BR household for a new sub-label and volume 1 in The House Invaderz series that sees Alexkid & Chloè, Mazi, Chris Carrier & DJ Wild and Sam Karlson & Gaffy travel into galaxies that are populated by old video games. Finally BR demonstrate all their energy with yet another new label Kill Brique that has been born out of the same named party. The first release is Soulful Spirit by HARDFLOOR with a remix by Josh Wink.

NINJA TUNE – COLDCUT offer with Man In A Garage the second taste from the imminent album Sound Mirrors. With John Matthias on vocals this new single is a seductive example of electronic folk-blues and as usual Coldcut have enriched everything with some excellent remixes by Bonobo, Daedelus, Snap Ant and Nick Franglen from Lemon Jelly.

ONETWO – A big up to OneTwo for finally publishing the album by BAREFOOT called simply Barefoot. The band offer some surprising remakes in funk jazz keys of club classics such as ‘It’s Like That’ by Grandmaster Flash, ‘Hideaway’ by DèLacy (these two titles also coming out as singles), ‘Pride (Deeper Love)’ by C&C Music Factory and others that have already got the thumbs up from noted DJ’s and radio stations through a pair of limited edition 7” singles and a CD sampler even before having a label. The project sees the vocals of Sam Obernik who a few years ago created the hit ‘Just Won’t Do’ with Tim Deluxe and it is this also that is yet another of the tracks that this outfit have revisited on Barefoot.

WALL OF SOUND – Can’t Get Enough is one of those tracks that are always present during the live performances of the INFADELS and now finally sees the light of day on vinyl also. A concentration of rock energy and acid and electronic elements are the characteristics of this band. On remixing duties we see Jagz Kooner and Mekon. The much awaited debut album We Are Not Infadels is ready for the end of January.

FREERANGE –SHUR-I-KAN is back on Freerange with an EP entitled Living Inside. Opening everything is the deep and elegant ‘Feeling It’ which then moves over to the title track that also has a remix by Mike Monday.

64 – SLEEPER THIEF is a project that sees the collaboration between DJ Miss Jools and Audiofly making release number 6 for the label of Rui Da Silva. There are two tracks, Freeride and Freefall that enclose an ideal mixture of ideas from the three. Few sounds, deep atmosphere and underground colours. Freefall is the one I prefer.

UNDERWATER – MAGIK JOHNSON is finishing off an album for Underwater and along with the label boss Darren Emerson they are also looking after volume 5 of the Underwater compilation series. In the meantime here are the two tracks Malone and Jump which anticipate the album itself. The first is a pulsating and energetic onslaught of dirty beats whilst the second is more atmospheric but still very effective on the floor.

OUTER – The THE FUNKY LOWLIVES kick off the new year by extracting two tracks from the album ‘Somewhere Else Is Here’ and re-propose them with new mixes. Here then are Freeform Five who get to work on Time Traveller Man for over 9 minutes of peak time exercises. Float Through Stars is instead revisited by The Lowlives themselves as well as Boozoo Bajou who take the whole thing into a more dub dimension.

PASSENGER – AQUASKY are a well known name on the drum’n’bass and breakbeat scene after concreting through the years a new and instrumental sound for these two genres. Here they are now in action with a new double A side that anticipates the imminent album Teamplayer that also celebrates their tenth anniversary. It opens with Girls And Boys created with Elhornet from Pendulum and then we find Crosswire which instead sees the collaboration of Longrange which is a project of Phil Hartnoll and Nick Smith from The Orbital. Finally High Contrast and Dylan Rhymes remix Girls And Boys. Have a look at the web-site aquasky.co.uk where there is a very interesting competition that offers the opportunity of realising a remix for the band.

GPS – Back is DR RUBBERFUNK with Watch The Tables Turn, the first single from his next up second album. With Sam J from London on vocals the track is some funky hip hop with live drums and wah wah guitar. Even so it is the track on the B side ‘Live Wired’ that hit me the most with its blues atmosphere…

The appointment with ‘Into The Void’ on Ministry Radio (www.ministryofsound.com/radio) is on every first and third Wednesday of the month from 12:00 to 14:00 London time (13:00 - 15:00 in Italy).